Nevada’s top elected officials opening schedules to public

By Andrew Doughman

Friday, Nov. 8, 2013 | 2:46 p.m.

The top elected officials in Nevada’s state government will begin distributing their public schedules in the coming months.

The announcements come after the Sun asked Nevada’s governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer, secretary of state, attorney general, and controller to provide a weekly calendar to the public.

“It’s really a matter of transparency, that their jobs are public jobs and they’re public figures,” said Barry Smith, executive director of the Nevada Press Association. “It really shouldn’t be a big deal to say, “Here’s what we’re doing today.”

But until these announcements, no office routinely released such information.

Smith said the releases should help Nevadans better understand what their elected officials are doing and it could help those in office show voters that they’re working hard.

“They’re the executives running the state of Nevada, and we’d like to think they’re hard at work on our behalf and shouldn’t just assume,” he said.

Here’s who will be releasing what:

• Gov. Brian Sandoval plans to email a weekly schedule to Nevada media outlets beginning next week.

• Secretary of State Ross Miller plans to begin publishing his public schedule on the office’s website beginning next week.

• Treasurer Kate Marshall plans to publish a public schedule on the office’s website beginning in January.

• Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto plans to email a weekly schedule to Nevada media outlets beginning the first week of December.

• Lieutenant Gov. Brian Krolicki plans to provide a weekly public schedule, but staff from his office cannot yet confirm when or how the calendar will be provided. Staff noted that Krolicki has been traveling this week and still has to review specifics of a plan to release a public schedule.

• Controller Kim Wallin already has published a two-month public schedule on her website, and a staff member said the office will update it as new events are added.

The practice of publicizing calendars exists in many other states. At least a dozen governors in other states publish their calendars online.