Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones speaks to Sol Up owner, Frank Rieger at Sol-Up in Las Vegas, to tout the historic federal investments across the state of Nevada to cut greenhouse gas emissions and bolster the regions clean energy economy. Wednesday, April 12, 2023. Jones was found by a federal judge to be “not truthful” over a legal issue regarding texts removed from his cellphone. The Nevada Republican Party is calling for the commissioner to resign.
Wednesday, April 26, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Clark County commission
The Nevada Republican Party is calling on Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones to resign after a ruling from a federal judge found the Democrat was "not truthful" about text messages removed from his personal cellphone amid a legal battle over a housing development in Blue Diamond.
In a 42-page order released Friday, U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Elayna Youchah ruled Jones had flouted the county’s record-retention policy as well as Nevada Supreme Court precedent when text messages from his personal phone dated Jan. 3, 2019 — shortly after Jones’ first days as a newly sworn-in commissioner — through April 17 of the same year were deleted.
The ruling is part of a larger case between Clark County and Gypsum Resources LLC, which is suing the county for breach of contract stemming from a stalled housing project overlooking Red Rock Canyon.
Jones, who prior to his election to the county commission was an attorney for an environmental advocacy group moving to stall the development, was ordered to pay Gypsum’s attorney fees. Youchah denied a request to report Jones’ misconduct to the Nevada State Bar.
"I have reviewed the order and I have no further comments while the litigation is pending," Jones said in a text message to the Sun. "I continue to remain focused on serving the needs of my constituents and working to make Clark County a better place to live, work and raise a family."
Youchah also declined to sanction Clark County for its failure to preserve documentation related to the project. Clark County did not respond to a request for comment.
"It is unacceptable that Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones deliberately destroyed evidence in an attempt to hide his corrupt actions from the court and from Nevada taxpayers," the Republican Party said in a statement. "Our government transparency laws are desperately in need of strengthening, from the local level all the way to the Legislature. Until penalties are codified into law, the least Justin Jones can do is resign. The residents of Commission District F deserve real representation, not someone more concerned with dodging the law than representing their district."
In its statement, the Nevada GOP called on the state attorney general’s office, as well as the Clark County district attorney’s office and the Nevada State Bar to each launch an investigation into Jones’ conduct.
The lawsuit stems from a yearslong legal battle in which Gypsum Resources owner Jim Rhodes has sought to change the county’s zoning laws to transform the site of a gypsum mine to a master-planned residential community. Rhodes’ plan to build homes at the site has been met with resistance for nearly two decades by the county.
Central to the order texts Jones received prior to a Clark County Commission meeting in April 2019 that included a request to approve the development’s preliminary plan. The commission ultimately voted unanimously against the project, citing the need for federal approval for roadway infrastructure.
"All in all, Jones’ testimony as a Clark County Commissioner, an attorney with demonstrated familiarity with litigation and the requirement to preserve evidence, an attorney who had litigated with Gypsum for over two years before becoming Commissioner, and an attorney who understood his independent obligations to be truthful when under oath at deposition, appears to have carefully chosen words that were not out-and-out misrepresentations of the truth, but also were not truthful," Youchah wrote.
While representing Save Red Rock, Jones announced his candidacy for the commission seat and also campaigned on the promise of shutting down the development within his first 100 days in office, according to the court order.
Jones simultaneously during that time purportedly traded favors with then-commission chairman Steve Sisolak, who was seeking the Democratic nomination for governor. Jones offered to drop Save Red Rock’s case against the county in exchange for Sisolak denouncing the deal, which would have also earned the future governor support from environmental groups, Rhodes’ attorneys allege.
After attempting to reach Sisolak’s campaign manager that October, Jones sent a blind carbon-copied version of that email directly to Sisolak and the executive director of the Nevada Conservation League and said, among other things:
"(I)f Sisolak doesn’t want to play, then it(’)s going to blow up in his face tomorrow," according to the ruling
In the ensuing days, Sisolak announced he’d delay the commission’s vote until after the November election, when two new commissioners — of which one was Jones — would take their seats. And the lawsuit by Save Red Rock was dismissed.
"In the absence of any explanation for the deletion of texts from a phone and account never outside of Mr. Jones’ control, the Court is left with only one explanation — Mr. Jones deleted all texts for an improper purpose," Youchah wrote. "Mr. Jones deleted all texts knowing the role he played in achieving the vote to deny Gypsum the waiver it sought and he did not want his dedicated involvement in this outcome, or his communications with the Sisolak campaign, Commissioner Sisolak or anyone else with whom he communicated about the deal he struck, to come to light."
Sisolak, who served four years as governor through 2022, did not return multiple requests for comment. But the former governor had a "very good reason to do what he did," said Laura Fitzsimmons, Sisolak’s attorney.
"He is not a party in this case (and) this is between other people," Fitzsimmons said of the former governor. "(Sisolak) never filed anything or made it clear because nobody has asked him why he made the statement he was going to kick off the waiver application and wait for a new commission."
By the time Jones had reached out to Sisolak, early voting was already underway, Fitzsimmons said, and stated an endorsement likely wouldn’t have swayed many voters. She also maintained Sisolak had already earned the backing of several environmental groups.
"Do you really think the conservationists were going to vote for Adam Laxalt?" said Fitzsimmons, referring to Sisolak’s 2018 Republican challenger. "It wasn’t some nefarious deal."
Sisolak punted on the vote ultimately because he felt it gave Clark County voters the clearest path to vote on the development itself, Fitzsimmons said. Jones’ position on the development was well known and was decidedly different from that of his GOP challenger, Tisha Black, whom Jones narrowly defeated.
The way Sisolak saw it, the vote for Jones was emblematic of the public’s sentiment toward the project.
"This should have been decided by the newly constituted county commission, and what’s that talking about is how that was the issue before voters," Fitzsimmons said. "And they should decide it."
When news of the case first surfaced last July, Sisolak and the county denied any wrongdoing.
Jones has 10 days to respond to the court’s order. No action had been taken as of Tuesday evening, court records showed.
Additional court documents show the county has moved to stop Rhodes and Gypsum Resources from requesting public records altogether.
The county on April 4 sought a protective order to preclude Gypsum Resources from "making pretextual use of public records requests to make untimely and disproportionately burdensome discovery requests," according to the motion filing. That prompted Gypsum Resources’ attorneys to file an answer alleging such a request was made to "suppress additional evidence" coming to light.
"Gypsum’s requests for production include text messages in the description of both Communications and Documents, yet the county failed to search most of its employees’ messages," the lawyers wrote in an opposition motion filed April 18. "Now that the county has incontrovertible proof that its responses were inaccurate and incomplete, it has the audacity to claim entitlement to a protective order rather than addressing its failures in discovery."
They continued: "… the County has long known that its agents used text messages instead of emails and yet did nothing to ensure that these records were preserved or produced."
According to state law, a public officer must commit to avoiding a conflict of interest between private interests and the office that official serves.
In a statement to the Sun, a spokesman for the Nevada Attorney General's Office said the agency won't disclose whether Jones, Sisolak or other figures mentioned in the litigation were under investigation, per department policy. But the office recommends retaining all internal communications records for up to four years after the creation of the record, starting the calendar year after that record was created. After that period is up, the record should be transferred to the State Archives, the AG's office said.
"The Court does not take lightly the implications of finding bad faith or an improper motive is applicable to Commissioner Jones’ conduct," Youchah wrote. "But, there can be no meaningful dispute that Mr. Jones is litigation savvy and understands the destruction of evidence may lead to sanctions given he is the attorney who sent the December 15, 2016, preservation letter to the County."
Editor's note: The law firm that represents Gypsum Resources has also represented the Las Vegas Sun and Greenspun Media Group.
