Judge: Ethics panel overstepped bounds

Bill Gang

Tuesday, Dec. 23, 1997 | 10:11 a.m.

The state Ethics Commission, which had rebuked Las Vegas Constable Bob Nolen for what it concluded was an overly casual work ethic, was itself rebuked in District Court for exceeding its authority.

District Judge Mark Gibbons ruled Monday that Nolen "has the right to run his office the way he feels is appropriate" and need answer only to voters or the County Commission.

While Gibbons declared the commission had overstepped its authority in looking at the time he spends on the job, he said the commission did have the authority to investigate whether Nolen's staff and public facilities were improperly being used for his political campaigns.

Although the decision seems to give Nolen a victory, Gibbons conceded that the ultimate ruling likely will come after an expected appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court.

"We're very pleased the matter was reviewed by an impartial fact finder who applied the facts to the law," Nolen's attorney John Moran Jr. said after the hearing.

Moran charged that the Ethics Commission conclusion was "very prejudicial and not supported by facts or the law and I think it was politically motivated."

The Ethics Commission had blistered Nolen in a report that called for his ouster from office for working what it determined was a mere five to 15 hours a week for his $63,000 annual salary.

Other hours were spent in bars, often in topless bars, the commission stated in the report that asked the District Court to remove him from office for alleged malfeasance.

Nolen had said he worked up to 25 hours a week and also was on call 24-hours-a-day as head of the office that serves evictions and other court documents.

Moran argued to the judge that statutes don't require 40-hour work weeks out of elected officials, although Gibbons said that might not be a bad idea.

"The office is running in the black," Moran said. "The true test is whether the job is being done competently, efficiently and honestly."

Deputy Attorney General Louis Ling, who represents the Ethics Commission, didn't dispute that but said the work was being done by Nolen's employees and not the elected official.

"The commission said it never had seen a case before and hoped never to see again a case where an official set up an office so he didn't have to be there and then took a $63,000 salary," Ling said. "The commission was shocked by what they saw."

"The commission said, 'Who's going to do something if we don't?' " he argued. "We're not going to say it's OK ... to get elected and not show up. The public deserves more than than."

But Gibbons said that "although the Ethics Commission performs a valuable function ... it can't exceed its statutory authority."

Ling said one of the jobs of the commission is "to send messages, and the message is very clear ... that, once elected, you're expected to serve."

Moran snapped back that "the message should be that we should not let the commission hold false hearings."

He complained there was "no concept of fair play" at the hearings where then-employees of the constable's office voiced their concerns about the way Nolen ran his office.

Most of those employees have since been fired in a purge that ripped apart the office.

Some of those were in court Monday and marched out of the courtroom in a huff after Gibbons' decision.