Thursday, April 2, 1998 | 9:52 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Gov. Bob Miller is free of major debt, still owns 32.7 acres of unimproved land in Palm Springs, Calif., and has revealed, for the first time, the existence of a trust fund to collect money to pay for many of his out-of-state trips.
Richard Urey, press secretary for Miller, said there are contributions to the trust from private citizens to offset the added expenses the governor faced while chairman of the National Governors Conference.
Urey said Miller decided to seek private contributions rather than ask for public money to cover these expenses. The trust was handled by attorney Todd Byce who works in the Las Vegas law firm of Frank Schreck, a major donor to the Democratic Party.
Byce could not be reached for comment on who contributed to this newly disclosed fund or how much is in it.
It paid $8,310 for out-of-state trips. For instance, it picked up a $4,000 tab for a trip by Miller and his wife Sandy to attend the presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C.; $3,000 to pay for his and his staff's expenses to Vermont for the "Fall Issues Conference;" and $240 for a hotel room while he was on a trip to Mexico to represent the state.
Miller and about 2,400 public officials filed their financial disclosure statements with the state Ethics Commission by the deadline Tuesday. The forms from an estimated 60-100 people have not arrived but as long as they are postmarked March 31, they won't be considered delinquent.
On the forms, officials must list the major sources of their income but not the amounts; their real estate holdings, but not their personal home; their debts of more than $5,000; and the gifts they received in the last year.
For instance, the governor reported his real estate holdings as three lots in Palm Springs and an unimproved lot in Clark County. He received an $800 golf bag and an $865 gift package during the Wendy's Pro Am Golf Tournament. He also received a $200 case of wine from William McHugh, a Reno casino executive.
Miller's sources of income are his $90,000 annual salary; his longtime partnership in a firm called Modern Land Design; and from the Robert J. Miller Trust. There is no requirement he list the amount of his income. He is also a trustee-beneficiary in the Robert J. Miller Family Trust administered by the Nevada State Bank.
The governor said he had no debts of more than $5,000.
Since he became governor nine years ago, Miller has shed some of his holdings. He no longer reports he holds a promissory note from Circus Circus Hotels Inc. and he is no longer a limited partner in two apartment complexes in Clark County. He also no longer lists property at 517 S. First St. in Las Vegas among his real estate holdings.
A check of the records show that all the state constitutional officers and members of the Nevada Supreme Court made the deadline in filing their reports.
Deputy Attorney General Louis Ling, counsel to the Ethics Commission, said it will compile a list next week of those who failed to make the deadline and they will be contacted by letter and fined appropriately.
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