Thursday, April 9, 1998 | 10:06 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Since 1996, Gov. Bob Miller raised $71,000 for a newly revealed trust fund for travel but he's not required to detail who gave him the money.
The donations came from casinos, mining and the medical industry, Miller's spokesman Richard Urey said. The funds were used to pay for Miller's travels during and after his chairmanship of the National Governors Association.
The governor didn't want to ask the state to finance these trips, Urey explained, so he went for private contributions.
The travel trust fund, however, is raising some eyebrows.
"I think it's horrendous," said Ellen Nelson, a lobbyist and former vice chairman of Common Cause, a government watchdog group. "This seems like a setup for fraud and abuse."
Secretary of State Dean Heller, who oversees the political campaign contribution and spending laws, says no one knows whether such a fund is legal or if it falls under a legal loophole.
State law says political candidates are required to report contributions of more than $100 and list the names of the donors.
"I don't know how you define it if it's not campaign contributions," Heller said. "He should have gone to the attorney general or Ethics Commission to get an opinion."
No opinion was sought from the state Ethics Commission nor the attorney general's office.
"A blind trust does not enhance public trust," Heller said. "This is not even a blind trust."
Urey said the governor has access to the names of those who contribute but there's no law that requires their public disclosure.
"Nobody knows why he should need this," Nelson said. "If he has to go some place, the state should pay."
Heller, however, thought there may be a need for the money. "But the issue should have been brought to the Legislature or the Interim Finance Committee if he couldn't do his job."
Las Vegas Attorney Todd Bice drafted the trust and he said he made sure the ethics laws of Nevada were complied with. Bice said he didn't know who was administering the trust.
But Urey said the administrators were Mike Kern, a Las Vegas accountant, and attorney Frank Schreck, who represents major gaming clients and is a big political fund-raiser. Schreck also is Bice's law partner.
The first disclosure of the up-until-then secret trust, came last week when Miller filed his required financial disclosure statement, listing more than $8,000 in gifts from a "governor's trust." The money was used to finance travel to or hotel room stays in such places as Washington, D.C., Mexico City ad Vermont.
Urey said the trust fund is administered outside the governor's office. "He (Miller) made a decision when he took over leadership (of the governors association) that he didn't want to burden the state. He didn't want to turn to taxpayer funds," Urey said.
Urey said Miller may amend his filing of expenses because other trips may be charged to the trust fund. Miller stepped down as chairman of the governors association last summer.
There's an estimated $60,000 left in the trust fund. Urey said any money remaining when Miller leaves office will go to a non-profit charitable organizations next year.
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