Saturday, April 11, 1998 | 2 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Gov. Bob Miller revealed Friday the names of the donors to a $71,000 secret travel fund and it is heavily financed by Las Vegas casinos.
The trust, established in 1996, is used to pay for travel for Miller and his staff on business related to the National Governors Association, where he recently served as chairman.
Some have criticized the existence of the trust, which was not revealed until this month when Miller reported on a financial disclosure statement to the state Ethics Commission that he received $8,000 to cover travel.
But the names of the contributors to the trust were not revealed. Miller said on a television show in Las Vegas Thursday he would be willing to release the names.
His press secretary Richard Urey gave out the list today. There were $10,000 contributions each from Barrick Gold Mine and the Nevada Cancer Center in Las Vegas.
Contributions of $5,000 each came from IGT, the Fiesta hotel-casino; Boomtown hotel and casino; Primadonna Resorts Inc.,; Southern Wine and Spirits; Gold Coast casino; Barbary Coast hotel-casino; Harvey's casino resorts; Stations Casinos Inc. and Rio hotel-casino.
Leo Volpe of Las Vegas donated $1,000.
Deputy Attorney General Louis Ling said he was asked by the governor's office to determine if there was proper disclosure on the financial form to the Ethics Commission. The form shows Miller getting money from the "governor's trust."
Ling said that's all Miller has to reveal. He doesn't have to disclose the names of those who gave to the trust.
"I have not been asked the broader question - whether this trust complies with the ethics law," Ling said. But he added there is nothing in the ethics law that addresses trusts.
Secretary of State Dean Heller, in charge of Nevada's campaign financing law, suggested Miller should have sought a legal opinion first from the Ethics Commission or the attorney general's office to see if creation of this fund was legal.
"A blind trust does not enhance the public trust. This is not even a blind trust," Heller said. In a blind trust, the beneficiary doesn't know the donors. In this case Miller has access to the names of the contributors.
Ellen Nelson, a lobbyist for Common Cause, said creation of these types of funds has the potential for all kinds of abuse.
Most of these contributors gave Miller campaign funds in the past.
Both Nelson and Heller said Miller should have brought his case for more travel funds to the Legislature. "There may be a need for this," Heller said. "But the issue should have been presented to the Legislature or the Interim Finance Committee."
Urey said political campaign donations have been used for a variety of office expenses in the past. Many other elected officials do the same thing -- spending unused campaign donations for their official duties.
But Miller was barred from seeking election this year and Urey said his "campaign funds began to run out. He realized he would be hit with one of the most expensive times in office," referring to Miller being chosen vice chairman and then chairman of the National Governors Association.
Urey said the creation of the trust was "thoroughly reviewed" by Miller's legal counsel Ann Nelson and by Las Vegas attorney Todd Bice who wrote up the documents.
Bice said earlier the trust complies with all the ethics laws.
Urey said the trust has paid $8,000 in income taxes on the money it collected.
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