Ethics Commission clears mayor

Ed Koch and Jeff German

Friday, Aug. 14, 1998 | 9:27 a.m.

The Nevada Ethics Commission late Friday cleared Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones of wrongdoing for failing to disclose business and political ties to opponents of a restaurant project she voted against last May.

Following a day-long hearing, Jones said she appreciated the thorough investigation conducted by the Ethics Commission.

"I'm very, very pleased with the findings," said Jones, who is in the middle of a Democratic bid for governor. "I think they made the absolute correct decision."

But City Councilman Gary Reese was not as happy.

The commission found that Reese violated state ethics laws by not abstaining in the restaurant vote after he had disclosed that he had a close friend who was opposing the application of Nick's Fishmarket on West Sahara Avenue.

Reese, however, was not sanctioned by the panel because he had relied upon the legal advice of the city attorney's office.

Afterwards, Reese, who had voted against the restaurant, said he was "shocked" but felt "no animosity" toward the commission.

He said he thought he had done everything possible to conduct himself properly in the matter, but now would be even more careful in the future.

Though Jones was absolved of wrongdoing, Commission Chairwoman Mary Boetsch lectured her about the importance of keep track of her business and political ties when conducting business at City Hall.

The commission ruled that Jones did not violate the law when she had a phone conversation with Las Vegas casino executive William Boyd, who had opposed the restaurant, four days before the May 26 vote.

Earlier in the day, Boyd, chairman of Boyd Gaming Corp., testified that the May 22 conversation lasted just 24 seconds and that there was no effort made to peddle influence.

Jones echoed those words when she addressed the commission at the close of the hearing, which took place at the City Council Chambers.

The phone call Jones had made to Boyd, who was in San Francisco at the time, was a key issue in the hearing.

By testifying that the conversation lasted less than half a minute, Boyd indicated that there was not a whole lot of time for either him to influence Jones or for her to offer him a political favor in exchange for a campaign contribution in her race for governor.

"At no time did Mayor Jones state or imply that her vote on Nick's Fishmarket might be affected by any campaign assistance I might provide, nor did I state or imply that any contribution I might make would be based on her vote on that matter," Boyd said in his affidavit, which he read into the record after his testimony.

"The entire conversation lasted 24 seconds, including my connection to her Las Vegas office, the transfer to San Francisco and our discussion about the governor's race."

Boyd said that according to the records of the hotel where he was staying, "The telephone call was registered as a 24-second call and was billed to me at my room."

Boyd testified that he brought up the subject of the restaurant to Jones.

"She immediately indicated that she knew about the matter, was opposed to the restaurant and did not want additional information -- the call then ended," Boyd said.

"I do not believe that this very brief mention of the restaurant should be referred as my having talked with Ms. Jones about my opposition to the restaurant," Boyd said. "In fact, I did not lobby her or any other member of the City Council prior to the May 26 vote."

Boyd told the board that Jones had made at least three or four calls to him before May 22 to ask about a campaign contribution.

After Boyd testified that Jones told him that she was opposed to the project because it was "not good for the community," Boetsch noted that, in those few words, Jones in effect told Boyd exactly what he wanted to here. However, Boyd also testified that if Jones told him she was in favor of the project it would not have affected the decision to give her a contribution.

Boyd admitted that the timing of Jones' call and the vote on the Fishmarket was "very coincidental."

Also at issue was whether Jones voted the way she did because it would benefit her husband, Richard Schuetz, and his $4.3 million land deal with those who opposed the eatery.

"I never discussed the land transaction with Mayor Jones, Richard Schuetz, or any member of the City Council prior to the vote on Nick's Fishmarket," Boyd said, noting that he did not know Schuetz had any interest in the land until after the May 26 council vote.

"Therefore I could not have disclosed -- and did not disclose -- to Mayor Jones that I was part-owner of the land being sold to a group in which her husband was participating," Boyd testified.

Schuetz was on the witness list, but was not called to testify.

The commission decided it didn't need his testimony to clear the mayor of misconduct involving her husband's ties.

In related action, Boetsch said as the hearing got under way that she expected that the inquiry into why the four city councilmen -- Arnie Adamsen, Larry Brown, Michael McDonald and Gary Reese -- did not disclose before the vote that they had received campaign contributions from the Boyd Gaming Group would be dismissed.

Because that was not on the agenda, however, the panel could not dismiss the matter against them today.

Also, Ethics Commissioner Joni Wines, who had voted at a closed-door preliminary hearing in July to bring the matter forward for today's hearing, recused herself today, citing her friendship with former City Councilman Steve Miller, who once lost to Jones in a mayoral race and filed the ethics complaint against her.

On May 26, the council unanimously denied the application of Marc Gordon to build Nick's Fishmarket restaurant. BankWest, which would have been a neighboring tenant, opposed the project. Boyd was a founder of the bank and Perry Whitt was on its board of directors.

Boyd, Whitt and others were partners in the ownership of 80 acres near Floyd Lamb State Park. Schuetz and Circus Circus executives Clyde Turner and Dick Etter formed a company called TES, which purchased the land.

Jones had denied any wrongdoing and had said she never knew the full details of the business dealings of Schuetz, whom she has been married to for less than a year. Jones said she voted against the restaurant because it was too big for the parcel.

Jones and Schuetz have a prenuptial agreement and each have separate finances. Jones said she recalls only that Schuetz asked her whether it was all right to buy land in Las Vegas and that he may have mentioned the price.

Schuetz has since pulled out of the deal.

Jones has said she was aware of the formation of TES and the price of the property. But she also testified she never knew until after the vote on Nick's Fishmarket the identity of the sellers, who were owed about $3.6 million by the Schuetz-Turner-Etter group.

She disclosed the debt on her May 28 financial-disclosure statement as a candidate for governor.

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