Politicians wary after ethics ruling

Wednesday, July 1, 1998 | 11:02 a.m.

Clark County commissioners caught the disclosure bug Tuesday, as confusion mounted over a weekend Nevada Ethics Commission decision that set higher ethical standards for elected officials.

County Commission Chairwoman Yvonne Atkinson Gates, hit the hardest by the ethics panel on Saturday, got the ball rolling during a Tuesday morning session of the County Liquor and Gaming Licensing Board.

It was the first public meeting since the precedent-setting ethics ruling that seemed to broaden the criteria for disclosure.

Gates revealed Tuesday that she either knew or had received campaign contributions from more than two-dozen of the 234 applicants on the agenda. The list of applicants looked like a who's who in the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.

"The last thing that I want to do is be hauled before the Ethics Commission for not doing something," Gates said afterwards. "So I intend to disclose and abstain whenever I feel there's a need to."

Gates abstained from voting on two items relating to her former partner in an aborted daiquiri concession deal. Gates was cited by the Ethics Commission earlier this year for soliciting daiquiri business on the Strip. She no longer is affiliated with the company.

Though Gates had indicated in Monday's SUN that she planned to broaden her disclosures in future County Commission meetings, her announcement still caught her colleagues by surprise.

County Commissioner Myrna Williams, who chairs the Liquor and Gaming Board, called a brief recess so that she and the rest of the commissioners could review the agenda more carefully.

During the recess, an angry Commissioner Erin Kenny exchanged heated words with Gates.

When the meeting resumed, Williams and Commissioner Mary Kincaid each disclosed that they knew about two dozen of the applicants on the agenda.

"Until we get some clearer advice from the district attorney, I'm just going to disclose anytime I know somebody," Williams said after the meeting. "It's certainly going to make the wheels of government grind a little slower."

Williams said she believed the ethics ruling was "very sweeping" and has led to "a lot of confusion."

Kenny and Commissioners Bruce Woodbury and Lorraine Hunt declined to make any blanket declarations because of the uncertainty over Saturday's decision.

"I don't think we should start making extraordinary disclosures at this time," Woodbury said, during a break in the meeting. "I understand the concerns, but nobody knows exactly how far to go."

District Attorney Stewart Bell explained afterwards that ethics laws never will be in black and white.

"There's always going to be some gray areas," Bell said. "That's where common sense and a sense of propriety come into play. (The commissioners) just have to use good judgment."

Bell said County Counsel Mary Ann Miller will attempt to give the commissioners an interpretation of the ethics ruling.

"We need to redefine for them in writing the concepts of conflict of interest and the appearance of impropriety," Bell said. "They will have to apply those concepts to each factual situation that comes before them and hopefully make the right decisions."

County Manager Dale Askew said he told the commissioners that he's ordering a transcript of the last week's four-day ethics hearing so that it can be reviewed.

In the interim, the commissioners are going to use their own discretion, Askew said.

The Ethics Commission set off this political firestorm Saturday, when it found that Gates and Commissioner Lance Malone broke state ethics laws in last summer's vote on lucrative D Gate concessions at McCarran International Airport.

Gates was cited for not disclosing her relationships with Michael Chambliss, her campaign consultant, and Judy Klein, a well-connected political supporter, before voting to give them the concessions.

Malone, who was not at Tuesday's liquor and gaming board meeting, was called on the carpet for doing the same thing for Gay Reber, a longtime friend of his wife's.

The Ethics Commission did not impose sanctions against the two commissioners because both had relied upon legal advice from the district attorney's office.

Williams was brought up on ethics charges but exonerated by the panel.

Gates and Williams believe the ethics ruling has widened disclosure laws to include casual acquaintances.

"There's definitely a new set of standards," Gates told the SUN over the weekend.

Williams, a former Assemblywoman, said the legislative committee she chaired in 1987 that strengthened ethics statutes never envisioned broadening the laws this much.

The statutes were designed to require disclosure primarily if an elected official or a family member had a pecuniary interest in a matter coming up for a vote, Williams said.

Williams said the ethics ruling will have a profound impact on public bodies throughout the state.

On Monday, Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones, acknowledged fallout might spread to City Hall.

Jones, the subject of ethics complaints in recent months, shared the feeling that the decision needs to be clarified.

In the meantime, the confusion isn't likely to let up.