Ethics panel sweeps out old rules

Monday, June 29, 1998 | 11:26 a.m.

Elected officials in Southern Nevada woke Sunday morning with tougher ethical guidelines to follow.

"There's definitely a new set of standards," said County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates, one of two local officials hit the hardest by the new wave of ethical purity. "It's not going to be business as usual today."

Indeed, it won't.

The old way of doing business in Southern Nevada -- the backroom dealing designed to give the politically connected a leg up on the average citizen -- is dead.

The Nevada Ethics Commission can take credit for that.

The panel on Saturday found that Gates and County Commissioner Lance Malone broke ethics laws in last summer's vote on lucrative D Concourse concessions at McCarran International Airport.

Gates was cited for six violations for helping two of her friends, political consultant Michael Chambliss and fund-raiser Judy Klein, land airport concessions.

Malone was found to have committed two violations for smoothing the way for his longtime family friend, Gay Reber.

A third county commissioner, Myrna Williams, was exonerated, but not before her name was dragged through the mud for 10 months during the well-publicized investigation.

Williams was cleared of wrongdoing over her vote for Klein, her "best friend," after she presented evidence that she did not know Klein was involved in the company awarded the concession.

The findings were the result of four grueling days of hearings in which nearly two dozen witnesses testified. FBI agents, taking their own look at the way business has been conducted in the county, spent much time observing in the back of the room.

Some observers, however, likened the proceedings to an "inquisition."

Chairwoman Mary Boetsch, a Reno lawyer, was criticized for conducting the hearings as if the three county officials had been accused of committing the most heinous of crimes.

"If you ask me a snide question, you get a snide answer," Malone's lawyer, Don Campbell, once told Boetsch.

Boetsch seemed to show a lack of respect for the county commissioners and their lawyers, often berating them during the proceedings.

When all was said and done, the Ethics Commission determined that the actions of Gates and Malone were nowhere close to heinous, nor were they committed with willful intent.

As it turned out, Gates and Malone had been advised by the district attorney's office that they had acted properly.

That advice was questioned by the ethics panel, but it barred Boetsch and company from imposing sanctions on the two county commissioners.

The finding of ethical violations, nevertheless, is sure to leave its mark on Southern Nevada politics for a long time.

Several panel members, including Boetsch, scolded Gates and Malone for allowing politics to influence the selection of 13 concessionaires at the just-opened D gates.

"The process didn't work, and you're the reason why," Boetsch told the two county leaders.

Ethics Commissioner Helen Chisolm, who voted against finding Gates and Malone in violation of the law, added: "It's the whole process that's flawed. It needs to be overhauled."

Gates and Malone were chastised for having input on a list of 10 preferred applicants that was circulated by County Manager Dale Askew before the concessions selection process was completed.

The companies run by their friends were on that list. And both commissioners later voted for those companies without disclosing their friendships.

This inside political game, which Boetsch compared to the patronage system of the late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, has been played in Southern Nevada for years.

It reached its zenith during the tenure of former County Manager Bruce Spaulding in the early 1980s and flourished throughout the 12-year term of ex-County Manager Pat Shalmy, who retired in 1997.

In those days, however, the members of the County Commission were a little more slick. They worked out deals behind the scenes but made sure they abstained from voting when issues involving their friends came up.

Gates and Malone, relative newcomers to county politics, apparently didn't catch on to the system very well. The result was a 10-month ethical nightmare for both.

Though their judgment can be questioned, the two commissioners seem to be victims of changing times, with the public today demanding that business be conducted in the open.

No one really believes that Gates and Malone were the only two elected officials still playing the inside game. But already there are signs that the Ethics Commission's decision is having its desired effect on the County Commission.

"I think it's going to have a tremendous impact on the way we do our jobs," Gates said Sunday, after having time to reflect on the ruling.

From now on, Gates said, she plans to disclose or abstain from voting on matters involving anyone who has been an acquaintance.

"The problem is, where do you draw the line?" Gates asked.

Chambliss probably is an easy call in the future. Gates has had a business relationship with him for years. He has been her political consultant.

Klein, on the other hand, was not a close friend. Gates often had run into her at Democratic Party functions, and Klein's boss, attorney Frank Schreck, once held a political fund-raiser for Gates. But other than that, the commissioner never socialized with Klein.

Gates said she expects she'll be keeping her distance from a lot of people.

But she won't be the only public official doing some re-evaluation.

Malone predicted this experience will make him a better commissioner. Even Williams, who as an assemblywoman helped create the ethics panel, plans to be extra careful.

For that matter, every elected official in Southern Nevada will have to keep track of their professional and social relationships with an eagle eye.

It may mean that the days when well-connected political consultants could gobble up fat public contracts also are over.

Officials now will think twice before giving their political pals an edge in the selection process.

At the same time, Gates said she plans to limit her contact with county staffers, from Askew on down.

"When the staff comes in, I'll just listen and get the information," she said. "We can't have the same kind of interaction with the staff that we used to have."

A lot, indeed, is changing in Southern Nevada politics.

Change is good.