Many officials seeking forgiveness for tardy filing of financial forms

Wednesday, May 20, 1998 | 10:11 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Lynn Linn has been fighting for her life in Las Vegas since January.

She's been in and out of emergency rooms and hospitals, suffering from pneumonia, undergoing a hysterectomy and being hit with a perforated colon.

The medical bills have been building and her attention has been focused on her health.

It's no wonder Linn, a commission abstractor for the state, missed the March 31 deadline for filing her financial disclosure statement with the state Ethics Commission. Now she faces a fine of more than $1,000.

Linn has joined scores of public officials who are asking that their fines be reduced or waived for a variety of reasons.

Hundreds missed the filing deadline and the penalty increases as the days go by. Those who were up to seven days late were fined $25 a day; the fine goes to $50 a day for days eight through 15; and after that it's $100 a day.

Leland Backus, chairman of the state's Certified Court Reporters Board, has paid the biggest fine so far -- $3,330. The Ethics Commission has collected nearly $14,000 in penalties.

The commission will ask the state attorney general for legal advice on whether it can waive or reduce the fines. In the meantime, it won't be acting on the many requests for mercy being mailed to the office.

The commission is bracing for another onslaught of filings of financial disclosure forms. Political candidates, both state and local, are required to file statements by May 28 or they also face the same level of fines.

There were hundreds of candidates who submitted their declarations of candidacy by Monday who now have 10 days to prepare and file the financial forms. Those who filed their forms in the past three months won't have to submit new ones. But they must inform the Ethics Commission by mail that they have up-to-date disclosure forms on file.

There is no grace period. The forms must be in the office by the deadline or be postmarked by that date.

Many of those delinquent serve on boards or commission without pay. One such commissioner is Robert Andrews of Las Vegas, a member of the state Emergency Response Commission.

"I and others in voluntary service positions had no reason to believe that annual filings coupled with financial penalties was inherent in this service," he said in a letter to the commission asking it to waive his fine.

Among those who filed late but who have not paid a fine are Robert Loux, director of the state Nuclear Waste Office; state Tourism Director Tom Tait; and Richard Bunker, chairman of the Colorado River Commission.