Editorial: Retooling will boost ethics laws

Sunday, April 4, 1999 | 9:41 a.m.

In the Ethics Commission's defense, it has not had the appropriate staffing and funding to comply with its serious mission. There is no realistic way under the existing framework for the commission to effectively navigate ethics laws, especially when the commissioners themselves are part time. The Sun's three-part series on the Ethics Commission, which concluded Tuesday, demonstrated why a top-to-bottom review of the commission and the state's ethics laws is necessary. So what should the 1999 Nevada Legislature do?

The Legislature should first determine the proper scope of the commission's authority. In addition to ruling on the ethical behavior of elected officials, the 1997 Legislature decided the commission should also serve as a "political truth squad," determining whether candidates make false and misleading statements during political campaigns. Aside from the constitutional concerns about regulating political speech, this new responsibility has overburdened the Ethics Commission. The Legislature should scrap the authority the commission has in overseeing campaigns.

Another troubling development has been the commission's determination that elected officials should abstain on votes before them that involve longtime friends. Such a standard isn't realistic, though. The Legislature should make it clear that abstentions are necessary when an elected official or his family have a financial interest. Disclosure of his relationship with a friend -- not abstention -- would seem to be all that is necessary.

Regarding the commission's organization, it needs to issue decisions quickly. Not always, but too frequently, many of the complaints filed ultimately are found to have no merit, and all the while an elected official may have labored under a cloud of suspicion for months. Funding a full-time executive director, who also would have the authority to dismiss any bogus complaints that currently waste the commission's time, would enable the commission to run more smoothly.

The Legislature is at a crossroads. One path would be to gut the commission and make it an advisory body only. Instead, the best course is to make the Ethics Commission more efficient and stronger by narrowing its scope and enhancing its funding. Since Nevada relies on citizen-legislators to serve in the Legislature and on nearly all local boards and commissions, it is important to have a well-run government watchdog so that our elected officials have guidance and oversight that will ensure ethical behavior.