County runs out of judges to hear suit against ethics panel

Bill Gang

Friday, April 9, 1999 | 11:35 a.m.

A challenge to the constitutionality of the Nevada Ethics Commission will have to be decided by a district judge from outside Clark County.

District Judge Michael Cherry explained Thursday that he was reluctantly stepping down from the case involving a legal challenge to the Ethics Commission by Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates to avoid being caught up in the inherent conflicts in the case.

He was the last eligible judge in Clark County who could have heard the case. Every other judge assigned to her civil caseloads plus two senior judges previously recused themselves from the politically sensitive case.

The court case revolves around a lawsuit Atkinson Gates filed earlier this year contesting findings by the Ethics Commission that she had violated state laws and ethics rules over concession contracts awarded at McCarran Airport's new D-Gate.

In stepping aside Cherry said, "I feel most uncomfortable making a decision for or against Commissioner Gates."

He noted that all of the court's employees are funded with county dollars as are the court's operations.

In addition, he pointed out that Atkinson Gates' husband, Chief District Judge Lee Gates, is the administrative head of the court system in Clark County.

"We need to ensure there is no connection with any participants," Cherry said. "I think it is important that someone outside the jurisdiction hear the case."

The Ethics Commission admonished Gates last year for failing to disclose her relationship with Michael Chambliss and Judy Klein, who were partners in the Las Vegas business JV Ventures.

JV Ventures was one of 13 qualified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise candidates Clark County board members were asked to approve after the airport's master concessionaires had produced a list of applicants.

Atkinson Gates has known Chambliss for 17 years and during a five-year period paid him between $27,000 and $50,000 to be a political consultant for her 1996 bid for the County Commission.

Atkinson Gates' lawsuit noted that Chambliss wasn't the commissioner's only political consultant, and he has a $60,000-a-year full-time job and did not depend on her for financial security.

Klein counted money and organized fund-raisers for Atkinson Gates, but never solicited funds, the lawsuit notes.

The lawsuit alleges that the state's ethics laws is too vague when it says that elected officials should abstain from a vote when it benefits them, their relatives, any business in which they have a pecuniary interest or "any other persons."

That leaves it up to the Ethics Commission to determine on a case-by-case basis which relationships create conflict, the lawsuit notes.

The confusion over the definition of personal relationships has led to a 1-0 Las Vegas City Council vote, the cancellation of 30 items on a council agenda and a 3-0 Clark County Commission vote.

District Court Administrator Chuck Short said Thursday he signed a letter to the Nevada Supreme Court minutes after Cherry's decision asking that a district judge from another jurisdiction be appointed to rule on the issues.

Because the eventual decision could outlaw the Ethics Commission, Atkinson Gates' attorney Dan Polsenberg pushed for a quick hearing, noting the limited time the Nevada Legislature will be in session.

If a ruling outlaws the Ethics Commission, the Legislature could act to correct the flaws in the law if they are still in session, he said. But if such a decision comes after the Legislature shuts its doors, the state could be without an Ethics Commission until 2001, when the next Legislature begins.

Polsenberg said that if a visiting judge could not find time to come to Clark County, he would be willing to travel to the judge's home court to facilitate a speedy resolution.

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