Lawmaker’s role questioned in amending Tahoe pier bill

Brendan Riley

Tuesday, April 20, 1999 | 9:10 a.m.

CARSON CITY - There were no ethical violations in the way that a Senate committee handled a bill that could help a powerful casino lobbyist build a private Tahoe pier, the panel chairman says.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Mark James also said he was hit with "malicious, untrue statements" from critics who said the amended bill passed despite his firsthand knowledge of opposition in Glenbrook to Harvey Whittemore's pier plans.

James, who stays in the historic, upscale community during the session, declared a conflict and abstained from voting on SB192 last Friday in the Senate. He also didn't participate in a committee hearing on the bill.

But his critics said their concern is that the bill got as far as it did with virtually no notice to many people affected by its terms.

"The Glenbrook community was blindsided by this," said Bud Hicks, who has a home in the Tahoe community and as a lawyer has been helping the Glenbrook Homeowners' Association fight the pier plans on other fronts.

"This is purely private-interest legislation and there was no notice to anyone," he added. "There's a pretty serious abuse of the legislative process here."

Mark Gunderson, the lead lawyer for the homeowners in a pending legal case that involves Whittemore, said there's "an unholy alliance" between James, Whittemore and Larry Ruvo, who with the lobbyist bought and later sold the golf course at Glenbrook.

Gunderson said he was in the middle of settlement negotiations to resolve the lawsuit over one pier-building plan by Whittemore and Ruvo, but was told nothing of the separate legislation that could give Whittemore a legal leg up.

"At no time was this crass special-interest legislation discussed," he said.

There's another lawsuit involving Ruvo in a dispute over rodeo grounds at Glenbrook, and Hicks said that case also could be affected by the amended SB192 - in Ruvo's favor.

A third court case involves a maintenance facility dispute - in which James represented another homeowner against the association. But James said SB192 would have no affect on that case - which he won and which resulted in a court order granting him atttorneys' fees. He said the criticism against him "was motivated by the fact they lost the lawsuit."

James also was present at a March 26 meeting with Tahoe Regional Planning Agency staffers where representatives of the Homeowners Association and Whittemore debated a proposed ban on new piers in Glenbrook Bay.

"He sat at Harvey's right hand," Gunderson said. In advance of the meeting James submitted a letter on behalf of Ruvo asking for a continuance "with the hope of avoiding any harsh consequences for all concerned."

Douglas County Commissioner Don Miner, who recently urged fellow commissioners not to rescind their stated opposition to new piers in Glenbrook, also was critical of James.

"What are committee chairmen for, if not to keep amendments pursuant to the body of the bill?" he asked.

When asked whether he had an ethical problem, James said, "Absolutely, positively not. My thing was to stay uninvolved and not vote, which is exactly what I did."

While many Glenbrook residents and their representatives said they were unaware of the amendment, James added, "Half those people are from California. It's absolutely not my responsibility to call them."

"The bill was posted like every other bill," he said, adding, "I assume they watch the legislative process."

Whittemore said the critics who questioned the way in which the bill moved through the Senate "know the Legislature meets every two years and that there are bills dealing with these subjects ... They're not babes in the woods."

SB192 was introduced in mid-February by Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas. It started out as a bill limiting terms of officers on boards governing "common-interest communities" such as Glenbrook.

As the deadline for committee action on bills neared, James' committee amended and passed SB192 and sent it to the Senate floor.

James turned the committee gavel over to Sen. Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, who said Harvey was the only person to testify on the pier amendment and "never mentioned it was a personal bill or a personal issue. I didn't know about that until I read about it in the paper."

Asked about the amendment that bears on the lawsuit over the pier, Whittemore insisted it "simply restates the existing provisions governing easements which say that unless something is specifically prohibited it's allowed."

Whittemore added that the amended bill is a good one and the changes were sought by a group of people - not just him and Ruvo, and two other families who would own the pier.

SB192 is now in the Assembly Commerce and Labor Committee, and Chairwoman Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, says it's be "weighed very carefully" after the panel hears testimony from all sides.