Assembly panel OKs bill to repeal ethics law

Thursday, Feb. 11, 1999 | 10:45 a.m.

After representatives from conservative and liberal organizations testified in favor of AB130, the Elections, Procedures and Ethics Committee voted unanimously late Wednesday for the bill.

"This law has created a chilling effect on free speech," said Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas.

She said voters didn't need the Ethics Commission to serve as a nanny to tell them if a campaign advertisement or speech were truthful.

"The intent was to clean up campaigns, but we have to understand that voters are far more intelligent than some of us give them credit for," she said.

A law enacted two years ago gave the Ethics Commission the power to fine candidates as much as $30,000 for negative campaigning.

Senate Republicans tacked the provision onto a major campaign finance reform bill favored by Democrats. Under the campaign finance portion of the law, candidates must disclose the source of all of their contributions of more than $100.

Despite the popularity of the bill to throw out the negative campaigning sections of the law, the measure may face tough going in the Senate.

Senate Government Affairs Chairwoman Ann O'Connell, R-Las Vegas, favors letting the Ethics Commission continue as a truth-in-campaigning squad and views it as a way to reduce negative campaigning.

Giunchigliani's viewpoint Wednesday was echoed by representatives from the Nevada Eagle Forum, Nevada Concerned Citizens, the Nevada Press Association, the Independent American Party and the American Civil Liberties Union.

"If someone is out to get you or someone tells lies about you, the public soon finds out," said Francis Gillings, chairman of the IAP in Washoe County.

Press Association Executive Director Kent Lauer said if candidates thought opponents said untruthful things about them, then they should file a libel or slander lawsuit like everyone else.

Gary Peck, executive director of the ACLU in Nevada, said the law is unconstitutional.

The ACLU has joined in Assemblyman Bob Beers' federal court lawsuit challenging an Ethics Commission decision.

Beers, R-Las Vegas, was fined $5,000 in the summer by the Ethics Commission for statements he made about his primary opponent, Dennis Silvers.

The commission said Beers' campaign material was misleading although factually correct.