Beers not giving up his ethics fight

Wednesday, June 9, 1999 | 10:44 a.m.

Assemblyman Robert Beers, R-Las Vegas, isn't ready to fork over a $5,000 fine to the Nevada Ethics Commission just yet.

Beers, who won his first term last year and plans to seek a second, said today a ruling Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Philip Pro dismissing his lawsuit against the commission does not prevent him from filing another suit.

"We still have a number of different alternatives. I don't think the judge precluded us from refiling in his court, using different technicalities," Beers said.

Beers said it appears that the decision against him in federal court was based upon a technicality.

"From what the judge's office wrote, it looks like we need to find a technical loophole answer to the attorney general's technical loophole argument," Beers said.

Beers, commenting about Pro's decision, said the Ethics Commission "states everything (I said) was true. The little issue is can I be sanctioned for true speech. The big issue is, do all the voters in District 4 have a right to hear true statements of facts before they cast their vote?"

Pro's decision to throw out Beers' suit was based on his finding that the Ethics Commission is a state agency and under the 11th Amendment is protected from being sued by private parties in federal court.

Last September the commission fined Beers for campaign material he used in his race for the Assembly that the commission said was false and misleading, even though it was factually correct.

Commissioners said Beers' flier before the Sept. 1 primary implied that his opponent, Dennis Silvers, could have been culpable in a 1996 restaurant fire that killed 66 pets in a nearby animal shelter.

Beers won the GOP primary by a margin of 2 to 1.

The ad read in part, "By November 1996, Alias Smith and Jones was over $20,000 in debt, had 13 late rent notices, before the third arson fire destroyed it, killing 66 pets at a nearby clinic. The fire is still under investigation."

The Nov. 30 fire destroyed the Las Vegas restaurant.

In his complaint, Silvers said Beers knew he didn't own the restaurant at that time, having sold it to his partner five months earlier.

"This falsely implies I am an arsonist who murdered pets," Silvers said.

Mary Boetsch, a Reno lawyer and Ethics Commission chairwoman, said Beers had no proof of Silvers' involvement in the fire and called the ad "blatant and foul" and "designed to be horrific."

Beers' attorney, Craig Mueller, argued after his client was fined that the flier was not unfair.

"These facts create the inference that Mr. Silvers was not a good businessman," Mueller said in a written argument. "They also create the inference that Mr. Silvers had something to do with the fire. However unpleasant these inferences are, they are not unfair."

Beers, a certified public accountant and computer consultant, said he is not seeking any penalties from the commission.

"It's not like we're trying to sue the state government for money. We're seeking to have their bad decision reversed," he said. "This is more to clear my name than to get out from under the $5,000 -- I will easily spend that in attorney's fees."