Editorial: Airport bids again create controversy

Thursday, March 18, 1999 | 10:18 a.m.

The Clark County Commission spent much of last year under fire after allegations surfaced that politics penetrated the awarding of potentially lucrative concessions contracts at McCarran International Airport. In response to admonitions by the state Ethics Commission, the County Commission adopted a new ethics code based largely on recommendations made by a task force that conducted lengthy hearings into the issue.

But just two weeks after passing the tougher ethics code, the County Commission is in danger of falling into the same trap it did last year. Ethics concerns again involve the County Commission's oversight of the airport. This time it involves a multimillion-dollar airport advertising contract.

The Sun's Adrienne Packer reported this week that Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt, who until her election in November was a member of the County Commission, last week called commissioners Bruce Woodbury and Erin Kenny and told them how good she believed one of the firms was that was vying for the contract. That firm, F / F / E (Forsythe, Francis and Ernaut) Associates, just also happened to have run her successful lieutenant governor bid.

Hunt was no longer a member of the County Commission when it adopted the ethics law that established a one-year cooling-off period for commissioners after they leave office. But her endorsement of F/F/E certainly ignores the spirit of the law, which was to prevent former elected officials from unfairly using their past posts to influence their ex-colleagues. Hunt should have known better. Hunt's position as the second-highest-ranking elected official in Nevada state government also makes it even more important for her to steer clear of pushing companies with which she has had a business relationship.

Hunt's unpaid lobbying on behalf of the advertising agency that ran her political campaign also revealed the first loophole in the two-week-old ethics code. The law applies the cooling-off period to former county commissioners only if they are acting as paid lobbyists.

Larry Spitler, who headed a citizens task force that drafted the ethics code, acknowledged the issue of unpaid lobbyists was not addressed. But as Spitler noted, "If you're advocating one company over another or one position over another, that is lobbying. One thing the ethics task force tried to do is clear up situations like this."

No one seriously believed that the recently passed ethics law would be the final word, contemplating every possible scenario. As these unintended oversights appear, the County Commission should amend the ethics code, starting with creating a clear ban on lobbying -- paid or unpaid -- by elected officials for one year after they leave office.