Lawmakers repay, report cost of lobbyist-funded trip to Vegas

Monday, May 3, 1999 | 2:41 a.m.

The cost reported: $39 for those who just went one way or $78 round trip. That's for two separate jets, because three Democrats were aboard one and four Republicans flew on another.

GOP Sens. Mark James of Las Vegas and Bill Raggio and Randolph Townsend of Reno reimbursed lobbyist-jet ride organizer Harvey Whittemore, so the cost of the ride didn't show up on their March expenditure reports.

Democratic Assemblymen Richard Perkins of Henderson and David Goldwater of Las Vegas did the same.

Democratic Sen. Dina Titus of Las Vegas and Republican Sen. Mike McGinness of Fallon let Whittemore report he had spent $39 and $78 on them, respectively.

"If I were to call and charter a private jet, I wonder what it would cost me?" asked Paul Brown, Southern Nevada coordinator of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada.

Legislative Counsel Bureau Director Lorne Malkiewich initially doubted the trips needed to be reported but later changed his mind.

Whittemore said Malkiewich said to "put down the value of the air travel based on the price of the airline ticket. He said to err on the side of caution."

Whittemore was unable to estimate what the actual cost of the jet trip would be. But jet fuel alone is probably more than the $78 round trip reported.

"I wouldn't call it a fraud," Brown said. "But I would call it misleading."

He questioned the amount of spending being reported by lobbyists. He has heard, but had no specifics, that lobbyists are circumventing the disclosure law by arranging events so someone else who is not a lobbyist actually picks up the tab.

Whittemore arranged the flight on the jets owned by Larry Ruvo of Southern Wines and Spirits and the casino-owning Carano family of Reno.

His monthly report, filed after a previous story on the jet trips, showed he spent $211 on legislators in March - the two rides reported as entertainment and three other expenses totalling $94.

Brown also pointed out that even when legislators are reimbursing lobbyists, the reimbursements are being paid for out of campaign donations, "which is the money they're getting from the same people."