Commission will ask Del Papa for opinion on confidentiality

Friday, Feb. 18, 2000 | 10:57 a.m.

The confidentiality of items before the state Ethics Commission is once again in question.

The Ethics Commission on Thursday voted to ask the attorney general's office for another legal opinion on when confidential complaints should become public record.

A complaint is confidential when it is filed. In the past, when the commission found there was adequate evidence to proceed, then the records were made public. But they were kept sealed if the subject of the complaint was exonerated.

Commission members said a reading of a 1999 law seems to allow all complaints to be public after the panel either rules there is enough evidence or not enough evidence to proceed.

In January, a two-member panel of the commission held a "show-cause" hearing to determine whether there was enough evidence to proceed with a complaint against Las Vegas City Councilman Michael McDonald.

That hearing was confidential, but information about it was released after the panel ruled there was enough evidence to put part of the complaint before the full commission.

Commission Chairman Peter Bernhard said the target of the complaint would want the information released so his name could be cleared, but Commissioner Raymond "Skip" Avanzino of Reno said he feels there is no reason to disclose a complaint if the individual is cleared.

He said releasing the information might further harm the public official.

Commissioner Todd Russell of Carson City said the law appears to order the commission to release all of the information after the panel rules -- no matter which way it goes.

Former Las Vegas City Councilman Steve Miller, who has filed numerous ethics complaints against public officials, has long argued that all requests for opinions filed by third parties should be public.

Public officials also request opinions of the Ethics Commission prior to specific votes to determine their eligibility to decide on the issue. Those requests are always confidential.

Miller argues that two federal court rulings require that all written communications and show-cause hearings stemming from third-party requests should be open to the public.

In 1996 U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben of Reno ruled that complaints to the commission can no longer be sealed and are public from the time of filing.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has also ruled -- in a Hawaii case -- that such information should be public record.

Sun reporter Erin Neff contributed to this story.