Appeal seeks county phone records
Thursday, March 30, 2000 | 9:51 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Chief Justice Bob Rose, wondering why Clark County wants to keep its telephone records confidential, said the Nevada Supreme Court on at least three occasions released its phone records to reporters.
"We have had phone records asked for and delivered by the court," Rose said Wednesday. "We have made no exception. We give everything."
His statements came during oral arguments on an appeal by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which is seeking cellular telephone records for two years for Clark County commissioners, the county manager and the airport manager. The county agreed to release some of the records but blotted out the last four digits of the telephone numbers called.
Donald Campbell, attorney for the newspaper, said the seven county commissioners were elected by the public and the public is paying the bill for the cell phones. Yet the public is being denied access to the record of telephone calls made and received.
The newspaper, he said, wants to look for government waste and to see which important people are calling county officials to wield influence.
But Clark County counsel Mary Ann Miller told the court there is a privilege not to disclose the calls because they may have been made in determining policy or talking about an issue. The newspaper, she said, was given itemized records on how many calls were incoming and outgoing, how long they took, their cost and if they were long distance or local.
After Rose made his statements about the Supreme Court disclosing its phone records, Miller said that came at a time when she had just moved to Nevada from Oregon.
"I was appalled," she said about the release of the records.
She said one call from the court was to a bordello but that anybody could have entered that office and used the telephone.
"That was not fair to the justice," she said.
Miller, citing a privacy issue involved in the protection of Clark County records, said citizens have a right to complain to those who govern without an invasion of privacy.
Campbell complained that the county, without any hearing or receiving any evidence that the calls should be private, decided on confidentiality. He said the newspaper was not asking for the content of the calls but merely the number.
He said government does not always tell the truth, and it's the job of the newspaper to verify what government says.
Miller said county commissioners look at the telephone records every month, estimating what they owe the county for their private calls, and then county employees go through the bills.
archive
- Most Read
- Discussed
- Most E-mailed
- ‘Stripper-mobile’ with live dancers raises safety, decency concerns
- Report: State’s economy worse off than any other
- Rebels survive scare from Division-II Washburn
- Study cites challenges of Nevada’s financial problems
- Tourism companies embrace social media strategies
- Freddie Roach: Miguel Cotto not the same since knockout
- Fans float replacement for UNLV football coach
- Six search warrants served on Hells Angels
- Analysts say Dean Heller’s arguments on health care don’t add up
- UNLV struggles to exhibition victory against Division II school
Blogs
Miech Again
Rebels rookie Lopez says redshirting is his best move (3 Comments)
Politics: Ralston's Flash
Lawsuit filed to block "personhood" initiative
Elsewhere
Rumors of Matt Hughes v. Renzo Gracie
The Kats Report
Ten minutes with Chelsea Handler is better than no minutes with Chelsea Handler
Business Notebook
Meeting cancellations prompting suits; economic diversification vs. growth
Now and Then
Antoine Walker doesn't know when to hold or fold 'em
TUF Heavyweights
Episode 9: Funky chickens
Calendar »
- 12 Thu
- 13 Fri
- 14 Sat
- 15 Sun
- 16 Mon
-
Las Vegas Wranglers vs. Utah Grizzlies
Orleans Hotel-Casino
-
Lily Tomlin at the Hollywood Theatre
Hollywood Theatre at MGM Grand
-
Leonard Cohen at The Colosseum
The Colosseum | 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
-
Football specials at Diablo's
Diablos Cantina
The Sun
Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.
Technorati










