Editorial: Conflicts of interest deserve top priority

Thursday, March 8, 2001 | 9:37 a.m.

It is disheartening that the Clark County Commission rejected Chairman Dario Herrera's bid to require county agency chiefs to divest themselves of outside business relationships. Instead, the commission voted to require division managers with decision-making powers to publicly disclose these interests.

Herrera brought forward his proposal after it was revealed earlier that the city of Las Vegas' deputy planning director had a minority interest in land owned by a developer. Sadly, a majority of the commissioners missed the point of Herrera's proposal, with Commissioner Chip Maxfield questioning the need for a divestiture policy if no conflicts had been discovered before at the county. But part of government's role is to head off trouble, including conflicts of interest, before it happens. There is no reason why high-salaried government employees should be involved with industries they're supposed to be regulating.

archive