Editorial: Tougher standards are needed

Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2001 | 8:57 a.m.

An audit of the Clark County public defender's office released Monday said that Public Defender Morgan Harris not only operated a soda machine illegally in the building's lobby -- as was first reported by the Sun in August -- but the audit also found that he had lawyers in the office run personal errands for him. Harris retired earlier this year and no longer is the public defender.

More important than Harris' past failures, however, is the future operation of the public defender's office. County Manager Thom Reilly already has made sure that the County Commission approved a performance contract for Harris' successor, Marcus Cooper. The contract contains provisions that will measure his work, and that of his agency, to make sure that specific standards are met, a challenge that Cooper appears ready for. Establishing guidelines, and then continuously checking them to see that they're followed, will improve the workings and accountability of the public defender's office.

What is even more encouraging is that Reilly isn't stopping there -- he wants division chiefs, managers and supervisors in Clark County government to be subjected to a review similar to the one used to assess Cooper's performance. Among those areas to be reviewed are standards for fiscal and operational responsibilities, personnel management, community relations and service delivery. For that matter, the kind of audit that has been recently completed of the public defender's office should be conducted on other divisions and departments that report to Reilly.

Earlier this year the state Ethics Commission determined that Bill Barrett, a longtime facilities chief for Clark County, used his position of authority to pressure employees to work on political campaigns. It's possible that there are other county supervisory personnel who are either pushing the envelope on ethics or not doing their jobs as well as they should.

An obstacle that Reilly will run into, as he seeks greater accountability, is taking to task those department heads who have curried favor with one or more county commissioners, the very people that Reilly himself reports to. If the county commissioners genuinely want the departments to run properly, work ethically and provide the kinds of services that residents demand, then it will be important for them to support Reilly in this effort.