Transportation agency ads cleared by DA

Friday, July 26, 2002 | 11:14 a.m.

The Clark County district attorney's office gave a clean bill of health today to the regional transportation agency's advertising campaign, a campaign that critics say unfairly benefits an upcoming ballot question.

The ads paid for by the Regional Transportation Commission show roads choked with Los Angeles-like traffic and warn that traffic congestion will get worse unless something is done. The television spots ask viewers to call a recorded number for more information on transportation alternatives.

Critics said the advertising violates the spirit of a Nevada law that forbids tax dollars from supporting political positions, in this case a $2.7 billion transportation tax initiative coming before the voters in November.

But Clark County Deputy District Attorney Mary-Anne Miller said the advertisements did not break the rules.

"The campaign in its present form is informational," Miller said. The RTC "seemed to know what the rule was, where the line was and how not to cross it."

The automated message provides information on carpooling, the public transit system, and a warning from an RTC community coalition that transportation is getting much worse in the Las Vegas Valley. The ads and the message do not directly advocate higher taxes, but say more road miles are needed.

The RTC board is backing the tax proposal that is up for an advisory vote this November. If approved by the Legislature next spring, the tax package would provide $2.7 billion for roads and transit over the next 25 years. A quarter-cent sales tax increase would provide $2 billion of that income.

RTC General Manager Jacob Snow defended the advertisements.

"The primary function of the RTC's education campaign is as it always has been: to inform the community about transportation issues and alternatives and to encourage the use of alternative commute modes," Snow said.

"We would be derelict in our duty to inform the community if we did not include the community coalition's message and findings in our public education campaigns," he said.

Ingrid Reisman, RTC spokeswoman, said the budget for the agency's advertising is unchanged from last year -- $1.2 million.

She said the agency has a responsibility to convey a key coalition finding: "If we don't do something to change the way we are commuting, we are facing gridlock."

The district attorney's office looked into the question of the RTC advertisements at the request of Clark County Manager Thom Reilly. The attorneys already were looking at a separate newspaper advertisement placed by the University Medical Center, he said.

Reilly said he never saw anything problematic in the RTC ads.

The RTC's defense and the district attorney's judgment did not mollify a critic of the advertising campaign.

"Is it an issue ad, or is it an advocacy ad?" said Paul Brown, Southern Nevada director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, a watchdog group.

Government agencies can pay for issue advertising under the state law. Advocacy ads, however, are out of bounds.