Editorial: Don’t disband local ethics panel just yet

Friday, Oct. 4, 2002 | 9:45 a.m.

For months now members of the Las Vegas City Council have wondered whether the city's Ethics Review Board needed an overhaul. Mayor Oscar Goodman and Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald this week went so far as to call for the abolishment of the ethics panel. Goodman and Boggs McDonald noted that the Nevada Ethics Commission already has the authority to investigate complaints filed against local and state officials, so they believe a local board is an unnecessary duplication, a valid argument.

The Ethics Review Board's performance sometimes has fallen short of what the public expects -- it is a board without proper staffing and it hasn't always inspired confidence that it is capable of penalizing wrongdoing by city officials. But it is telling that the central argument made by members of the City Council for abolishing the Ethics Review Board doesn't center on the Ethics Review Board lacking teeth to do its job. They may very well be looking to get rid of a body that can cause them anguish.

If the City Council is serious about getting rid of the Ethics Review Board, it should wait until the 2003 Legislature has the opportunity to look at the Nevada Ethics Commission and determine if it needs more resources to perform thorough investigations of elected officials. Only after there are assurances that the Nevada Ethics Commission has enough power and sufficient staffing to do its job, including the investigation of local officials, should the city disband its Ethics Review Board.