Station Casinos settles fine over political flier

Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2002 | 11:13 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- An out-of-court settlement has been reached between the state and Station Casinos and one of its former executives over unsigned campaign fliers against former County Commissioner Lance Malone.

Deputy Attorney General Paul Taggart said Monday that Station Casinos and Mark Brown have each agreed to pay a $5,000 fine and that the state will dismiss its lawsuit against the two.

In the settlement, Station and Brown admit no wrongdoing.

Taggart said Station and Brown have also agreed to drop their suit in Clark County District Court challenging the constitutionality of the law that prohibits unsigned political advertisement.

Still pending is a federal suit by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada contesting whether the law violates free speech rights.

Brown said he did not know details of the settlement and referred questions to Todd Bice, lawyer for Station Casinos.

Bice said the casino company "was tired of paying attorney fees and wanted to get rid of the expense."

The lawyer said he expected to see the 2003 Legislature change the law, which he called "ridiculous and unconstitutional."

The Nevada Supreme Court was scheduled to hear arguments today over whether the state's suit, filed Sept. 26, 2000, in Carson City, could be moved to Las Vegas. District Judge Mike Griffin had granted a change of venue on the request by the gaming company and Brown. The state appealed.

The Supreme Court hearing was canceled Monday. After the cancellation, it was disclosed by the attorney general's office the settlement has been reached.

Tom Skancke, who was also accused of distributing the unsigned material, has already paid a $3,500 fine.

Brown, a former Station vice president, Skancke, who had a contract with the company, and the company were accused of distributing a campaign flier to more than 39,000 voters criticizing Malone for vote switching.

Malone was defeated in the primary election in 2000.

Brown and Skancke have maintained it is a freedom of speech issue. Nevada law requires election literature to contain the names and addresses of the people who publish it.

The two put together a flier to discredit Malone after he changed his mind and voted for a casino in southwest Las Vegas, which was opposed by Station Casinos.

At the time, Skancke was paid $5,000 a month by Station Casinos to handle public relations and Brown was executive vice president of government affairs. The contract with Skancke was ended and Brown later resigned his position.

The flier had a caricature of Malone with the headline "You Just Can't Trust Lance Malone," and it detailed his stand on neighborhood casinos. Station Casinos had donated campaign money to Malone, who initially said he was against the proposed casino but later changed his mind.

The state Gaming Control Board filed a complaint against Station Casinos, accusing it of failing to supervise Brown. The gaming company settled the complaint for $450,000 in October 2001.

The gaming complaint said Brown lied to his bosses that he was not involved in the anonymous campaign material. It said he threatened Malone with an FBI investigation and further political mailers if Malone did not withdraw a suit the commissioner filed to learn who was behind the political material.

In the federal suit challenging the constitutionality of the state's anonymous campaign flier law, U.S. District Judge David Hagen had rejected the claim by the ACLU that it was invalid.