Dispute causes Heller to ask for counsel change

Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2002 | 9:39 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A senior state deputy attorney general who has advised the secretary of state's office for years on legal matters has been pulled off the job after being embroiled in an election law dispute.

Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa first denied but later confirmed that Senior Deputy Attorney General Kateri Cavin would not continue as legal counsel for Secretary of State Dean Heller.

Del Papa said Heller had requested Cavin be replaced after there was a disagreement involving the handling of a complaint filed by Republican attorney general candidate Brian Sandoval against Democrat candidate John Hunt.

Del Papa said three times early Tuesday that Cavin had not been replaced. But Senior Deputy Attorney General Jim Spencer was assigned last Friday to replace Cavin. Spencer showed up for his first meeting Tuesday with the secretary of state's office.

Hours after that, Del Papa said that Cavin had been reassigned.

Deputy Secretary of State Renee Parker refused to say if Heller had asked that Cavin be replaced. She said there were confidential memos between her office and Del Papa's office.

Cavin could not be reached for comment.

Last week Heller accused Del Papa's office of playing politics with the Sandoval-Hunt issue. Del Papa, a Democrat, has endorsed Hunt. Heller, a Republican, said then he would no longer use the attorney general's office to get to the bottom of the allegations by Sandoval.

Del Papa denied politics were involved in what may have been a change in direction of advice from the attorney general's office.

The complaint against Hunt, filed with the secretary of state's office, was brought by Peter Ernaut, campaign manager for Sandoval, who suggested the law has been broken that prohibits making a campaign contribution in the name of another.

Ernaut said at least $158,500 out of $582,000 in Hunt collections came from the Vestin Group, its founder Michael Shustek and company employees. He questioned whether these workers received raises or bonuses to cover the contributions or whether they served as a "pass through" for Shustek to circumvent contribution limits.

Heller directed Hunt to answer the complaint on Sept. 23. But he said the answer he got from Hunt's lawyer Donald Campbell of Las Vegas was not satisfactory.

After meeting with Cavin, he decided to ask Hunt, Shustek and the 41 employees who gave money for statements whether this money had been funneled through them.

He said Cavin advised him he had the authority to seek affidavits.

Shortly after that, Hunt's campaign released a document in which 30 of the employees said they voluntarily contributed their own money and were not a front for Shustek.

Here the story gets confusing. Cavin said the document distributed by the Hunt campaign appears to answer the questions sought by Heller.

In her memo, she also said that Heller appears to be departing from previous practices in which he did not ask for affidavits in previous similar investigations. Cavin said, "To now ask for an affidavit appears to depart from your previous format for handling these types of investigations and it is my opinion that imposing such a requirement is not legally advisable."

But Parker said Cavin held the opinion that the office did have the authority and changed it within hours after giving contrary advice. Heller said sworn affidavits were sought in the previous case of Clark County Commissioner Lance Malone and that action was taken on the advice of Cavin.

Heller, in a memo to Del Papa on Oct. 4, said that in view of her endorsement of Hunt "and your office's sudden, inexplicable and complete reversal of position on this matter, I do not feel it is appropriate for the attorney general's office to direct how we conduct a preliminary inquiry into a potential violation of state election law. Therefore, we will no longer seek your input on this matter."

Parker said Tuesday her office intends to send out the questions to Shustek, the 41 employees and Hunt today or Thursday and give them up to 10 days to answer.

Heller, in past years, has sought permission from the Legislature to hire his own lawyer rather than relying on advice from the attorney general's office.