Friday, Oct. 18, 2002 | 6:05 a.m.
IF YOU THINK the attorney general's race between Brian Sandoval and John Hunt is nasty, take a look at the sideshow.
Secretary of State Dean Heller and his chief legal adviser, Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa, are at war over an investigation Heller is conducting into Hunt's campaign contributions.
The retiring Del Papa is a Democrat who wants fellow Democrat Hunt to succeed her in office. She has publicly endorsed Hunt and appeared in television ads for him.
Heller is a Republican who has made no endorsement in the race, but after eight years of fighting off and on with Del Papa, he probably would love to see fellow Republican Sandoval become his next legal counsel.
Hence the backdrop for an escalating feud that is further muddying the attorney general's race and maybe creating a mini-constitutional crisis.
Heller essentially has accused Del Papa of pressuring one of her deputies to back him off the Hunt probe, which was launched at the request of the Sandoval campaign.
Del Papa denies the allegation. But just the thought that she might be playing politics with her legal advice probably is chilling to most voters.
It's a total abuse of power if it can be proven.
What's also troubling is that Heller has felt the need to level this kind of accusation against Del Papa before.
In 1995, after he became secretary of state, Heller wound up in a spat with Del Papa over whether he should allow two Assembly Democrats involved in contested races to participate in leadership elections. Heller felt there was no precedent to let the Democrats participate until their races were resolved. But Del Papa advised him to do it.
Heller reluctantly followed her advice, but he later asked the Legislature to give him his own legal counsel so he could bypass Del Papa in the future. His efforts died in the Assembly, and he has been forced to work with Del Papa ever since.
Who will end up on top in this brouhaha is difficult to predict. Heller probably has the most credibility. He is considered a straight arrow by both Republicans and Democrats.
Del Papa, however, is a fighter who has survived bloody political battles in the past. She's not going to want to leave office bearing any fresh scars.
But first she has to stop the bleeding.
In the past week Heller and Del Papa have been duking it out through a series of so-called confidential memos that have wound up in the hands of the media.
Del Papa also has taken the rift directly to reporters by granting interviews. That prompted Heller on Friday to say he's thinking about filing a complaint against Del Papa with the Nevada State Bar for breaching the confidentiality of their attorney-client relationship.
Caught in the middle of the conflict is Deputy Attorney General Kateri Cavin, a seasoned lawyer who until several days ago had represented the secretary of state for 10 years.
Heller contends Cavin advised his office Oct. 4 to ask additional questions of the Hunt campaign, which had provided information denying any wrongdoing. Heller felt he needed to do more digging, too.
But later that day, after supposedly meeting with Del Papa, Cavin told Heller's office that no further questions were necessary, which in effect meant the probe would end without any sanctions against Hunt.
Cavin, according to Heller, did a big-time "flip-flop" that benefited Del Papa's favored candidate in the attorney general's race.
Del Papa insists that she never met with Cavin.
She even sent Heller a letter Friday seeking an apology on behalf of her office.
But so far Heller is sticking to his guns.
"All we did was explain the truth," he said. "I'm not going to apologize for the truth."
If we don't find the truth here, let's hope that whoever succeeds Del Papa in office -- Sandoval or Hunt -- learns a big lesson from this.
Let's hope the next attorney general doesn't put himself in the ugly position of being accused of playing politics with his legal advice.
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