Columnist Jeff German: System creates unethical conduct

Friday, April 18, 2003 | 4:39 a.m.

A GOOD DISCUSSION of ethics is guaranteed to dampen the spirits of an elected official in Southern Nevada.

Enforcing ethical behavior, you see, doesn't work here.

The city of Las Vegas established a code of ethics in 1991, but last December after years of failing to make ethics charges stick against even a single official despite many attempts, it scrapped the code.

The Clark County Commission passed an ethics policy in March 1999, but didn't bother to set up penalties for those who violated the rules, and today it's paying for that omission.

Commissioners now are facing another discussion on ethics in the near future, thanks to the reckless lobbying efforts of former Commissioner Erin Kenny on behalf of her political benefactor, developer Jim Rhodes.

As first reported here last week, it appears as though Kenny shamelessly violated a one-year cooling-off period when she began lobbying her successor, Commissioner Mark James, the day after she left office.

Her mission was to persuade James -- by whatever means possible, even political threats -- to support plans by Rhodes to develop a massive subdivision on the edge of scenic Red Rock Canyon.

In the wake of Kenny's conduct, two commissioners, veteran Bruce Woodbury and freshman Rory Reid, said Friday they want to finish the job that should have been done four years ago. They want to add penalties for those who violate the cooling-off period.

"If we're going to have a policy, we need to have a way of enforcing it," Woodbury said.

Added Reid, "It's obvious that this is an area where we need to make some changes."

County Manager Thom Reilly also boarded the ethics revival train on Friday.

Reilly said there was talk of bringing back the 10-member citizens task force that put together the 1999 ethics policy. He scheduled a meeting with the district attorney's chief civil lawyer, Mary-Anne Miller, to discuss other options.

But let's not be so quick to hand out applause here. Our elected leaders over the years have given us plenty of reason to be skeptical of such a renewed interest in ethics because they operate in a system of government that encourages unethical behavior.

It is a system that allows part-time politicians to pursue their own business interests while they conduct the business of the public. And it is a system that gives the wealthy with personal agendas the ability to influence political campaigns with unlimited contributions to their candidates of choice.

The temptations are just too great to expect elected officials to act honorably all of the time.

In the Red Rock case, if the commissioners were so concerned about the appearance of impropriety on Kenny's part, no one at all, especially James, would have given the former commissioner the time of day.

James only exposed Kenny's lobbying to defend himself against allegations he violated the ethics of his legal profession during the Red Rock fight.

And if you think District Attorney David Roger is anxious to prosecute future ethics cases involving county commissioners, think again.

Roger knows the political perils of doing that. His office not only gives legal advice to the commission, but it also relies on the commission to approve its operating budget.

"The County Commission is my client," he said. "I can't turn around and prosecute my client."

The truth is that no matter what the County Commission does in the coming weeks to strengthen ethics laws, unethical behavior will never be fully curbed until the potential for conflicts of interest is removed from the system.

That will only happen when the job of commissioner is full-time and there are stricter limits on campaign contributions.