Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2003 | 11:17 a.m.
The housecleaning of CCSN's leadership by Board of Regents last month was spurred by fears that the college had begun a system of political patronage, a source close to the investigation said Tuesday.
The majority of regents believed there were enough questionable hirings of employees with ties to politicians to warrant the removal of Community College of Southern Nevada President Ron Remington and lobbyist and adviser John Cummings.
"The logic is beyond belief that you could end up with all of those politically connected people at one institution because of one person," the source said.
Lobbying and hiring practices at CCSN were key themes in the 1,026-page investigative report, a copy of which was obtained by the Sun.
The report notes the hiring of Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, and Assemblyman Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas. Giunchigliani was hired in the government relations department to work for Cummings. Manendo was hired as a high school recruiter.
The report also notes employees Sonya Jefferson, a friend of Assemblyman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, Topazia "Briget" Jones, a friend of Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas, and Gina Smolka, the sister of Cummings' fiancee.
Cummings, who handled CCSN's lobbying and government relations, told the investigator that he provided introductions for most of those employees but each person went through proper searches and interviews by committees, which made a hiring recommendation.
"All I can tell you is I have never picked a committee," Cummings said. "I have never been involved in a process at the college in which committee members have been selected."
Cummings noted he did serve on Giunchigliani's committee because she was applying for a position in his department.
But Al Daniels, executive director of continuing education, told the investigator he had a different take on what happened.
"Oh, I think they went through the regular procedure," Daniels said. "I think there was a committee set up. I suspect the committee was picked so that it would favorably come out in this manner. I've seen that before. And it would be my thinking that this is what happened in -- in the cases of almost every one of these people."
The report tries to lay out a picture that shows Cummings got what he wanted at the college. Cummings reportedly went to administrators and told them he had candidates for their openings. Jones said a "joke" in the front office was that Remington was the president but Cummings ran the college.
The only person who didn't go through a hiring process that included a search committee, according to the report, was Jones. She was hired in a classified position under a provision that allowed a direct hiring. Cummings said she was brought to the college's attention at the behest of Williams.
Private investigator Jeffrey Cohen's report does not show interviews with any of the people Cummings allegedly hired or pushed to hire except for Jones. Jones made the complaint that spurred the investigation.
"The only thing at issue is the hires but every single one of these people went through the proper search committee," Regent Steve Sisolak said. "I don't know what those people saw that I didn't see."
Hiring practices were not the only issue that came up in the investigator's voluminous report. The report attempted to tag Cummings as the impetus behind legislation to create four-year degrees at the college. The report also looked at Cummings' lobbying expenses and the advertising contract he brokered with Paladin.
The investigation into CCSN's lobbying activities and hiring practices came after Jones, a clerical trainee who described herself as Williams' executive assistant, filed a complaint with the chancellor's office.
Jones, alleges she was hired, promised a quick promotion, and discriminated against and when she filed a complaint with Chancellor Jane Nichols, there was an attempt to fire her.
Nichols has been criticized for her intervention in attempts to fire Jones. She is also under fire by some regents for her dual role as a witness in an investigation that she ordered.
The university system has previously said the investigator was hired and supervised by general counsel. A contract giving Cohen his authority was signed by Nichols.
"I had to authorize it," Nichols said. "That's my job as chancellor. The scope of the investigation I called for was to look into the allegations made by Briget Jones."
Nichols was also the only subject in the investigation allowed to sit in on closed session meetings held by regents on Nov. 17 and 20. Regents went over notes, letters, e-mails and the testimony of 10 people for 17 hours before voting 7-6 to demote Remington to faculty and 9-4 to remove Cummings from his administrative role and initiate proceedings to remove his tenure.
Aside from questionable hirings, the investigative report also alleged that CCSN administrators were behind a bill to create four-year degrees in nursing and teaching.
During her interview with the investigator, Nichols said she assumed Cummings was behind Assembly Bill 511, a bill to create four-year degrees at CCSN in teaching and nursing. Regents had not signed off on allowing CCSN to offer four-year degrees.
"... basically I had arrived at the conclusion that this bill had been and was being promoted by Mr. Cummings, and I said to President Remington at that point in time, you have -- if you -- you cannot be promoting this, the Legislature putting four-year degrees at CCSN, and it could cost you your job," Nichols said in an interview with Cohen.
Sisolak also said if Remington's lack of oversight led him to lose his job, then Nichols should be culpable in some way too.
"The buck stops with Jane Nichols," Sisolak said. "She is responsible for coordinating the lobbying activities and making sure presidents are in line. I never heard her say, 'I have a problem with renegade lobbyists.' "
She said the difference between her and Remington is that she responded as soon as she understood the issue. She said as soon as she learned of a connection between CCSN and AB 511, she took it to the board.
Sisolak said he wants to know more about who ordered the investigation.
"I think there are a lot of questions about how the investigation was handled and she was the one who signed off on the contract who hired the investigator," he said. "There's got to be some type of loyalty to a person who signs a $20,000 contract."
Regents have ordered a closed personnel session to question Nichols about a number of issues concerning the investigation. The session is expected to take place Thursday during the first day of the regents' two-day meeting.
The regents' meeting is also expected to include an item that would rescind the board's previous action. In a full-page ad in today's Las Vegas Review-Journal, about 100 people call for the board to rescind the action.
Regent Mark Alden, who voted against ousting Remington and Cummings, said he wants to find out how much Nichols knew about AB 511 and about how much of a part she has played in running the investigation. Nichols told the investigator that she oversaw lobbying activity by the university system and kept in touch with the lobbyists throughout the session.
Regent Linda Howard, who called for the closed personnel session with the chancellor, said she believes Nichols has been insubordinate on a number of issues. Howard voted against ousting Remington and Cummings.
"I think the chancellor has been insubordinate to the board, particularly with the Nevada State College exchange on the North Point land issue," Howard said. "By not bringing this information to the board and by having exchanges with legislators and lobbyist and employees of our institution, she went around us."
Howard is referring to a deal that fell through between Nevada State College at Henderson officials and Assemblyman Williams. The two were in talks about getting $2.5 million from the Legislature to open a satellite campus in West Las Vegas. Jones was discussed as a candidate for an administrative job at the campus.
Nichols has said that the president of Nevada State College had the authority to negotiate a lease without going to the board. Howard said he also said Nichols failed to inform the board about $8.6 million in special projects that the Legislature gave to the university system. The system did not ask for the money. She said Nichols brought that to the board's attention after the fact.
In a memo of July 31, answering questions from Regent Tom Kirkpatrick about lobbying, Nichols reviewed a handful of items the Legislature passed that the board did not ask for. She said that "historically, legislators have always picked 'favorites' off our list and also created new items that they wish to fund."
She said she had directed college and university presidents not to proceed on any of the projects until the board approved them.
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