Attorney general won’t push for takeover of ethics panel

Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2003 | 9:01 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Saying he does not want to become an "empire builder" in state government, Attorney General Brian Sandoval said he will drop plans to gobble up the tiny state Ethics Commission if it objects.

Sandoval had proposed taking over the three-employee commission, maintaining that the attorney general's office could offer more legal and investigative services.

On Tuesday, Ethics Commission Chairman Todd Russell said his agency should retain its independence from the attorney general's office. A takeover could raise questions of conflicting interests, he said.

"This is not a hostile takeover," Sandoval's press secretary Tom Sargent said Tuesday. "If (Ethics Commission members) don't want to do it, (Sandoval is) fine with that."

Russell said the members of the commission, which has part-time status, also were concerned that there was no money for investigations in the state budget proposed by Gov. Kenny Guinn. The commission wants $10,000 a year to help Executive Director Stacy Jennings in conducting investigations.

It is also asking $15,000 for legal help for the commission's counsel, Nancy Lee Varnum, in dealing with a growing number of cases.

Jennings told the Assembly Ways and Means Committee that she expects considerably more requests for advisory opinions from public officers and also more complaints against public officers. The reason for the possible increase, she said, is the elimination of the Las Vegas Ethics Review Board.

Those cases will now come to the state organization, she said.

Guinn has recommended that the commission's budget go from the current $319,003 to $347,262 next year and $346,031 the following year.

Jennings also said she wants $1,000 for a security system at the commission's office so that an employee could push a "panic button" to summon police if a danger arises. She said she was working one night when a man who appeared agitated and had a ticking package came to the door.

The situation was resolved peacefully, she said, but added that the area is not patrolled by Capitol police.

Also Tuesday the Assembly Ways and Means Committee heard a plea from Janine Hansen of the Independent American Party that it eliminate all money that goes to the commission for investigating campaign practices. She argued the law giving this power to the commission violates the Constitution.