Ethics panel OKs double payments

Thursday, June 19, 2003 | 10:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A panel of the state Ethics Commission today dismissed a complaint against Gov. Kenny Guinn and former state Public Safety Director Richard Kirkland, who were accused of improper conduct of what has been called double-dipping on the state payroll by Kirkland.

The commission panel of Liz Hatcher of Las Vegas and Jim Kosinski of Reno found there was no "just and sufficient cause" for the full commission to hold a hearing on the allegations filed by former Carson City Sheriff Paul McGrath.

The panel adopted the recommendation of Commission Executive Director Stacy Jennings, who said she found that the process for allowing some executives in the Public Safety Department to draw both state retirement and state salary was done according to the law.

Jennings said she "found no credible evidence within the complaint or elsewhere that either Governor Guinn or Director Kirkland used their position in government to secure or grant unwarranted privileges, preferences, exemptions or advantages for himself, any member of his household, any business entity in which he has a significant pecuniary interest, or any other person."

The 2001 Legislature enacted a law permitting retired state workers who were deemed to be in critical government positions to draw both their retirement and their pay. The goal was to draw retired teachers back into the classroom in hard-to-find categories such as math, science and special education.

The state Board of Examiners, headed by Guinn, determined that Kirkland, as public safety director, was in a critical position and should be allowed to receive both his annual retirement of an estimated $68,000 and his $102,000-a-year salary.

It also decided Kirkland's assistant, David Kieckbusch, and an executive assistant, Jan Capaldi, and some others in the department were in critical and hard to fill positions and therefore should be permitted to receive both pension and salary.

This drew protests from some members of the public. The 2003 Legislature considered changing the law, but the bill died and the law remains in effect.

Jennings said her investigation revealed there was only a professional -- not a business or personal -- relationship between Guinn and Kirkland.

McGrath complained that Guinn and Kirkland failed to disclose certain relationships prior to the vote by the examiners.

Jennings, in her investigation, found that Kirkland and Kieckbusch, who had worked together in the Reno Police Department and the Washoe County Sheriff's Office, had formed a corporation in 1997 called KSK Enterprises to engage in management consulting for law enforcement agencies when they retired.

The corporation did not file its renewal fees and was revoked in 1998.