Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Judge: No fines over disclosure

CARSON CITY -- A district judge ruled today that political candidates who refused to disclose personal financial information required by the state Ethics Commission could not be fined.

District Judge William Maddox of Carson City said the Ethics Commission does not have the power to determine if the information on the financial disclosure forms is adequate.

It was a victory for the Independent American Party. Twenty-six of its candidates in the last election declined to reveal the financial information sought by the Ethics Commission.

"This is great news," said Joel Hansen, a Las Vegas attorney for the party. The candidates who refused to reveal their finances showed a lot of courage, facing fines ranging up to $5,000, he said.

In addition to the 26 IAP members, one Democrat declined to reveal their finances.

Jim Ferrence, a political analyst and campaign manager with Paladin Advertising for the past 10 years, said this ruling means that candidates who fully disclose "will be at a competitive disadvantage" against those who do not reveal similar information.

Ferrence said all of the candidates he represents "have no problem with full disclosure." But with this ruling, he questions, "what is the sense of having the report?"

"The language of this is that candidates still will have to file the reports, but there will be no consequences for those who choose not to file or purposely deceive," he said.

Political consultant Mike Sullivan said candidates will likely still file financial disclosures even if they are not required because not doing so could create the appearance of hiding something.

"It would probably become just like tax returns," Sullivan said. "It might be a way to send a message that I have nothing to hide. The question is if you don't have a certain set of (requirements on) what you must file, you could hold stuff back. You can choose to disclose some things and not others."

Sullivan said the ruling could open the door to more abuse.

"I think it opens up a real Pandora's box when it comes to disclosure," Sullivan said. "On the campaign end of, it creates more work because you have to go and find out more about your opponent. I wouldn't even know where to begin. You'd have to hire a P.I. to find out information."

But Hansen said government is "getting more invasive into private information."

"People have a right to privacy," he said. "Government should not be Big Brother."

Hansen said those who run for political office face a "burden of exposing their private life to the whole world." In addition, he said, the financial disclosure form requires listing of family finances.

Stacy Jennings, executive director of the Ethics Commission, said she has not received a copy of the Maddox ruling. She said the decision is not against the Ethics Commission. Rather, she said, the commission asked the judge for a clarification of the law. Now that the judge has ruled, she said the issue can be presented to the Nevada Legislature to decide if it wants to amend the law.

Earlier this year the Ethics Commission could not decide whether to impose or lower the fines. So it sought a determination from Maddox on whether it had the power to discipline people who don't submit the data.

"The Nevada Commission on Ethics does not have the power to determine whether a financial disclosure statement is adequate for purposes" of the law, Maddox wrote. He said civil fines cannot be imposed against those who did not submit the information.

But he said the commission has the right to fine those who submitted their financial disclosure statements past the deadline.

Maddox said the executive director of the commission has the power to review the financial disclosure documents to determine if they were filed on time. "This is the limit of review possible by the executive director," he added.

Maddox said that three of the candidates -- "Buffalo" Jim Barrier, Christopher H. Hansen and Mark Holloman -- are subject to mandatory fines for submitting their statements past the May 30, 2002, deadline.

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