Editorial: New rules on ethics are worthy

Monday, Nov. 17, 2003 | 9:48 a.m.

In April Clark County Manager Thom Reilly circulated a memo among elected and appointed officials reminding everyone of the county's ethics policy. He was alarmed when Commissioner Mark James revealed he had been lobbied on a controversial development issue by Erin Kenny, who had left the commission in January after serving two terms. Following several high-profile ethical lapses, the commission in March 1999 had adopted new standards as recommended by an ethics task force. Among them was a provision that ex-commissioners must wait a year after leaving office before lobbying the county. Kenny's denial that she violated the rules when lobbying James is what prompted Reilly's memo. In response, commissioners Rory Reid and Bruce Woodbury called for the task force to be reconvened and for the ethics codes to be reviewed and rewritten where necessary. They want ed to ensure that the codes were free of loopholes, that they had some teeth, and that they would be given priority status.

The commission agreed to reconvene the task force, which spent the summer reviewing and tightening the codes. On Tuesday the commission will discuss the work of the task force and could decide to have a resolution written to adopt the revised codes. If they approve a resolution, a final vote could come as early as January or February. We support the new recommendations and hope the county on Tuesday moves forward with them.

One of the new provisions removes any ambiguity about the yearlong "cooling off" period for ex-commissioners. It says, simply, that they are not allowed to participate in any lobbying during the 12 months following their leaving the commission. Kenny had argued that the rule did not apply to her because the specific development issue she was lobbying for had never come before her while she was on the commission. The new rule should end such specious interpretations.

The new rules, which also offer improved versions of abstention, disclosure and gift policies, would be enforced by the Nevada Ethics Commission if a recommendation by the task force is followed. The Ethics Commission has the power to levy fines for infractions, which adds some teeth to the codes. We hope a review of the county's ethics codes can become a regularly scheduled exercise. Its worth has been shown by these latest recommendations.