State ethics panel dismisses complaint against state senator

Friday, Sept. 12, 2003 | 9:46 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A panel of the state Ethics Commission has dismissed a complaint that Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus was guilty of a conflict of interest in voting for a budget and tax bills that resulted in pay raises for her and her husband.

The panel of Commissioners Liz Hatcher and Thom Sheets if Las Vegas said there was not just and sufficient cause for the full commission to hold a hearing. They dismissed the request for an opinion from the commission.

Titus, D-Las Vegas, is a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and her husband, Tom Wright, is also on the faculty at the school. The budget and tax bill that Titus lobbied and voted for resulted in raises for university faculty.

Bob Rose, a Las Vegas resident, filed the request in August for an opinion, claiming Titus had a conflict of interest.

When legislators can vote to tax the public to provide pay raises for their spouses and themselves, "this is rotten," Rose said Thursday.

The Legislature authorized a 2 percent pay increase, effective next July, for state workers, schoolteachers and university faculty. Rose said that since Titus' annual salary at the university is $85,000 and her husband's is $105,000, she was able to use her position as a legislator to increase her household income by $3,800 at the expense of taxpayers.

Titus could not be reached for comment Thursday, but she said last month when the complaint was filed that Rose was off base in submitting the request to the Ethics Commission. She also said she figured he filed the complaint to kick off his campaign for her Senate seat in 2002.

"She's full of baloney," Rose said Thursday. "I'm 77 years old. Why would I want to run for election?"