Williams passed over as education panel chairman

Thursday, Sept. 25, 2003 | 9:39 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- In the wake of bad publicity about his conduct, Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas, was passed over Wednesday for the chairmanship of the Legislative Committee on Education that meets between sessions.

Williams had been next in line to be chairman of the committee, succeeding Sen. William Raggio, R-Reno who held the post since the 2001 Legislature.

Williams has been chairman of the Assembly Education Committee for the past several sessions. The chairmanship rotates between Senate and Assembly, so the chairmanship of the interim committee has rotated between him and Raggio. But this time around Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, said he wanted the chairman's job, and he got it while Williams was not even included on the interim committee.

Raggio was named vice chairman.

Williams has been unavailable for comment for days.

The appointments to the committee were made by the Legislative Commission, headed by Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno. He said he talked to Perkins Tuesday night before the Wednesday meeting about the appointments.

Townsend said it was up to Perkins to name the Assembly members of the committee, and Perkins had had a long conversation with Williams about the post.

Asked late Wednesday why he knocked Williams off the education committee, Perkins said: "My only thought is that education is an important issue to the citizens and there should not be any distractions."

"Some allegations need to be cleared up," Perkins said, "If they are settled or corrected," then the issue of allowing Williams to serve on the committee "may be revisited."

Williams is also the speaker pro tem, who stands in for Perkins in presiding over the Assembly when Perkins is absent. Perkins said it's too early to say whether he would support Williams for president pro tem of the Assembly at the 2005 Legislature.

Williams has been in the news for several reasons recently, none of them good.

A warrant for his arrest was issued by the justice court in Reno when he failed July 30 to appear to answer a citation that he was guilty of aggressive driving. That warrant led to the revelation that he had driven for 19 months with a suspended license. He didn't pay the $600 fine to clear the warrant for his latest case until Sept. 19, on the day that the Sun and the Nevada Appeal published stories about the warrant and Williams' checkered driving record.

Williams is also under scrutiny regarding his "personal assistant," Topazia "Briget" Jones, whom he helped get a job with the Community College of Southern Nevada. Some of Jones' supervisors have tried to fire her, because they say she wasn't carrying out her assigned duties or wasn't showing up for work, but she remains employed by the college and has been given protected status. Williams also missed a $100 monthly payment due on his $15,000 fine for not filing or late submission campaign expense and contribution reports in the 2000 election. He has agreed to pay $100 a month and made the first three installments but missed the one due Sept. 1.

In other interim committee appointments made by the Legislative Commission Wednesday, Sen. Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, was named chairman of the Legislative Committee on High-Level Radioactive Waste, succeeding Assemblyman John Mortenson, D-Las Vegas who was appointed vice chairman.

And Sen. Valeria Wiener, D-Las Vegas, was selected chairwoman of the legislative subcommittee to study medical and societal costs and the impacts of obesity.

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