Editorial: Inquiries should be thorough

Monday, April 5, 2004 | 9:22 a.m.

Two separate federal inquiries into Southern Nevada's largest nonprofit organization, the Equal Opportunity Board, are getting under way this week. Additionally, the state of Nevada is making plans to assume the EOB's responsibilities in the event the organization collapses, which is highly possible. It's hard to overstate the magnitude of the crisis. The EOB, formed 40 years ago in response to President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty, uses $60 million a year in state and federal money to run 30 programs for low-income families. Thousands of people, from toddlers to senior citizens, depend upon the EOB for housing, health care, day care, job training, drug rehabilitation and other critical needs.

The problems began to surface publicly in February, when EOB Executive Director Marcia Rose Walker fired Finance Director Debra Santos. A few weeks later Rose herself resigned. Trouble accelerated rapidly after that with the disclosure that the EOB could not account for $2.1 million in state and federal money -- money that was supposed to fund child-care programs. In the wake of this news, which triggered the federal inquiries, five more administrators left the EOB and two board members resigned.

For decades the EOB appeared to be serving Las Vegas well. Now it is in shambles, with the need for the federal investigations becoming more apparent every day. For example, more than the $2.1 million is missing. In a story reported last week by the Sun's Timothy Pratt, at least another $140,000 needs an accounting. Scrambling to find money to repay the missing $2.1 million, the EOB discussed selling a Las Vegas building it owns at 708 S. Sixth St. It turns out there is a federal lien on the building. The EOB obtained a $140,000 federal grant in 1997 to build an addition to the property. The addition was never built. So where is the $140,000?

Missing money. People suddenly resigning. All of this needs a full and public investigation. It won't be enough for the EOB to sell off some property and repay the money and for new people to come aboard. The public needs to know why the money went missing and who's accountable. Referring to the people who have left the EOB, Nevada Human Resources Director Mike Willden said, "If you don't have any people that can answer questions, it makes it that much more difficult." In our view, if any of those people can shed light on what happened, they should be interviewed, even if subpoenas are necessary. No stone, or person, should be left unturned as this investigation proceeds.