Senators refute potential conflicts of interest in case

Monday, Dec. 6, 2004 | 9:24 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Sen. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, once prepared divorce papers for Controller Kathy Augustine but never filed them.

Sen. John Lee, R-North Las Vegas, ran against Augustine for controller in 2002 and lost.

Sen. Maurice Washington, R-Sparks, used Augustine's attorney, John Arrascada, to defend him against a charge that he did not pay state-required workers compensation premiums for his employees.

All three denied there was a potential conflict of interest and voted Saturday in the trial of the controller, who was convicted of misuse of state equipment in her campaign against Lee.

Amodei and Lee voted to convict Augustine on all three counts. Washington voted to acquit her on all three counts.

Augustine was convicted only of misuse of state property in her 2002 re-election campaign.

Amodei said he started the divorce proceeding but "didn't finish it." He said he turned the case file over to her and he did not know whether she had pursued it.

"I don't think I have any more of a conflict than somebody who ran against her. Her personal matrimonial matters have no relevance to what is before us now," said Amodei, chairman of the impeachment hearing in the Senate.

He said Augustine did not pay him for his legal work on her behalf.

As for Lee, he too said he had no conflict of interest, and he was "doing his duty." He said he has a legal opinion from attorneys in the Legislative Counsel Bureau that he was required to participate and vote on the impeachment.

"I couldn't play any games," he said.

He said his campaign against her two years ago was an "old issue and I have moved on. It's an old chapter in my life."

Washington said the fact that Arrascada was his attorney in a prior case had nothing to do with his vote to acquit Augustine on all three counts.

Washington said his previous relationship with Arrascada "absolutely did not" make him lean in favor of Augustine.

"What I did was weigh the testimony and the motivations behind the ones making the allegations against her (Augustine)," Washington said.

He said he thought information used in the impeachment, gained from a computer, was "tainted" because there was no way to verify that data actually came from the computer in the state office of Augustine.

"I thought it didn't rise to the level of impeachment or conviction," Washington said.