Examiners OK ethics request

Wednesday, July 14, 2004 | 9:18 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A request by the state Ethics Commission for an emergency allocation of $53,113 to establish a Las Vegas office was approved Tuesday by the state Board of Examiners.

The commission has seen its caseload increase 61 percent, with about a third of the total number of cases coming from Southern Nevada, and wants to hire a paralegal who would help handle the caseload.

The request now goes to the legislative Interim Finance Committee, which must approve the money.

The commission asked for $101,998 to get through this fiscal year, which began July 1. But it was reduced so the commission could go to the 2005 Legislature, which convenes in February, to provide the remainder of the funding.

The examiners board, which is made up of the governor, the secretary of state and the attorney general, on Wednesday also approved a contract for the Ethics Commission to hire a second-year law student at the UNLV Boyd School of Law to do investigations and paralegal research.

Christopher Hazlett-Stevens of Reno will receive $25 an hour to help in certain complex investigations. He was a former investigator for the State Bar of Nevada.

Hazlett-Stevens will be paid with $15,000 left over from last year's budget, Stacy Jennings, the commission's executive director, said.

Jennings said that Hazlett-Stevens will mostly be involved in statutory investigations and won't "be going out on surveillance."

In another matter, the board said 83-year-old Jeannette SanSoucie of Las Vegas did not need to repay $4,059 she received from the victims' fund to pay for medical expenses, after she received a $30,000 legal settlement in the case.

SanSoucie was attacked as she was leaving church and was "severely traumatized," according to the report from the crime victims program.

The board agreed SanSoucie did not have to repay the $4,059 because of her advanced age and the small amount.