Williams hard man to contact

Tuesday, June 1, 2004 | 10:41 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- For more than seven months, there has been no phone number available for the public to contact Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas.

Even the Legislative Counsel Bureau and Williams' colleagues in the Legislature have been without his phone number, staff members said.

Williams is a prime example of why state lawmakers are being encouraged to release their telephone numbers and e-mail addresses as a convenience to the public.

The Legislative Counsel Bureau is preparing a letter to all lawmakers suggesting they provide these contact numbers so the legislators will be available to the public.

Lorne Malkiewich, bureau director, said Friday the issue was raised by Sen. Randolph Townsend at the May 24 meeting of the Legislative Commission, which he chairs.

Williams apparently may be the hardest lawmaker to find, but he is not the only one who is difficult to reach.

"We have a rough time reaching some of our colleagues," Townsend, R-Reno, said Friday. "Too many people are hard to find."

Townsend is suggesting that every lawmaker file his or her telephone number, cell number or e-mail address with the Counsel Bureau.

Malkiewich said Friday he has telephone numbers for all lawmakers except Williams. He said Williams removed his number when the controversy broke out that he received pay from the Las Vegas Neighborhood Services Department while serving in the Legislature. That was in October 2003.

Malkiewich said when he needs to contact Williams, he calls Assemblyman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, a friend of Williams, and asks Arberry to get Williams to call back.

He said it was "unusual" that a legislator would not leave some way to be directly contacted, but there was no mandate to force legislators to be accessible.