Justices question IAP’s case against full disclosure

Wednesday, June 23, 2004 | 8:49 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Nevada Supreme Court justices expressed doubts Tuesday about an argument by Independent American Party members, who say political candidates do not have to disclose their assets in state-required financial disclosure statements.

A District Court judge had agreed with the IAP argument that candidates could not be penalized with a civil fine.

But Chief Justice Miriam Shearing told IAP attorney Joel Hansen Tuesday that the mandatory language in the law is that candidates must supply certain information.

Justice Bill Maupin asked what the purpose of the law is if the candidate did not have to include the information.

The court took the arguments under submission and will rule later.

Candidates for the IAP in the 2002 election declined to provide the requested information, saying the law was unconstitutional. The disclosure statements ask for such things as the source of a candidate's income, a list of real estate where the value is more than $2,500, except for a person's residences; names of creditors where more than $5,000 is owed except in case of homes and vehicles and disclosure of gifts of $200 or more in the preceding year.

District Judge Bill Maddox of Carson City ruled the state Ethics Commission could not impose civil penalties on those candidates who do not supply that information.

Nancy Lee Varnum, counsel for the Ethics Commission, said under the Maddox decision a candidate would have only to give his name and no other information. She told the court that decision "reaches an absurd result."

The statements required by law, Varnum said, are to inform the electorate and to prevent political corruption.

Hansen argued that the Ethics Commission does not have the power to determine if the answers to the questions on the disclosure form are proper. And it doesn't have the authority to impose fines on candidates.

He told the court that elected officials, not political candidates, are required to file the forms, submit their information, and then be subject to the fines if the data is not supplied. The elected officials are held to a higher standard in the law, Hansen said.

The law, he said, does not apply to political candidates because the Legislature wanted to encourage people to file for public office. He said the public can look at the statements filed by IAP candidates and judge whether the candidates answered the questions.

Justice Nancy Becker suggested there is a penalty in the law for a candidate who does not file the required information.

The 2003 Legislature passed a law that the financial statements be filed with the secretary of state, rather than the Ethics Commission. Many of the candidates of the IAP have declined in this election to give that information.

Secretary of State Dean Heller has filed a "friend of the court" brief, asking it to uphold the law that the information is required.