Christensen faces intense scrutiny

Kirsten Searer

Wednesday, March 31, 2004 | 11:34 a.m.

Legislators typically can buy themselves lunch with campaign funds and turn in receipts with few problems.

But now that Assemblyman Chad Christensen, R-Las Vegas, is being investigated by the secretary of state's office, it's almost as though he is being audited by the IRS, said Steve George, a spokesman for the secretary of state's office.

That means he must explain all of his expenses -- from the $5.94 lunch he ate at Burger King on Aug. 25, 2003, to the $18.18 he spent on Sept. 20, 2003, at Barnes & Noble.

Also up for investigation: More than $18,000 in checks he wrote to himself from campaign funds in 2003. Christensen claims he was reimbursing himself for loans he made to his campaign.

Christensen turned in an amended campaign finance report -- including receipts, credit card statements, mileage forms and other supporting materials -- last Friday after the secretary of state's office asked him to clarify his January finance report.

The issue came to light after one of Christensen's constituents filed a complaint against him in February asking for clarification on why Christensen gave himself the campaign money.

So far, George said, he cannot comment on whether Christensen's numbers seem to add up.

"That's probably going to take at least a week," he said.

But Christensen's CPA, Richard Bowler, said he has gone over the numbers, and save for a few receipts missing from months ago, Christensen can account for everything.

"You have to realize that over a period of time, things get misplaced," Bowler said. "And maybe every penny isn't accounted for. But it's accounted for in my mind."

Bowler called the problems "honest mistakes."

"We obtained the receipts and records from Chad Christensen's campaign office and went through every one of them in detail," Bowler said. "We amended the report mainly because there were classification problems that people who put it together in his office didn't understand what they were doing."

Bowler pointed out that Christensen already has provided more supporting material than most candidates do -- by law, they are not required to provide receipts for their expenditures, only to outline them in finance reports.

Per state statutes, candidates are allowed to spend campaign contributions on expenses related to volunteers, travel, advertising, paid staff, consultants, polling, special events, and "other miscellaneous expenses."

There are ongoing feuds over how much candidates should have to disclose. Secretary of State Dean Heller has repeatedly asked the Legislature to give him auditing powers over finance reports, but they have not voted in his favor, George said.

"This has been a never ending battle to try to get more disclosure," he said. "Most politicians say they're for it, but then the laws don't change very much."

Candidates should have to be as specific about how they spend their money as they are about which industries, such as gaming, give to them, said Paul Brown, the Southern Nevada Director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada.

Candidates don't have to give reasons why they spent money on items such as dinner, lunches or air fare, he said.

"I think you should have as tight of disclosure on the expense side," he said."