Augustine to attend Senate session

Friday, Nov. 26, 2004 | 11:02 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- State Controller Kathy Augustine will make her first personal appearance Monday in the impeachment procedures in the Legislature to answer charges she misused her office.

Augustine said she will go to the Senate to enter a plea to the charges that she should have known that some of her office workers were doing campaign work and using state equipment during her 2002 re-election effort.

Augustine said today that she was "not at liberty" to discuss how she will plead. Claire J. Clift, secretary of the Senate, said Augustine can plead not guilty, guilty or contest the sufficiency of the charges.

Augustine attorney John Arrascada said she would plead "not guilty." He said he and Dominic Gentile, the other defense lawyer, are preparing for trial.

He declined to say whether anything would be filed today contesting the sufficiency of the evidence. The lawyers have until midnight to file any pre-trial motions.

Augustine said she has heard estimates a trial could last two to three weeks.

The Republican controller, now in her second term, did not appear at the Assembly when it considered the allegations and decided to issue a bill of impeachment that was delivered to the Senate.

She said she was not needed at that session, which is akin to a grand jury or a preliminary hearing in justice court to determine if there is sufficient evidence for a criminal charge.

Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt will convene the Senate and then ask for Augustine's plea. If she contests the charges, the Senate will go into a committee of the whole to consider if there is sufficient evidence to proceed.

If the Senate finds there is adequate evidence, then it will reconvene on Wednesday to start the trial. It will be held in a committee of the whole with Sen. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, presiding.

Augustine would not speculate on the outcome. A conviction could result in her being suspended or removed from office.

She agreed to a $15,000 fine by the state Ethics Commission and admitted to three counts that she should have known that her employees were working on her campaign during office hours; that the state's computer system was used for such things as campaign record keeping and that other office equipment was improperly used.

The Ethics Commission sent the agreement to the Legislature for further consideration. After a special session was called earlier this month, the Assembly quickly passed articles of impeachment.

This is the first impeachment proceeding in Nevada history. Clift said she has studied other states where impeachments have been held.

"In other states, the quickest I've seen is six weeks in Pennsylvania," she said, referring to a 1994 case. She said the 1998 impeachment process in Arizona of the governor took more than two months.