Editorial: Don’t listen to this feeble old excuse

Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2004 | 9:16 a.m.

State Controller Kathy Augustine's impeachment trial in the Nevada Senate begins in earnest Wednesday. Dominic Gentile, a Las Vegas attorney who is defending Augustine, has chosen an old excuse for one of the main arguments he will make before the senators. It's the "everybody else does it" line that children often try on their parents at least once in hopes of evading responsibility for misbehavior. Good parents dismiss the argument immediately and use it as a chance to further teach their child. Just because someone else breaks the rules doesn't mean it's OK for you to do it. We hope this basic childhood lesson stays in the forefront of senators' thoughts as they listen to Gentile.

In September, in an agreement with the Nevada Ethics Commission, Augustine stipulated to three "willful" violations of the state ethics law. The violations were committed during Augustine's 2002 re-election campaign, when she directed members of her controller's staff, who were state employees, to work on her re-election campaign. She allowed them to work during hours the taxpayers were paying their salaries, and she allowed them to use state equipment. In order to avoid a full public hearing -- and a full revelation of the extent of her use of state employees and state equipment for her campaign -- Augustine agreed to stipulate to the violations and accept a $15,000 fine. Because the violations were "willful," the Legislature was obligated to begin impeachment proceedings. The Assembly voted for impeachment earlier this month and the Senate began her tria l this week.

Gentile has told this newspaper that the practice of using government workers in campaigns goes on at all levels of government. The point of this argument, for Gentile, is that the Senate's prosecutor must prove that Augustine's behavior went beyond what is normal for all elected officials, including members of the Legislature. He will argue that an ethics violation of this nature is "commonplace and generally accepted," and therefore Augustine should be allowed to remain as controller with perhaps only a censure as her penalty.

This is a tactic that has no place in the proceeding, just as it would have no place in a regular court trial. Obviously, a finding in agreement with Gentile's argument would deal a death blow to all ethics laws. An "everybody does it" precedent, based on nebulous assumptions, would make enforcing any ethics law nearly impossible. What the Senate must decide is whether Augustine violated the state's ethics laws, period. It is Augustine who is on trial, and it is the evidence against her that alone must be weighed.