Friday, Sept. 24, 2004 | 11:19 a.m.
What started as a Democratic refrain has grown into a bipartisan chorus of Nevada elected officials publicly calling for state Controller Kathy Augustine to resign, although there is no indication she will.
Sen. John Ensign and Rep. Jim Gibbons, both Nevada Republicans, called on Augustine to resign following the controller's Wednesday agreement to pay a $15,000 fine for using state employees to work on her 2002 re-election campaign.
The state Ethics Commission voted 3-2 Wednesday to accept an agreement that found Augustine guilty of three willful violations of state ethics laws and imposed the fine. The admission of willful violations prompts impeachment proceedings against the controller.
Several Democratic state lawmakers, including the top Democrats in the Legislature, called for Augustine to resign within hours of the commission's decision and questioned why she would want to force an impeachment.
While none of the several Republican lawmakers interviewed Wednesday said Augustine should resign, Ensign's and Gibbons' offices released comments Thursday saying they wanted Augustine to step down.
After the Wednesday commission meeting Augustine said she would not resign, and Thursday her attorney John Arrascada said she stood by her Wednesday statement.
"She's going to continue to work for the state of Nevada in the office the voters elected her to," Arrascada said, "What occurred has nothing to do with her performance in office."
Augustine refused to answer questions Thursday.
Ensign spokesman Jack Finn said Thursday that the senator asked Augustine to resign when the two spoke on Wednesday.
"He thinks it would be best for everyone it we can put this behind us," Finn said, adding that the senator said an impeachment trial would benefit no one.
Gibbons agreed.
"I believe our state controller should do what is in the interests of Nevada's taxpayers, and that is to voluntarily step down from office," Gibbons said in a statement released Thursday.
Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., however, thinks it is a decision she has to make, spokesman Adam Mayberry said.
Gov. Kenny Guinn and state Treasurer Brian Krolicki would not say Thursday whether they thought Augustine should resign.
Guinn said he planned to meet with Augustine early next week to discuss the situation. The governor said he wanted to give Augustine a few days to reflect on what happened before giving her his opinion.
Attorney General Brian Sandoval, also a Republican, said it would be inappropriate for him to comment because his office is in a "unique position."
Sandoval's office filed the complaint against Augustine with the state Ethics Commission, and he could be the prosecutor if there is an impeachment.
Sandoval also said his office is looking into filing criminal charges against Augustine and would be the prosecutor in that case.
In addition to the elected officials, Republican consultants Steve Wark and Sig Rogich said Augustine should resign.
"She needs to step down," Rogich said. If she doesn't, he said, an impeachment would be "a painful process for her and an expensive process for the state."
The Ethics Commission decision means the state Assembly must decide whether to impeach Augustine, which would require a majority vote in the Assembly. The case would then go to the State Senate for trial. It would require a two-thirds vote from the Senate to remove Augustine from office and would make her the first statewide elected official to be impeached.
If Augustine is removed from office or resigns the governor would appoint her replacement, whose term would last until the next election.
Rogich said he hoped the controversy would bring light to the argument that the state controller's office should be combined with the state treasurer's office.
"They should eliminate it altogether for the sake of streamlining government," he said.
Wark, who said he called for Augustine's resignation in a speech he gave a month ago, said Augustine is in a"remarkably" lonely position thanks to her past behavior.
"It's unfortunate, but she has systematically created enemies out of old friends, created adversaries out of old political alliances," Wark said. "It's kind of the old adage, you see the same people on the way down as you do on the way up."
Few people are willing to come to her defense because Augustine "has been insensitive to the needs and the feelings of a lot of people in her political career," Wark said. "A lot of it is probably more personal than political."
Clark County Republican Party chairman Brian Scroggins said he thinks people should suffer the consequences of their actions. Still, he stopped short of calling for Augustine's resignation.
"As chairman of the Republican Party, my job is to get Republicans elected, not get them removed from office," he said.
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