Ethics board eyes county’s former public administrator

Wednesday, April 13, 2005 | 9:45 a.m.

State Ethics Commissioners this morning were expected to begin weighing this morning whether Clark County's former public administrator misused his office to gain a lucrative contract in a probate matter.

Jared Shafer, who served as public administrator until January 2003, is accused of concealing documents that would have kept him from acting as a special administrator to investigate the death of a client's son.

The 23-year public administrator said he was unaware of the details of the probate case, for which he was paid $200 an hour for his services.

Shafer, who answered questions before the state's two-member ethics panel in January, said he left office on Dec. 31, 2002, and was not contacted by his lawyer until Jan. 2, 2003. But the ethics panel found he was on the county payroll until Jan. 5.

Elyse Tyrell, Shafer's attorney, has maintained that he was contracted as a private citizen to serve in the position.

The panel voted in January to conduct a formal hearing this morning in Henderson.