Ex-county official cleared in ethics case

Stephen Curran

Thursday, April 14, 2005 | 10:56 a.m.

Former public administrator Jared Shafer did not violate state ethics rules when he signed onto a potentially lucrative wrongful death case just days shy of his final hours as an elected official, the state Ethics Commission found Wednesday.

The complaint alleged the 23-year county veteran knew he was still on the county's payroll when he was contacted by attorney Elyse Tyrell on Jan. 2, 2003.

Tyrell, who told the commission she had a long-term working relationship with Shafer while he was public administrator, asked him to act as a special administrator to investigate a wrongful death action filed against a Las Vegas nursing home.

Shafer was accused of accepting a job that would improperly influence his elected position; gaining unwarranted privileges, preferences or exemptions for himself; using information gathered through his public duties or relationships as a public officer for financial benefit; and seeking other employments through the use of his official position.

The five-member commission rejected three of the charges by a 4-1 margin. The charge that he used information acquired in his position for financial gain was rejected 3-2, with commissioners William Flangas and Timothy Cashman dissenting.

Cashman specifically questioned Shafer's motive in transferring the number issued to a county-owned cell phone to one he bought for personal use after the end of his term.

"He did some things that would lead some to think he was trying to use his position," he said. "It doesn't look very good to me."

Commissioner George Keele, who voted against the allegations, acknowledged that Shafer likely used connections made during his lengthy tenure in office as a basis for his private endeavor but that he could not "wash his mind out" of information he gained while in office.

Shafer and Tyrell told the board they thought his position, for which he was first appointed in 1979 and re-elected to the first of five terms in 1980, officially ended on Dec. 31, 2002.

It was later determined his term was to officially end Jan. 5, 2003, the day before current public administrator Daniel Ahlstrom took office.

The former public official, who had filed incorporation papers to form an independent consulting firm while still in office, was hired at $200 an hour as a special administrator in the case to negotiate the probate issue stemming from the possible lawsuit on behalf of an out-of-state son.

Shafer in January 2003 had incorporated his firm, Professional Feduciary Services, Inc., but had not begun practicing or soliciting business, he said. The probate matter was to be his first case.

By then, it was common knowledge among Shafer's professional associates that he was no longer a public official, he said.

"Everyone knew I was leaving," Shafer said. "I didn't go looking for business."

Had she known Shafer was still bound by his elected position, Tyrell said she would have approached another intermediary. Shafer, if he had known when asked, said he would have turned down the business.

Terry Williams, the deceased man's daughter and a Las Vegas real estate agent, later filed the complaint saying Shafer tried to keep her and other local family members away.

A two-member ethics panel in January decided that sufficient cause was evident for the full commission to hold a formal hearing.

Terry Williams' father, Charles Williams, died in November 2002. Terry Williams claims the nursing home was to blame after an employee there allegedly fed the elderly man, who was on a feeding tube, scrambled eggs for breakfast.

Tyrell testified she had been contacted by the Nursing Home Justice Center, a law firm that investigates wrongful death claims, on behalf of Charles Williams' son, Charles Williams Jr.

The lawsuit, for which Shafer said he submitted a $1,000 bill, has not been resolved and neither he nor Tyrell have been paid, they said.

Terry Williams, who hugged commissioner Flangas after the hearing, was subpoenaed to testify at the hearing but was not called to the stand. Like other witnesses, she waited in another room throughout the hearing. She alleged the commission has routinely isolated her from its proceedings.

"This is the game they have played since the beginning," she said. "They have isolated me and kept me from speaking. ... They've kept me out of the loop so much."