Editorial: Muzzling a watchdog

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 | 9:32 a.m.

Last week Nevada Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Mark Amodei, a Republican from Carson City, came down hard on Stacy Jennings, executive director of the state Ethics Commission. Jennings' offense? She had the audacity to make comments about two of Amodei's colleagues facing ethics controversies. Specifically, Jennings answered questions from reporters earlier this year regarding two Republican state senators, Sandra Tiffany of Henderson and Barbara Cegavkske of Las Vegas.

The media had been inquiring as to whether Tiffany and Cegavske had taken advantage of their positions as elected officials to secure contracts that benefited them financially. Both of the contracts were subsequently canceled -- Tiffany's with the state Department of Motor Vehicles and Cegavske's as a consultant for KVBC, Channel 3 -- but Jennings at the time said Tiffany's contract "could be a violation of the law" and that Cegavske and Tiffany weren't "out of the woods, yet."

Amodei says he is concerned that Jennings, by commenting on issues that could come before the commission, has compromised the commission's integrity because she no longer can maintain the appearance of objectivity. Therefore, Amodei has drafted legislation that would require the Ethics Commission to act more like a court, essentially muzzling the executive director.

Amodei's objections miss the mark, however. Jennings' job is to investigate and send cases to the commissioners who sit on the Ethics Commission, but it is the commissioners, not the executive director, who ultimately mete out any punishment. We agree that commissioners -- as the final arbiters -- shouldn't comment on cases that may or will come before them, but barring the commission's executive director from speaking to the public smacks of intimidation.