Boggs McDonald failed to disclose more ties

Saturday, Oct. 7, 2006 | 7:54 a.m.

Six more instances of Clark County Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald failing to disclose potential conflicts of interest have come to light in a Las Vegas Sun review of her commission votes.

The votes involved appearances before the commission by board members and the husband of a board member of a charitable foundation that employed Boggs McDonald as its $100,000-a-year president for one year. She later became a paid consultant for the foundation, but now is on an unpaid leave of absence.

Had Boggs McDonald not been a paid employee of Keep Memory Alive (KMA), the foundation of the Lou Ruvo Alzheimer's Institute, the issue of disclosure about her tie to board members would not arise.

But because the 17 board members approved her hiring, state laws defining what elected officials must disclose before voting on certain matters - or whether they may vote at all - come into play.

None of the votes examined by the Sun involved KMA business. Rather, each dealt with the outside business interests of foundation board members or the spouse of a board member. Boggs McDonald did not cast a deciding vote in any of the matters because the commission unanimously approved all six requests.

Combined with other missteps that have undercut her re-election campaign, the votes foster an impression that Boggs McDonald, having every reason - political and legal - for erring on the side of caution when it comes to disclosure, has consistently failed to do so .

From May 2005 until May of this year, Boggs McDonald was the president of KMA. She stepped down from the job to run for re-election, but until this week still was being paid - at a rate she refused to reveal - as a consultant. Last Monday, she requested a leave of absence until after the campaign, saying in a letter to the board's chairman: "I do not want anything to distract from (KMA's) mission."

Zaven Khachaturian, KMA's president and chief executive, stressed Friday that the questions raised about Boggs McDonald's votes are unrelated to the foundation's business.

"Keep Memory Alive steadfastly refuses to become a political sideshow," Khachaturian said.

"Whatever the issues might be with regard to Lynette Boggs McDonald, they have nothing to do with the foundation. We are grateful for the incredible support we've received from so many people in this community and indeed nationally. Further, we appreciate Lynette's contributions and her enthusiasm, which is rooted in her own family's experiences with Alzheimer's."

The Greenspun family, owners of the Sun, are significant donors to the KMA foundation.

Nevada law prohibits a public officer from voting on "any matter which would reasonably be affected by his commitment in a private capacity to the interest of others," including someone "who employs him."

Boggs McDonald, accompanied by her attorney in a telephone interview with the Sun, said in some of the six cases examined, she and her staff did not realize foundation board members were owners of companies appearing before county commissioners - even though their names were disclosed as such in county records.

In other votes, she said she saw no need to disclose because it was the husband of a foundation board member - not the board member herself - who had an issue before commissioners.

UNLV Boyd School of Law Dean Richard Morgan - speaking generally, not specifically about Boggs McDonald - said that under the circumstances surrounding the votes, "the prudent approach is to disclose."

"Under the statute, a public official should disclose if his action could benefit an employer or if there is a commitment to a person in a private capacity," Morgan said. "When it's not clear there isn't a commitment, the cautious public official will disclose."

Here is a look at the six votes:

Roland "Rollie" Sturm, one of KMA's board members, was listed as one of two owners of BDR on a disclosure form filed with the county.

A biography of Sturm on KMA's Web site also refers to Sturm as an owner of Southwest Homes.

"I have given my staff a printout of (foundation) board members," she said. "We try to screen and review based on the name on the disclosure form.

"There is nothing about BDR South Invest that would let me know that had anything to do with Rollie Sturm. It was missed. It was nothing sinister."

Southwest Homes has donated $5,000 to Boggs McDonald's campaign.

Boggs McDonald said the warehouse vote also must have slipped through the cracks.

"I refer to Madison Graves as Maddy Graves," she said. "I am sure I (asked my staff) to look for Maddy Graves."

Companies for which Graves is a managing member have contributed $7,500 to Boggs McDonald's campaign.

In January, Boggs McDonald voted to approve two routine gaming and liquor issues related to Red Rock Resort.

In April, she voted to allow Station to build two condominium towers near Red Rock.

And on June 21, she voted in favor of a development agreement with Copperhead East LLC. Fertitta Enterprises, of which Lorenzo Fertitta is director and president, is a managing member of Copperhead East LLC.

Several Station Casinos companies have contributed $30,000 to Boggs McDonald's campaign.

"Maybe (county counsel) Mary-Anne Miller might have a different thought on it. I don't think you have to disclose wives and first cousins of people," Boggs McDonald said. "Where do you draw the line?"

The disclosure questions are only the latest controversy to emerge in Boggs McDonald's re-election campaign.

Two weeks ago the Sun reported that Boggs McDonald had failed this year to disclose that in 2005 she used a $100,000 loan from a developer to acquire a piece of land in Arizona only four months after helping the developer obtain a zoning change in Clark County.

Last month the police and Culinary unions filed suit charging that, until Labor Day, Boggs McDonald did not live in her district. If proved, the allegation could force her off the Nov. 7 ballot. And Boggs McDonald has repaid her campaign committee after being accused of using campaign money to pay a nanny to care for her children.