Miller to governor: I want answers

Tuesday, March 13, 2007 | 7:15 a.m.

In what has become a week of dueling letters, Secretary of State Ross Miller on Monday wrote Gov. Jim Gibbons for the second time requesting more information about $169,100 in contributions the governor received last year for a legal defense fund.

Miller said he wasn't satisfied with the written response he received Friday from a Reno lawyer who helped set up the legal fund. The lawyer, Michael Pagni, did not provide Miller with the answers he sought in a previous letter to the governor.

"While I appreciate the timely response sent on your behalf," Miller wrote Gibbons, "it failed to substantively address the issues set forth in my inquiry.

"I am sure you will agree that full adherence with our state's campaign finance and disclosure laws requires compliance not only in the 'spirit' of the law, as the response letter suggests, but also with the letter of the law."

Miller, a Democrat, told the Republican governor that he didn't appreciate the effort by some Republican Party leaders to turn his request for additional information into a political battle.

"I am confident you will also agree that partisan and vitriolic attacks have no place in a fair determination of the facts," Miller wrote.

Miller also asked Gibbons to "personally respond and substantively address the concerns" that he raised in his first letter last Wednesday.

The secretary of state said he still wants to know the exact dates last year when the contributions to the fund were made, to whom any checks were written and whether the "monetary gifts" were separate from campaign donations Gibbons collected during the governor's race.

Miller said he also still wants to know why Gibbons waited until last Tuesday to disclose the existence of the legal fund contributions. Gibbons, he explained, was obligated by Nevada law to report the $169,100 in contributions in his annual financial disclosure statement on Jan. 16. The fund received another $35,000 this year, which the governor legally does not have to disclose until 2008.

Asked about Miller's second letter, Pagni told the Sun that he found it "a little perplexing." But he said the governor would attempt to respond again to the questions.

"We believe we've already provided this information, but if we have to provide it three or four times, we'll be happy to do it," he said. "We continue to believe that the fund was created properly."

Gibbons has already spent $193,000 of the $204,100 in total contributions to fend off what turned out to be unproved claims he assaulted 32-year-old Chrissy Mazzeo outside a Las Vegas restaurant three weeks before he was elected governor.

And he is attempting to raise tens of thousands dollars more to pay high-priced lawyers in Las Vegas and Washington to guide him through an FBI investigation into his ties to longtime friend and wealthy defense contractor Warren Trepp.

Nevada law prohibits the governor, lieutenant governor and state lawmakers from accepting contributions "for any political purpose" one month before, during and one month after a legislative session.

Although the law doesn't specifically refer to legal defense funds, top Democratic lawmakers said late last week that its intent is to include such funds in the ban because the same potential conflict of interest exists as with campaign contributions.

The Democrats have urged Gibbons to stop accepting contributions during the legislative session and vowed to plug any legal loophole that might allow him to continue raising money.

Miller told the Sun on Monday that he believes he has the ability to initiate legal proceedings against the governor, if necessary, to obtain the information that he has requested.

"We have statutory authority to investigate any wrongdoing in terms of campaign finance laws or the filing of false documents with our office," he said. "But we don't see any evidence of that at this point."

The secretary of state's authority, however, was questioned by Pagni, who said he doesn't believe the legal fund falls under the campaign finance laws.

Still, Miller said the dispute could be resolved easily if Gibbons simply answers all of his questions.

"It's my hope that the governor would comply with the law," Miller said.

Sun reporter J. Patrick Coolican contributed to this story from Carson City.