Miller wants Gibbons’ backing on law reform

Wednesday, March 21, 2007 | 7:22 a.m.

It took two weeks of badgering from Secretary of State Ross Miller, but Gov. Jim Gibbons on Tuesday finally turned over copies of $169,100 in checks made out to the governor's legal defense fund last year.

That prompted the Democratic secretary of state to inform Gibbons that he was satisfied that the fund did not violate any campaign reporting laws.

But the two-week showdown - which began March 6 after Gibbons disclosed the $169,100 in an amended financial disclosure statement - also inspired Miller to propose legislation to plug a campaign finance law loophole that doesn't address legal defense funds.

"As we have both publicly stated, the public deserves greater and consistent transparency in the reporting of contributions and gifts to candidates and public officials and that legislation strengthening disclosure requirements is necessary," Miller wrote in his letter clearing Gibbons.

"Therefore I will be proposing legislation requiring additional disclosures of any funds, including legal defense funds, established for the direct or indirect benefit of a public official. I hope you will join me in supporting my proposed legislation to strengthen Nevada's disclosure laws."

Mike Pagni, a Reno lawyer who helped set up the Gibbons legal fund, and Diane Cornwall, the Gibbons deputy chief of staff following the issue, did not return phone calls Tuesday.

One Democratic lawmaker, Sen. Dina Titus of Las Vegas, was one step ahead of Miller's legislative push.

On Monday, Titus, who ran against Gibbons last year, included legal defense funds in her Senate Bill 425, which seeks additional restrictions statewide on political contributions.

Miller said he had a "cordial" and "pretty straightforward" meeting Tuesday morning with Gibbons at which he once more asked him for the checks. The governor later provided them through Pagni, prompting the secretary of state to end the matter.

Miller said he also found no evidence that Gibbons willfully failed to disclose the legal fund contributions in his original Jan. 16 disclosure statement.

The secretary of state said he accepted Pagni's explanation in a letter last Friday that the subject simply got lost in the shuffle in January as the new governor was focusing on putting together his budget, delivering his State of the State address and preparing for the legislative session.

In a previous letter, Pagni was more combative, suggesting that Nevada law did not address legal funds or require the governor to report the contributions, which primarily went to fend off unproved allegations that Gibbons assaulted a woman outside a Las Vegas restaurant .

Pagni informed Miller last week that the defense fund was paying its "final bills" and would be shut down soon.

The attorney did not explain how Gibbons is paying for well-known Washington lawyer Abbe Lowell to guide him through a preliminary FBI investigation into another matter involving the governor's ties to his close friend, wealthy defense contractor Warren Trepp.