By Cy Ryan

Fri, Feb 1, 2008 (2 a.m.)

Carson City — State Sen. Bob Coffin has abandoned his plan to sue Gov. Jim Gibbons over who has the authority to make $283 million in cuts in government spending because of a downturn in tax collections.

Instead, he hopes to persuade the Legislative Commission to authorize a study on the powers of the governor and the Legislature when it comes to cutting budgets when the lawmakers are not in regular session.

The change in direction came after a face-off between Coffin and the commission chairman, Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, failed to materialize at Wednesday’s commission meeting.

Coffin, D-Las Vegas, initially wanted the commission to file suit to challenge the governor’s authority to make the budget reductions without consulting the Legislature.

Townsend, however, refused to put Coffin’s request on the commission’s agenda. As a result, Coffin said, he “had to do an end run,” opting instead for a study on the issue.

“We need to know if we’re nothing more than a debating society,” Coffin said.

Townsend opposes any legal action and says the issue should be taken up by the 2009 Legislature.

Gibbons and his administration put together the budget reductions of 4.5 percent and a plan to take $200 million out of a $273 million emergency fund. Legislators complained that Gibbons did not consult them on the reductions.

The commission did not act on Coffin’s request, but he said he might push for approval at a future meeting.

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A state hearing officer has upheld the dismissal of a correctional officer at the Florence McClure Prison in North Las Vegas, finding that the officer had an inappropriate relationship with an inmate.

Hearing Officer Ann Elworth-Winner said credible testimony showed that three-year Correctional Officer Denise Clark engaged in sexual contact with inmate Christine Whitley in the prison’s infirmary.

After Whitley was transferred to the Silver Springs Correctional Center in Northern Nevada, she placed a five-minute call to Clark’s cell phone, according to Elworth-Winner’s report. Clark said she did not know who called her and that she’d hung up without talking to the caller.

During the appeal hearing before Elworth-Winner, one prisoner testified that many officers fell into “inappropriate relationships with Whitley.”

Although Clark denied the allegation, the hearing officer found there was a “flirtation” between the officer and Whitley. Clark, Elworth-Winner concluded in the 35-page report, “engaged in disgraceful personal conduct which causes discredit to the agency.”

Cy Ryan may be reached at (775) 687-5032 or at cy@lasvegassun.com.