He’d shed teaching job to avoid ethical conflict

Friday, Oct. 3, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Ron Taylor has reversed course since a Sun story examined whether he would be forced to give up his teaching job to serve on the Clark County School Board.

Taylor, who has taught 20 years in county schools, had told the Sun he was prepared to take his claim, that he could be both a teacher and trustee, to the Nevada Supreme Court. But in a statement posted Tuesday on his Web site, Taylor pledged to retire if elected.

“I will not seek an opinion from any court or ethics panel,” Taylor wrote. “Thus saving the public a long, drawn-out decision and court battle.”

Recent opinions by the Nevada Commission on Ethics, as well as a Douglas County District Court ruling, determined that it’s a conflict of interest for a member of a governing board to also work for the entity it oversees.

In 2006 the Ethics Commission told the coordinator of the School District’s Adult Education GED program that if elected to the School Board, she would have to choose between her job and serving as trustee. Even the appearance of impropriety must be avoided, as well as impropriety itself, the commission said in its opinion.

“Looking at this position as an ethical person I come to realize that many would see this as a conflict of interest,” Taylor wrote. “Taking an objective look at this, I too would have a problem with this dual role.”

Taylor and longtime school volunteer Chris Garvey are facing off for the District B seat. Incumbent Ruth Johnson was forced off the ballot by the Nevada Supreme Court’s term limits ruling.

— Emily Richmond

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The secretary of state’s office sent 30 candidates notices that they had failed to submit campaign finance reports or filed them after the deadline. That turned out to be news to three Clark County candidates, who had indeed filed their reports by the Aug. 5 deadline.

The office has sent letters of apology to Don Woolbright, a candidate for Assembly District 5, and Mathew Harter, a candidate for Family Court judge, who were incorrectly included on the list issued by the secretary of state.

Assemblywoman Francis Allen, R-Las Vegas, also produced paperwork Thursday indicating she had submitted her report of donations and expenditures on time.

Kristi Geiser, who oversees campaign reporting for the secretary of state’s office, said Clark County had reported to her office that Woolbright and Harter did not submit any documents, but the two apparently had sent their reports directly to the secretary of state in Carson City.

Allen’s report was also received by the secretary of state.

— David McGrath Schwartz

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Sen. Barack Obama’s visit to the University of Nevada, Reno, on Tuesday drew 12,000 people, as estimated by a university facilities manager. Some wondered whether it would be the largest political event in Northern Nevada history.

Guy Rocha, the state archivist, said the largest was likely President Reagan’s 1982 visit to the region. According to a Reno Evening Gazette story from the time, that crowd was estimated at between 14,000 and 16,000 people. As with Obama’s event, the Reagan appearance was held on UNR’s quad.

Rocha noted that crowd estimates are often unreliable.

“Obama’s visit may have been the second-largest crowd, at least according to the estimates,” Rocha said. “He certainly gave Reagan a run for his money.”

— Cy Ryan