carson city:

Director of state ethics commission resigns

Thursday, July 2, 2009 | 6:39 p.m.

CARSON CITY – Patti Cafferata, who has held a number of elective offices and has the record of losing both to Gov. Jim Gibbons and his estranged wife in political races, has resigned as executive director of the Nevada Ethics Commission.

She said she left for personal reasons to spend more time with her husband, who has been suffering from medical problems.

Cafferata has been director of the commission for 19 months. During that time the commission investigated Gibbons for a land deal in Elko but cleared him of any wrongdoing.

It also held hearings on Bob Loux, former director of the state Nuclear Projects Office and dismissed the complaint against him. He was accused of raising his own salary, among other allegations.

It examined a case against former state Sen. Warren Hardy of Las Vegas but the Supreme Court ruled the executive branch could not oversee the Legislature.

Cafferata was elected to the state Assembly from Washoe County for the 1981 Legislature. She became the first woman elected state treasurer in 1982 and served one term.

She later served as district attorney of Lincoln, Lander and Esmeralda counties.

Cafferata was the GOP candidate for governor in 1986 but lost to Democrat Dick Bryan.

She ran against Gibbons for Congress but lost in the primary in 1996. Two years later she ran against Dawn Gibbons for Assembly and lost.

“I’ve lost to some of the best ones,” she quips.

Her resignation was effective June 30 and the ethics commission will begin a search for a replacement for the $97,901-a-year job.