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Sponsor of bill is also a beneficiary: Ho hum
Conflict in lawmaker’s light rail proposal not unusual in Nevada
Nevada Appeal File
State Sen. Mike Schneider wants the state to take steps toward a Southern Nevada light rail system. Schneider, a development consultant, owns property near the proposed line.
Thursday, March 5, 2009 | 2 a.m.
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The proposed light rail corridor through the Las Vegas Valley.
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Sen. Mike Schneider, chairman of the committee on energy, transportation and infrastructure, has proposed a bill to begin the process of bringing light rail to Southern Nevada.
Mass transit advocates and urban planners say this is smart policy, a way to reduce road traffic and provide people with more transportation and living options.
But Schneider, who will hear testimony on the bill today, has more at stake than just sound long-term public policy.
The Las Vegas Democrat owns five-acre parcel close to the proposed light rail line, just north of its end point, Nevada State College in Henderson.
In other cities that have built light rail systems, including Denver, Portland, Ore., and Salt Lake City, property values near rail stations have increased, often significantly, as developers eye prime spots for retail and upscale condos and apartments because people want to live and shop near transit.
Schneider said as much in a Sun interview: “Neighborhood gets better. Property values soar. Old strip malls come back and are rehabbed.”
He said his parcel is zoned mixed-use, high-density — ideal for the transit-oriented development that has exploded in light rail cities.
The long-term plan for light rail would begin with Schneider’s legislation, SB115, which would force local governments to begin buying rights-of-way for a “Fixed Guideway Corridor” for the eventual tracks.
The proposed route begins at Nevada State College, runs along the resort corridor to downtown and north to a proposed North Las Vegas campus of UNLV. The route is apparently derived from a Regional Transportation Commission advisory panel that began meeting in 2004 and made recommendations for light rail and a potential route for it in 2006, according to the RTC.
Schneider, a development consultant with property all over the valley, said the planning and construction of the eventual line could take a decade or more. He said he’d be out of his property long before then.
When asked whether it’s appropriate for him to propose the legislation, he replied: “We are a citizen Legislature, and if you don’t want me to own anything, and you want dumb shits up here, we can find them.”
Schneider is hardly alone in his active participation in legislation that could affect his finances. State Sen. Warren Hardy, R-Las Vegas, faces an ethics complaint that alleges he inappropriately blended his job as senator with his full-time work as president of the Las Vegas chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors, a business lobbying group.
State Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, is leading the effort to reform construction-defect law; his law partner is general counsel of the Nevada chapter of the Associated General Contractors and said he lobbied Care on the issue.
Just before the session began, state Sen. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, left his job as president of the Nevada Mining Association.
Also, the Legislature is filled with teachers, court administrators and other public sector employees who vote on their own salaries. Labor unions are represented, too.
Nevada law is clear:
“A public officer or employee shall not use his position in government to secure or grant unwarranted privileges, preferences, exemptions or advantages for himself, any business entity in which he has a significant pecuniary interest ...”
The problem: Who to enforce this law. A District Court judge recently ruled that the state Ethics Commission has no authority to discipline legislators because the doctrine of separation of powers requires the legislators to police themselves.
State Supreme Court will hear an appeal.
Nevada political scientists say the nature of the part-time citizen Legislature means the people’s elected representatives have to earn a living outside their work as lawmakers, which makes some of these conflicts unavoidable.
The law instructs legislators to disclose the conflicts and abstain from voting when appropriate, which they do with varying consistency.
In fact, the conflicts are so widespread that a consensus seems to have emerged in Carson City: Everyone does it, so no one is guilty.
Nevada political scientists laughed wryly at Schneider’s light rail plan and his fortunate property ownership and said surely it was just coincidence.
“I love this state,” said Eric Herzik, chairman of political science at the University of Nevada, Reno.
“These guys are great,” said David Damore, a UNLV political scientist.
But they also said the pervasive attitude of nonchalance toward these conflicts is not without consequence.
“Even if it’s good policy, you are undermining the credibility of it by doing this. You avoid this because then the public has more faith in the honesty of the project,” Herzik said.
Damore agreed: “This feeds that perception among voters that they’re not in it for public service,” he said.
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Mikee Shiester needs to steer clear of this subject. Clearly there is conflict of interest here.
"he'd be out of his property long before then" Mikee said. Sure, just have the taxpayer go in and buy his property.
and let's not forget to mention the LDS connection to all of these cats.
Much like Harry and the Boulder by-pass.
So the entire Valley should not move forward on a critical infrastructure project because the Senator owns 5 acres close to the proposed rail line? Let's try to put this in context.
Schneider will be termed out long before anything ever happens to this project.
This whole discussion is nothing more than "intellectual masturbation". The state is so far under water with it's basic service needs that any spending to acquire land on a project of this nature is at least a decade away.
Seriously, we are contemplating cutting Higher Ed Funding by 30% this year and you show a graphic adjoining this article with a proposed UNLV campus in North Las Vegas? My point is this project along with that UNLV project is a long ways away, if they ever happen?
Is there need for disclosure? Yes
Does this topic warrant front page billing on the Sun? No
Is this the best example of conflict of interest within the legislature? No
Has Phoenix, Denver and Los Angeles benefitted from a light rail system? Yes
Were there unintended beneficiaries of these projects? Probably
Would you rather have the Chairman of the Committee on Transportation, Energy and Infrastructure say, "Although I am responsible for Transportation, Energy and Infrastructure legislation in the Senate, I am not going to work to do anything that relates to my committee because I own a couple of parcels of land that could be benefit from development in 20 years if I still own it.... so let's just hope everything works out with this whole renewable energy thing and I will just ride out my term."
Give me a break. We have had enough real criminals in this town that we do not need to disparage decent people by some trumped up conflict of interest story.
Full disclosure:
I know the Senator, my parents live in his district and I played football with his son in high school.
SUNSET,How much do you stand to gain from your little diddy about waht a swell guy this foul mouthed thug is? So it will be built years after he is supposedly gone and with him goes tax payer money to an unethical legislator. Who cares about your football days on the Schneider team? Now go sell your lies to someone who wants to hear them. Schneider is a punk. Are going to marry into this thieves family?
"Light" Rail is an late 19th to early 20th century mode of transportation that went extinct because it could not turn a profit. It was expensive, slow, and inconvenient. It will not likely reduce traffic congestion or pollution in Las Vegas but it will likely reduce ridership in other modes of public transportation.
These projects are nothing more than expensive political fads, they are not a policy solution to our problems and light rail is certainly not a progressive forward thinking transportation system.
Light rail is an expensive public project that has little benefit to the public as a whole. Generally it is nothing more than a pork project to funnel public money to special interests.
To avoid any conflict of interest, elect some homeless from California to your Legislature.
Other wise you are stuck with people that can read and write and own some thing.
Sunset, agree with you completely.
This is a good project that provides jobs and infrastructure. Light rail does work and Schneider makes a the best point in that I do want smart, hard working people in our government.
He owns 5 acres, big deal. Next subject.
We need to create some mass transit in this city. Read the story about how they are going to make us pay for a freeway we already paid for. Have you ever tried to drive across this valley without going on the freeway? Light rail, monorail, horse and buggy... they have to get something built that moves people in this town.
Question double -
as Sunset points out higher education funding may be cut be 30%...
If UNLV cuts funding 30% and UNR cuts funding 30% is that a 60% cut in funding for the university of Nevada system???
According to our other discussion that would be your math - lame!
I can tell you from living in Portland, OR, light rail is a great idea. Yes, it's not a money maker, but it helps the city by not having to spend so much money on new road construction. They rather lose 500k a year on light rail than have to spend 2 million on expanding freeways. It also helps eliminate drunk drivers on the road that we all know Vegas has a huge problem with. As far as eliminating traffic; only enforcement of our illegal immigration laws can have a true effect on that.
"We are a citizen Legislature, and if you don't want me to own anything, and you want dumb **** up here, we can find them."
Don't bother Mike. You've completed that mission.
Everyone needs to be aware thatsome of the multinational corporations that benefitted most from the WTC disaster,and from the disaster in New Orleans after Katrina, are now here in Vegas.