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February 12, 2012

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Will Morse Arberry’s shenanigans be the last straw?

By Jon Ralston (contact)

Friday, Sept. 3, 2010 | 2 a.m.

“I think you have to hit things while the iron is hot. For 25 years I served in the Legislature and in public, and I bring relationships and a lot of knowledge to the table. A cooling-off period hinders an individual. Momentum you have is lost because then you’re not involved in the field.”

— Ex-Assemblyman Morse Arberry, explaining to the Sun why he is seeking a lobbying contract, 9/2/10

Cooling off the hot iron?

It’s just not done here in Nevada, where it’s cool to be an overpaid and underjuiced lobbyist so long as no light ever shows that you really bring no heat. But even those long inured to Nevada’s legalized political incest — and even those who were surprised at state Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford’s “Money for Something and Your Access Ain’t Free” pitch — are still trying to pull up their jaws after news of Arberry’s naked cashing in on his public “service.”

Said one longtime Democratic insider, speaking bluntly for many: “I can’t believe it.”

Oh, believe it. And how truly unbelievable is it, really?

How fitting that a legislator who worked in local government while he was in state government, who was caught not paying his property taxes year after year, who was often thought to be living in a swanky development nowhere near his West Las Vegas district and who essentially was accused of lying to the state Ethics Commission should so ham-handedly try to obtain a government contract to lobby for judges to pile on top of his generous public retirement benefits.

The revolving door is always spinning here in our wonderful backwater. But rarely has it spun so fast and so awkwardly that it threatens to fly off its axis, hopefully crushing Arberry’s greed and the court system’s questionable conduct in the process. If the Clark County Commission (Steve Sisolak is clearly opposed) has any collective self-respect, this will not happen at next week’s meeting — and that sentence is why everyone should fear it might happen.

My “Face to Face” producer, Dana Gentry, and I tried to get some answers from Arberry on Thursday about why he is worth $10,000 a month in Carson City for the judges, but he must have been busy trolling for more lobbying clients. His explanation to the Sun about what the cruel imposition of a cooling-off period would do to hinder the juice market in Nevada surely needed some exposition. That Moose don’t hunt.

Truly, it must be an unimaginable terror Arberry and others feel when confronted with the possibility of having their elected title removed and trying to find work suited to their “talents.” To have to venture into the private sector and find gainful employment? Oh, the horror. No wonder so many seek juice jobs, helped along by their elected comrades who may want to do the same someday.

This one smells more than most recent examples — there are plenty of former lawmakers haunting the hallways and trading on relationships. Why? Because Arberry has had so much suspicion surrounding him for so long, with his unpaid property taxes, his residency issues and, worst of all, his 2006 appearance before the state Ethics Commission when it was investigating former Las Vegas Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald.

Arberry changed his story after providing a damning affidavit, even going so far as to say he had lost an important document on his crowded desk and suffering a sudden loss of memory. It was an outrageous, deceitful performance.

His punishment: Three more sessions in the capital, chairing a powerful committee and reaping the benefits thereof. When the whip comes down in Nevada, the lash cuts deeply.

The timeline also is highly suspicious.

Arberry formed the innocuously named Titan Partners in June. Between then and Tuesday, he clearly was out, as a sitting legislator, soliciting lobbying clients, including the judges. Then, after the County Commission posted the agenda, or someone contacted him, he abruptly sent a terse resignation letter to the governor late Tuesday afternoon. And yet, the contract on the agenda was agreed to on Aug. 26, before he resigned, and allows Arberry to receive $100,000 from Sept. 1 until the end of the regular session.

Yes, I know this goes on in every state capital and in D.C. Yes, I know that government entities paying lobbyists fantastic amounts of money is obscene. And, yes, I know Arberry would be one of dozens of lobbyists worth much less than their paychecks.

But at what point does someone simply throw up his or her arms and declare, “No more”?

In case you are too busy thinking of your postelective careers, that’s directed at you, commissioners.

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