Southern Nevada public figures who have gotten in trouble for DUI

Published Wednesday, June 1, 2011 | 2 a.m.

Updated Wednesday, June 1, 2011 | 4:26 p.m.

When public servants in Nevada get arrested for driving under the influence, some lose their jobs while others keep theirs. Some elected officials can survive having a DUI on their record, while others are turned out by voters.

The common thread in cases involving elected officials and government employees is the humiliation they suffer when their names and indiscretions, and often their mug shots, appear in the media. It’s a lesson inebriated Henderson City Attorney Elizabeth Quillin learned following the recent incident in which she allegedly drove off the road and struck a fire hydrant, a large boulder, a parked car and two trees. She’s far from alone, as the following examples show:

Bob Beckett

While serving as Nye County district attorney in June 2008, Beckett was responsible for two rollover crashes the same day on California Route 127, with the second accident resulting in a failed breath-alcohol test. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor reckless driving and received three years probation, a $1,700 fine and mandatory attendance at a drunken-driving class. He resigned from office last year after another DUI arrest. Other run-ins with the law eventually led to temporary suspension of his license to practice, but the suspension was lifted in April by the Nevada Supreme Court.
Karla Burton

Burton was a Boulder City councilwoman in February 2007 when she was charged with DUI after she was found passed out in the driver’s seat while parked at a gas station on U.S. 93. Her alleged blood-alcohol level of 0.274 was more than three times the legal limit. She lost her re-election bid later that year but her opponent hadn’t used her arrest against her. Burton pleaded guilty in 2009 to DUI and was ordered to go through the DUI Specialty Court and its treatment program. After a later in-court Breathalyzer test showed her with a blood-alcohol level slightly above legal limits, she was sentenced to 25 days in jail. But she instead was placed under house arrest and forced to wear a GPS anklet to monitor her location.
Tom Collins

During a bitter 2004 race for Clark County Commission, North Las Vegas City Councilwoman Shari Buck pounded Collins, then an assemblyman, for a felony DUI and reckless driving arrest after an October 1991 accident. Collins, who was a North Las Vegas planning commissioner when he was arrested, allegedly drove off the road and struck a flatbed trailer. He and two passengers were hospitalized. Collins pleaded the charge down to misdemeanor reckless driving, requiring him to attend a class for drunken drivers and pay a $1,000 fine. But the incident didn’t get in the way of his election to the Assembly in 1992 or to the county commission 12 years later when he defeated Buck.
Charles Davidaitis

Davidaitis announced his plans to retire as a Metro Police commander as a result of a November 1999 DUI arrest after he allegedly drove his Toyota Land Cruiser into a light pole, fire hydrant and chain-link fence before driving home. He also allegedly tried to have his wife take blame for the accident and initially planned to flee to the airport. Davidaitis, who was relieved of duty after the arrest and put on leave with pay, didn’t cooperate with police when they arrived at his home. When they gave him two breath tests, his blood-alcohol levels were 0.214 and 0.215 at a time when 0.10 was the legal limit. He entered a no-contest plea to reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident, both misdemeanors. He was also fined $800 and ordered to take a drunken driving class.
Cathy Hanson

Hanson was charged with DUI and leaving the scene of an accident in August 1994 while running Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones’ gubernatorial campaign. Hanson allegedly crashed twice into separate vehicles, injuring one of the occupants, at Rainbow Boulevard and Spring Mountain Road before being stopped several blocks away by a private security guard. She pleaded guilty to DUI, received a $325 fine and was ordered to attend drunken driving school and a victim impact panel. Hanson also stayed on as Jones’ mayoral spokeswoman after Jones lost in the Democratic primary to incumbent Gov. Bob Miller.
Larry Markotay

Markotay was Boulder City’s constable in February 2010 when he was charged with DUI by Boulder City Police after allegedly crashing a vehicle into a light pole and then fleeing the scene on foot, but that turned out to be the least of his troubles. Police said they tied evidence from that incident to a break-in at his ex-girlfriend’s house, where he allegedly stole numerous firearms. Markotay, who resigned from his post last year, was indicted in January on eight felony counts including grand larceny of firearms, burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon, theft and possession of stolen property. His trial is scheduled for this year.
Janet Moncrief

When Moncrief ran for Las Vegas City Council in 2003 against incumbent Councilman Michael McDonald, his campaign attacked her for having a 1994 DUI arrest that was later reduced to careless driving. The attack didn’t work because Moncrief soundly defeated McDonald. But the story didn’t end there. Later that year, while serving as a councilwoman, she was approached by Metro Police after a police 911 call-taker spotted her drinking at a local establishment. Moncrief passed a field sobriety test and wasn’t arrested but the outcome didn’t go so well for the call-taker, Cynthia Thomas. It turned out that Thomas not only exaggerated to police about the amount of drinking Moncrief had done, but was also the individual who improperly obtained the councilwoman’s arrest report and turned it over to McDonald’s campaign. McDonald, incidentally, was a former Metro officer who had worked with Thomas’ husband, also a Metro officer who worked on his campaign. Cynthia Thomas was fired by Sheriff Bill Young.
Jim Mulhall

Mulhall was Gov. Bob Miller’s chief of staff when pulled over in May 1996 by a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper after Mulhall’s car was allegedly weaving on a Carson City street. Mulhall, who was returning home from a Reno dinner honoring Assembly Speaker Joe Dini, pleaded guilty to DUI. He received 48 hours of community service and a $545 fine and was ordered to attend DUI class and a victims impact panel. He retained his post with the governor.
David Olsen

Olsen kept his job as Boulder City attorney despite his September 2003 DUI arrest when he and his wife were on his motorcycle after attending a Blue Oyster Cult concert and motorcycle festival on Fremont Street. After drinking beer at the festival he drank more at the Stage Coach in Boulder City before he was pulled over by police. In addition to DUI, he was charged with failure to maintain his travel lane and for operating a motorcycle without taking the proper tests. He pleaded no contest to the DUI charge and was ordered to spend six days in the Clark County Detention Center.