Wednesday, May 07, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

County seeks new ethics code

Suggesting the honor system has failed, the Clark County Commission called Tuesday for stronger ethics rules that include civil or criminal penalties and stricter restrictions on lobbying by former county officials.

"I don't think it's good for any elected official to have rules that don't mean anything," Commissioner Chip Maxfield said.

The commission asked County Manager Thom Reilly to convene a defunct Ethics Task Force that five years ago recommended ethics policies devoid of penalties for violations. The task force is expected to hold public meetings and submit recommendations to the county within 60 days.

A "cooling-off period" provision in the ethics code prohibits former county commissioners and administrators for one year after they leave the county from lobbying commissioners on issues that came before the former commission.

Commissioners Rory Reid and Bruce Woodbury have said since last week that there should be a one-year "blanket" ban on all lobbying activities, no matter what the issue.

The ethics policies resurfaced last month after Commissioner Mark James said in an affidavit that former Commissioner Erin Kenny lobbied him about a housing development near Red Rock Canyon starting the day after James replaced Kenny in January.

Kenny last week argued publicly that she didn't violate the code because the development proposed by Jim Rhodes wasn't considered while Kenny served on the commission.

Reid, during a brief speech Tuesday, didn't mention Kenny or Rhodes by name but said the county can't tolerate special interests that try to tilt ethics laws in their favor by employing commissioners and compelling them to abstain in response to the state's conflict-of-interest laws.

Reid must abstain on issues affecting Rhodes because a lawyer in Reid's firm has worked for Rhodes for years. Late last year, Rhodes hired Maxfield's engineering firm and an attorney with Woodbury's law firm, prompting them to question whether they, too, must sit on the sidelines when it comes to decisions affecting Rhodes.

"We should demand that applicants come before us and make arguments about why we should agree with their proposal based on the merits, and we shouldn't abide it if people are sneaking around trying to find connections to a commissioner so they can silence that commissioner's voice," Reid said.

"The ethics laws are intended to be a shield to protect the public's interest. It's not supposed to be a sword to further someone's economic interests."