Transparency is one of those words creeping into popular use because it sounds good. Who could be opposed to transparency? Unless you have something to hide. The word has many definitions, but my favorite is "free from pretense and deceit."

But when it comes to Nevada's ethics and campaign finance laws, the search for transparency has been blocked in the past by lawmakers who didn't want the light shined on them. Meanwhile, the advocates of sunshine in government lacked the political wherewithal to get their bills passed.

It's real easy to understand: Legislators kill or gut those efforts that make it easier to track their potential conflicts of interests because most of them just don't want to abide by tougher ethics laws. They come up with excuses about how certain bills are too confusing or have unintended consequences, but don't try to fix the problems.

Two years ago, ethics bills deep-sixed by the Nevada Legislature included bills proposed by Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins and Sen. Steven Horsford, as well as a package developed by the Clark County Ethics Task Force.

Somehow, the obstacles blocking the creation of better ethics laws were insurmountable for legislators. Or so said the bill-whacking legislators. Lawmakers couldn't or wouldn't clarify the law, so it's clear that it's unethical for politicians to use government workers and equipment for their re-election bids.

Neither party wears a white hat on ethics laws. Both Democrats and Republicans are happy to see the bills go down.

But his past failures with legislators don't deter Craig Walton, president of the Nevada Center for Public Ethics. His group has developed 11 proposals, and he's prepared to do his best to push them through the Legislature. Starting today, Walton begins meeting with legislative leaders to explain the proposals.

Walton has fought this fight for years now, so is he optimistic the 2007 Legislature will approve this ethics package?

"I wouldn't say I'm optimistic, but I'll certainly say less pessimistic," he said.

The veteran of lost ethics battles wouldn't go so far as to say he's actually hopeful. The substance of the package, he said, is to bring more transparency to who gives money and gifts, increase penalties for breaking ethics laws and make it easier to connect the dots between who is giving to politicians and why.

One idea would require that limited liability corporations list partners with more than 10 percent ownership interest when they are donating to campaigns. (Nobody will want to do this because LLC's love to lurk in the dark where nobody knows their names as they buy and sell land. Craig, my friend, it's not gonna happen. It's just too, too transparent for Nevada, a state that loves to protect the anonymity of the people involved in big-buck land deals.)

Another idea would require monthly reporting of gifts from lobbyists. They report during the session, but the rest of the year lobbyists don't have to report any of the goodies they give legislators. (My favorite story about how lawmakers scheme to circumvent reporting requirements involves a gaming lobbyist who went up before the Legislature began and a lawmaker suggested the lobbyist take him out to dinner before the lobbyist registered, so the dinner wouldn't have to be reported.)

It's the legislators' responsibility to report the gifts once a year. As the Rolling Stones tickets debacle proved, some report more carefully than others, and some don't understand that tickets worth hundreds of dollars to any event are gifts.

Tops on Walton's wish list is to require more detailed information about who is giving gifts and making campaign donations.

If you care about ethics, Walton is hosting a town hall meeting at 11 a.m. Jan. 6 at the Clark County Flamingo Library. Legislative leaders have agreed to attend to discuss their own ethics ideas.

Secretary of State Dean Heller had good proposals to shine more light on campaign finance, but he couldn't get legislators to pass most of his bills. Maybe Secretary of State-elect Ross Miller can do better, if he's so inclined.

But convincing the majority of lawmakers that transparency is not a dirty word involving a peep show won't be easy.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0275.