CARSON CITY -- A Las Vegas ethicist wants to persuade legislators to adopt a law next year that restricts gifts they accept to $50 or less in value and to pledge to keep an "arms length" relationship with gift givers and campaign contributors.

Craig Walton, president of the Nevada Center for Public Ethics, said legislators and other elected officials must realize that the views of "Joe and Jane Nevada" deserve the same consideration as those who give them gifts or political contributions.

"They should take up Nancy Reagan's policy and 'Just say no,' " added Walton, who wishes legislators out of their own sense of morality accepted no gifts at all.

He said Nevada citizens are repulsed by the revelations that legislators have accepted tickets to the Rolling Stones and Luis Miguel concerts, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the National Finals Rodeo.

Although the Legislature does not convene until February 2007, Walton is confident the general public will not forget and will pressure lawmakers to approve ethics reform.

He based his optimism on the fact that in coming months the public corruption trials of former Clark County Commissioners Dario Herrera, Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and Lance Malone will be conducted.

"They are going to spill the beans," he said. "The public is not going to forget."

Last week, Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, and Sen. Warren Hardy, R-Las Vegas, both filed amended financial disclosure statements.

Raggio acknowledged he took a ticket to the NASCAR race in March at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Hardy admitted he accepted two Rolling Stones tickets worth $338 each and also free passes to the National Finals Rodeo valued at $360.

In earlier financial statements, neither man reported the receipt of gratuities. State law requires legislators and other elected officials to report gifts valued at $200 or less. Raggio noted the ticket he received did not carry a price, but that he was reporting it to provide "full information."

So far, however, no legislator has reported the acceptance of free air travel, lodging and meals for the Nevada Mining Association's annual convention and golf tournament at the Hyatt Lake Tahoe last September.

Russell Fields, the executive director of the Mining Association, said the two-day meeting is "an education opportunity" for legislators to learn about mining issues and "not a party." Fields said all legislators are invited and that several attended the event, though he would not name them.

"We have checked with the LCB (Legislative Counsel Bureau), and we don't think it should be reported as a gift," he added.

Legislative Counsel Bureau administrator Lorne Malkiewich said Monday he is not aware of a ruling from his agency that the Mining Association affair is excluded from the reporting requirement.

Malkiewich noted, however, the law does not define what constitutes a "gift," so legislators cannot determine readily whether they should report the Mining Association meeting on their financial disclosure statements.

"It's not like receiving a glass bowl," he added.

Assembly Elections, Procedures, Ethics and Election Chairwoman Ellen Koivisto said she would welcome a debate on proposals from Walton and others to clarify and update ethics laws.

"If you are a legislator, you have to hold yourself to a higher standard," said Koivisto, D-Las Vegas. "You are answerable to the public."

Koivisto said she does not accept gifts and thinks other legislators should not either.

"I have to think how it looks to the people who vote," she said.

She is not the only legislator concerned the scandals over tickets has given citizens the impression that all politicians accept gratuities. Assembly members Bob Seale, R-Henderson, Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, and Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, all said they decline gifts.

"I got offered tickets (to concerts), but I sent them back," Leslie said.

Walton is pleased by Koivisto's willingness to consider the matter, particularly because he maintains she "shut me off" last year when he tried to testify on amendments to the ethics law.

Koivisto, however, said that hearing ran long and she asked Walton and others to limit their verbal testimony and instead submit written statements.

While changes to ethics laws might help, Walton said laws alone will not "change the corrupt habit of seeking and getting money and goodies."

There "is no divine right of politicians" to privileges average citizens do not get, he said.