CARSON CITY -- Republican treasurer candidate Mark DeStefano did not spend five years as a stockbroker and does not have 20 years of financial experience, both claims he has made in his campaign for the office, according to information gathered by his Democratic opponent.
But DeStefano said Friday that his experience is as he has stated, including his time as a stockbroker, if a one-year training period before becoming licensed in October 1985 is included. He said the investigation on his work history was accurate but incomplete and a distortion of his experience.
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"Mark DeStefano has woven a web of lies," claims the report prepared by Gary Gray, a campaign spokesman for Democratic treasurer candidate Kate Marshall. "The two sets of experience he says distinguishes him as the most qualified candidate are lies as well."
DeStefano said the attack, along with others by the Marshall campaign, are being waged because his opponent has nothing else to offer.
"The only way they could possibly win is by making me look horrible," he said. "I've been honest with everyone. I never hid my bankruptcy. I've never hidden any issue."
DeStefano has acknowledged he filed for personal bankruptcy 17 years ago.
According to the Gray report, DeStefano only worked as a stockbroker from September 1986 to February 1988, about 15 months, for the firm of Thomas James Associates of New York. There is no other employment record showing that DeStefano worked as a stockbroker at any other firm.
Counting his year of training beginning in October of 1984, DeStefano said, he was in that line of work from 1984 to 1988, just as he has said in his campaign. He said he was licensed in October 1985.
The claim that DeStefano has 20 years of financial experience also is inconsistent with his employment record, according to data collected by Gray.
DeStefano's employment record shows that he worked as a restaurant manager and an air traffic controller during the past 23 years. Gray could not document DeStefano's employment history from January 1993 to December 1998.
But DeStefano said his financial experience includes the time he worked as an air traffic controller. He obtained a real estate license in California and started a business, Asset Based Consulting, which did financial planning and debt restructuring for individual homeowners. DeStefano said the home-based business was his occupation through 1996, when he came to Nevada.
In 1999, he created a business in Las Vegas called MQ Holdings. DeStefano describes his business as one that involves giving small companies access to capital to expand, sometimes by taking the firms public and listing them on the stock exchange.
Gray concluded in his report: "Most candidates for elected office outline their professional career in detail in order to gain support from the electorate. DeStefano, on the other hand, has large unaccounted-for gaps in his professional history. Even if DeStefano could fill in the gaps with proof of financial experience, the record clearly shows he falls far, far short of the 20 years he has claimed."
DeStefano said he wants to be treasurer because it is the position he is qualified for. He said Marshall was just seeking any office for a political future, having first decided on the secretary of state position until fellow Democrat Ross Miller indicated his interest in the job.
"That, in my opinion, shows a lack of conviction," DeStefano said.
He also questioned Marshall's knowledge of the treasurer position, pointing out what he said were flaws in her plan for the office.
One example he cited is her goal to "improve and implement electronic transfers" of funds.
DeStefano said a pilot program doing just that is already in place and has been for six months.
"It shows the lack of knowledge she has," he said. "It's a huge insult to the treasurer's office."
