Metro police union president vows to fight for his job

The union that represents most rank-and-file Las Vegas police officers is airing its dirty laundry just as the battle over a bill that could dramatically alter funding for Nevada public employee unions heats up.

And the airing started with a memo. In it, the rest of the Las Vegas Police Protective Association’s executive board told Executive Director Chris Collins they want to oust him. He’s accused of misappropriating union money, misusing his power and concealing information from the rest the board.

But Collins — who has worked for the union about 13 years, and seven as director — on Thursday denied the allegations, saying he plans to keep his job.

“I’ve done nothing wrong,” Collins said in a press conference.

His email has been shut down, Collins said, and he can’t get into his office because the locks at union headquarters, 9330 W. Lake Mead Ave., have been changed. He also believes his phone, which the union pays for, is being monitored.

Scott Nicholas, the union treasurer who wrote the memo, and other board members could not be reached for comment.

Exactly why his colleagues want him gone isn’t clear, Collins said. But he has two ideas: Either they are trying to prevent him from pursuing a third term as executive director, or they’re confused about the work he’s done on Assembly Bill 182.

AB 182 would prohibit the use of government money to pay public employees who work for unions. The Assembly Commerce and Labor Committee mentioned the bill on Wednesday but took no action. No further discussion on the bill has been scheduled.

Perception of Collins role in the fight against the bill appears to be the tipping point for the union executive board’s decision.

“The impact of such legislation is extremely damaging to the LVPPA and its membership,” the memo said. “Your failure to publicly oppose this bill at the hearing level is unacceptable and inexcusable.”

But Thursday Collins called AB182 a “bad bill for the state,” and said he has spoken to the governor, lieutenant governor, and numerous legislators about his take.

A half-dozen union leaders and representatives signed a letter dated March 31 in response to the board’s decision to get rid of Collins. They called him “one of the most critical people in our battles to maintain and protect our rights, benefits and ultimately our members.”

The board also accused Collins of concealing the results of a poll so the union would spend $150,000 to campaign for Larry Burns, who ran against Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo in the 2014 election. The union endorsed Burns.

Collins admitted that he approved $5,000 to be spent on a poll, but he said it wasn’t scientific and that he wasn’t the only one who knew about it.

Besides him, Collins said, Assistant Executive Director Mark Chaparian and union attorneys David Rogers and Kathy Collins — who is married to the executive director — were all in the office when the poll was being discussed. The agreement between the four, Collins said, was to shelve the poll if it showed Burns trailed too much to catch Lombardo. That way the public and union members wouldn’t see the results.

When a local broadcast news station poll came out shortly after and showed Burns within striking distance, Collins said, the union board decided to go ahead and spend the $150,000 on advertising for Burns.

Burns lost the election with 49 percent of the vote to Lombardo’s 51 percent.

One other focus of the ousting memo is that Collins’ marriage to the union’s legal counsel is a conflict of interest and that he alone approves his wife’s salary increases.

Collins started working at the union in the early 2000s, he said, and his wife had been representing the group about five years by that time. The two married in 2007.

“No one had any issues on the executive board in the last eight years about me and my wife working at the PPA. The membership has had no issues about my wife and I working at the PPA,” Collins said.

As for the pay bumps, Collins said, his wife and any other lawyer that has worked for the union have board-approved contracts that spell out salary as well as raises.

Collins said that if the union’s 32-member board of directors approves the executive board’s move to kick him out that he will have an opportunity to present his case in writing or in person. He has not retained a lawyer.

“I am the executive director today of the PPA,” Collins said. “I’ve come through it all, and I’ll come through this.”

Contact reporter Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638. Find him on Twitter: @ColtonLochhead