2 ethics complaints challenge North Las Vegas Mayor Lee’s leadership

North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee made good on his promise to change his city — it’s whether his leadership has the city on the road to reform or the fast track to failure that people can’t agree on. And it’s the question central to ethics complaints filed by two longtime city employees.

The complaints describe the mayor’s tenure in office, which began in July 2013, as a reign of terror where favoritism is rampant and employees are threatened and humiliated until they either fall in line or are fired.

It’s a markedly different story than the message City Hall has been championing: That the city is turning around and employees are smiling again.

During Lee’s time as mayor, the city reported it cut its long-term budget deficit from $152 million to $78 million. The city also laid off several directors, something Lee has said he did not have much of a role in.

The complaints were filed by two employees in human resources, a department the city has been debating outsourcing. Bachera Washington and Tammy Bonner have been through multiple administrations in North Las Vegas. Bonner has been with the city 13 years, Washington 20.

Lee is using his chief of staff, Ryann Juden, as an enforcer and a means for acting outside the scope of his office, the complaints allege.

A chief of staff position is typically seen in big cities that operate under what’s known as a strong mayor system. North Las Vegas runs on a city manager-council style of governance, meaning the city manager — not the mayor — has the executive role and serves at the pleasure of the council.

The structure is often compared to how a CEO answers to a board of directors.

The mayor’s actions get to the heart of why the city designed its rules to leave elected officials out of personnel matters, which is to “prevent the sort of political, religious, and racial nepotism which is being engaged in at the City of North Las Vegas,” the complaint says.

At the mayor’s request, the city created a $125,000 position especially for Juden, Lee’s former campaign manager, according to the complaints.

After Lee took office, Juden roamed City Hall for two months with un­limited access even though he had not undergone the city’s standard background check or even been hired, according to the complaint.

Then City Manager Tim Hacker refused to take orders from Juden, the complaint says. Hacker resigned in September 2013 and Juden officially joined the staff the next day.

As Juden’s job was new and not part of the budget, there was debate over what to call the role and what duties to assign to it. Juden summed up his job to Washington as the “Mayor’s Bitch,” according to the complaints.

In an email to the former human resources director describing his duties, he gave himself the title of “Government Relations/Chief of Staff/Supreme Chancellor of the Universe,” adding, “and then I can do my business card like the credits on Star Wars!!,” the complaints say.

The Review-Journal on Wednesday asked for a meeting with Lee to talk about the complaints and sent him a summary of the allegations. Lee sent an email Thursday evening saying he was unable to respond, writing that he couldn’t comment on the complaints without seeing a copy of them.

He noted that ethics complaints under consideration by the Ethics Commission are not public documents under state law.

“At this time, I have not received anything from the State indicating that a complaint has been filed or that any allegations have been made,” Lee said. “As I’m sure you understand, one of the primary reasons for a confidential process is to protect the Nevada Commission on Ethics from being used for purely political gamesmanship. I certainly will not waive state laws to assist in what has all the hallmarks of a political stunt.”

ALLEGED ABUSES

Bonner and Washington’s complaints detail a litany of alleged abuses carried out by Lee and Juden: intimidation of city employees, the hiring of top officials who have skirted traditional hiring practices because of personal relationships, and a warpath to ruin one city judge while bullying the city’s other judge.

The mayor’s alleged malfeasance with employees outlined in the complaints includes attempting to move an employee from her department, seemingly without reason. During the ordeal, Lee asked the employee if she was married and had kids, adding, “there are other ‘pretty’ people who can do her job,” according to the complaints.

Lee then asked if she was on his team, according to the complaints. It’s a phrase employees say is wielded as a weapon in City Hall. The implication, according to the complaints: You’re either on the team or off the team. Another variation is you’re either at the table or on the menu.

In another incident, Lee, who is Mormon, told an employee he was too old to be working and asked why he wasn’t a practicing member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to the complaints. The mayor’s religion is brought up throughout the complaints, which include a list of nine names of people the mayor’s office had hired and who are members of the Mormon Church.

The complaints also lend credence to what embattled Municipal Judge Catherine Ramsey has been contending: The recall effort against her is a political hit job.

According to the complaints, Juden bragged about scripting a City Council meeting where the mayor called Ramsey’s alleged excessive absences “immoral.” The mayor’s statement has been brought up repeatedly by the recall effort against the judge and was used in the recall’s press release. Ramsey has contended that the city’s count of her days off is false and that the city is behind the effort to have her ousted. The city had denied being behind the recall.

According to the complaint, Juden and Lee had a meeting with Ramsey where Juden told her he could “make a pamphlet of half-truths and those stupid low-income citizens wouldn’t know what to believe.”

As for the other Municipal Court judge, the complaint says Lee told Judge Sean Hoeffgen, “I made sure no one ran against you so now you owe me.”

It also alleges that Lee told the judge to fire the city’s court administrator, telling him he knew someone to replace her. The court administrator has not been fired.

The relationship between the city and its courts has been rocky lately. The two judges have united to raise concerns about separation of powers, a tradition in American government of keeping the executive branch — in this case City Hall — and the judicial branch — in this case the Municipal Court — separate.

Emails obtained by the Review-Journal echo the tension between the court and City Hall. In one email, Hoeffgen told his court administrator the mayor called him and was very upset and accused the court of stalling on hiring new bailiffs. According to the email, this wasn’t the first time the mayor felt the court wasn’t moving fast enough.

In another email, the city manager emailed the mayor’s chief of staff about court administrator Cindy Marshall: “Looks like you were right about Cindy. My patience is really running out with her and the Judges :( ”

MORE DETAILS

The ethics complaints came not long after Lee and Juden made an unsuccessful push to gain more power for the city. Lee and Juden lobbied the Legislature in February for the ability to rewrite the rules that govern North Las Vegas through a majority City Council vote.

In addition to asking the state Ethics Commission to investigate the mayor and his chief of staff, the complaints also ask the commission to investigate the city attorney and the city manager for letting the mayor abuse his office. The complaint argues City Manager Qiong Liu is beholden to Lee and Juden after brokering an unprecedented severance deal where she gets $170,000 if she leaves.

This isn’t the first time Washington and Bonner have taken on the city. The pair settled a discrimination lawsuit last year and their attorney has said North Las Vegas is retaliating by looking at outsourcing their department. The city has said the evaluation of its human resources department has nothing to do with Bonner’s and Washington’s settlements.

The state Ethics Commission renders opinions on public officers and employees who are believed to have violated the Nevada ethics in government law. Complaints are required to include credible evidence, for which the threshold is low, and are vetted before the commission launches an investigation, according to Ethics Commission Executive Director Yvonne Nevarez-Goodson.

The North Las Vegas complaints offer evidence such as city emails and memos, a long witness list and lawsuit testimony.

If the commission decides there is enough evidence to warrant an investigation, the subject of the complaint is notified and given a chance to appeal. After the investigation, two members of the panel meet to determine if the case should go to the full commission. The complaint becomes public if it goes to the full commission. The full commission, which is made up of eight members who are appointed by the governor and the Legislative Commission, then holds a hearing and decides if the law has been willfully violated.

The commission has the power to impose penalties: $5,000 for one willful violation, $10,000 for two and $25,000 for three.

The commission is bound by law to move for the removal of the public official or employee for three or more willful violations.

Contact Bethany Barnes at bbarnes@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Find her on Twitter: @betsbarnes