Architect, firm at odds

A local architecture firm under scrutiny for irregular campaign contributions to Sen. Harry Reid also is sparring on other fronts with the ex-employee who reported it to the Federal Election Commission.

Randy Spitzmesser of Henderson filed the FEC complaint against his former employer, Tate Snyder Kimsey Architects, which laid him off in June. He alleges the firm forced employees to donate and then illegally reimbursed some of them. The firm held a fund-raiser luncheon for Reid in February.

Beside the legality of the contributions, Spitzmesser and Tate Snyder Kimsey also dispute which person deserves credit as lead designer for several of the Henderson firm's projects, and whether Spitzmesser is illegally soliciting Nevada clients via Internet for the solo design firm he recently established in California.

"I fully expected they would retaliate against me," Spitzmesser said Wednesday. He alleges that William Snyder is abusing his position on the Nevada State Architecture Board to get even for Spitzmesser's FEC complaint. The board makes decisions about the integrity of architects who do business in the state.

On Nov. 6, Spitzmesser received a warning letter from the board about his new firm, which he has named "rasa." The board's chief investigator, Betty Ruark, wrote that Spitzmesser must remove falsehoods about his credentials from the new firm's Web site.

"It has come to this board's attention that you are claiming inappropriate credit for Nevada projects that you were not the architect of record for," she wrote.

Spitzmesser is a licensed architect in five states -- including California -- but not in Nevada. As this state does not recognize the institution that granted his degree, Spitzmesser is classified here as a residential designer. Such a designer can do nonresidential work, but an architect licensed in the state must sign off on the work.

Spitzmesser claims that while at Tate Snyder, he was the lead designer for the Lied Animal Shelter. He also was the lead designer for the firm's two buildings at Springs Preserve in Las Vegas, where the Reid luncheon was held.

The firm chose Spitzmesser to accept the design awards that both sites won. But before his termination, he claims, he saw draft submittals for new jobs, which listed partner Windom Kimsey as the lead designer for both the Springs Preserve and the Lied Animal Shelter.

The firm is also after Spitzmesser for using photos of the projects on his new Web site without permission. He has responded that despite his layoff, he is still a minority owner with a 9-percent share in the firm. Also, he interprets state architecture regulations to mean that his Web site is his "portfolio," which is an allowed use. Spitzmesser's Web site states that he did the design work as a Tate Snyder Kimsey employee.

On behalf of the Henderson firm, lawyer Stan Hunterton categorized Spitzmesser's newest claims as "preposterous allegations from a disgruntled former employee who was terminated."

Reid is aware of the FEC probe into Tate Snyder Kimsey. He attended, but was not involved in planning the Feb. 17 luncheon, according to his campaign manager, Brandon Hall. The event raised about $20,000, Hall said.

The architecture firm's two leading partners -- Snyder and Kimsey -- have financially supported the senator's reelection bids for many years. Hunterton, who is also a longtime Reid contributor, last month released a written statement from the firm, which offered no comment beyond its belief that nothing "was intentionally done wrong" with the campaign contributions now under FEC review.

Tate Snyder Kimsey laid off Spitzmesser for lack of work, although it retained other architects with less experience.

A month after his termination, the firm received an $8.3 million federal design contract to modernize and expand a border crossing at Otay Mesa, Calif. Reid had exchanged letters in 2008 on behalf of Tate Snyder Kimsey with the U.S. General Services Administration, a procurement agency that handles most government construction projects, including the Otay Mesa job. Economic-stimulus money from the Recovery Act will pay for the site's redesign.

Spitzmesser believes Tate Snyder Kimsey either understated or skipped over its history of legal disputes when it applied for the federal Otay Mesa contract as well as for a state courthouse project in California. So Spitzmesser sent to the California authorities, which haven't awarded a design contract yet, a local news article about the firm's settling with Clark County for $1.8 million in December over alleged design flaws in the Regional Justice Center.

"Highly inflammatory and erroneous" is how lawyer Christine Drage described the news article in a letter sent to Spitzmesser.

Her law firm, Weil & Drage, has sent Spitzmesser several demand letters on behalf of Tate Snyder Kimsey. One tells him to stop slandering and libeling the firm. Another offers to buy back his shares in the firm. But Spitzmesser, who took out a loan to increase his ownership to the present status, claims the firm is offering a deal so disadvantageous it would take him eight years to get back 60 percent of his investment.

As a result of a complaint filed Sept. 25 by Spitzmesser, the FEC is reviewing Reid contributions connected to the firm's Feb. 17 fundraiser.

Spitzmesser contends the architecture firm required him to donate to the Senate majority leader's re-election campaign, and then secretly reimbursed him $1,000 by padding his next business-expenses check by the same amount. The designer also alleges that Kimsey and Kimsey's assistant both talked, with witnesses present, about the firm reimbursing other employees who had contributed.

The Review-Journal contacted four other Reid donors who either work for Tate Snyder or do business with the firm. Two said their contributions were voluntary. The other two did not respond at all.

Contact reporter Joan Whitely at jwhitely@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0268.