Ethics Commission director resigning

The executive director of the Nevada Ethics Commission has decided to resign from the job and return to Oregon.

Patrick Hearn assumed the post Aug. 1, 2006, after working for 15 years as executive director of Oregon's Government Standards and Practices Commission. His resignation from the Nevada position takes effect Aug. 31.

Commissioners Jim Kosinski of Reno and Caren Jenkins of Carson City said they had read Hearn's resignation letter but did not have it with them Thursday.

Jenkins said Hearn, 59, explained in the letter that he and his wife had left behind children, grandchildren and friends in Oregon.

"He was hoping to return home to spend more time with his family and with his community," Jenkins said.

Hearn could not be reached for comment Thursday.

"When you consider that he had just lived through the Nevada legislative session, I'd go running, too," Jenkins joked.

Ethics Commission members voted 5-2 to hire Hearn after the resignation of Stacy Woodbury. Kosinski voted for Hearn; Jenkins did not vote.

"It is a new challenge, an opportunity for me," Hearn said at the time. "I want to make a contribution to Nevada. I believe strongly in the integrity of public sector ethics."

Hearn also said he and his wife were tired of the constant rain and cloudy weather in Oregon.

Kosinski, the commission's chairman, said he wanted Hearn to keep his job longer.

"He indicated he anticipated retiring here," Kosinski said.

The chairman said Hearn went through a difficult transition after moving to Nevada.

"It was a new state, a new office, a new way of doing things, a new legislature," Kosinski said. The chairman also said he knew Hearn missed his family.

Kosinski said Hearn told him he does not know what he will do after returning to Oregon.

The commission had not evaluated Hearn before he announced his resignation.

"I think it would have been a standard evaluation -- not excellent but standard," Kosinski said.

Jenkins, former chairwoman of the commission, declined to comment on Hearn's performance.

Hearn, a former police officer in South Pasadena, Calif., has a master's degree in public administration from California State University, Los Angeles.

The Ethics Commission is seeking applicants for Hearn's position, which is based in Carson City. According to the commission's Web site, the job pays up to $94,136 annually, and resumes will be accepted until Aug. 31 "for an anticipated vacancy in September."

The executive director is appointed by and reports to the Ethics Commission, which administers and enforces Nevada's Ethics in Government Law.

During Hearn's tenure, the commission voted unanimously to accept an agreement that settled a complaint against outgoing state Sen. Sandra Tiffany. The investigation of Tiffany began before Hearn's arrival.

Tiffany, a Henderson Republican who lost her bid for re-election in November, admitted in December to two willful violations of the ethics law to settle a complaint that she used her position as a legislator to gain information about online government auctions in other states to benefit her own online auction business.

The agreement, which required Tiffany to pay a $10,000 fine, eliminated the need for a hearing on the case.