Ex-official targeted by panel

CARSON CITY -- Former Clark County Commissioner Lynette Boggs' failure to disclose involvement in a company will be scrutinized by the state Ethics Commission.

Boggs, while on the County Commission, failed to mention in two financial disclosure statements that she was an officer in Star LLC, ethics panelists said. State law requires officials to list each business in which they are involved.

Boggs argued in a January response to ethics investigators that her omission of Star was "unintentional and an oversight." She also pointed out that information about her relationship with the company was public record available from the secretary of state's office.

A hearing has been scheduled for April 10 to determine whether Boggs violated state ethics law.

Boggs' attorney, John H. Mowbray, declined to comment until after the hearing.

The ethics investigation is the latest in a string of troubles for Boggs, who lost a bid for re-election in 2006 amid allegations she did not live in the County Commission district she represented and had lied about her residency.

Boggs is scheduled to go on trial in District Court on March 31 on two felony counts of perjury and filing a false document. A grand jury indicted Boggs on the charges related to the residency allegations in August.

The Ethics Commission's decision to have a hearing on the financial disclosure charge was reached Wednesday, but not made public until Friday. At the same time, commissioners dismissed complaints alleging Boggs violated state laws by voting on a matter involving members of the Mardian family, owners of Flannery & Allen, a company from which she obtained $100,000 in loans to buy property owned by the family in Arizona.

Boggs purchased the land in May 2005, but did not disclosure her relationship with the company when voting in August 2006 on an item involving a business owned by the Mardians.

Lori and Susan Mardian own the Blackjack Lodge, 6200 S. Rainbow Blvd., and one of their employees, Chase Heu, appeared before the Clark County Liquor and Gaming Licensing Board for approval as a key employee of the business. Boggs was a member of that board.

Ethics Commission investigators found there were 430 items on the consent agenda that included the Heu matter. The Heu item was considered a "procedural vote on a routine agenda item" whose purpose was to refer the man to Las Vegas police for a further investigation. County staff members assigned to Boggs had reviewed the agenda material and found no relationship between Boggs and Heu, according to commission investigators.

The ethics hearing will be conducted April 10 at 9:30 a.m. in room 4412 of the Sawyer Building in Las Vegas and teleconferenced to Carson City.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or (775) 687-3901.