Governor says state shouldn’t pay legal fees for Loux

CARSON CITY — Gov. Jim Gibbons and Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto clashed today when the governor objected to paying the legal expenses of outgoing Nuclear Projects Agency administrator Bob Loux.

Gibbons said the state should not pay $20,000 to cover legal expenses incurred by Loux to fend off a complaint filed against him with the state Ethics Commission.

Instead of paying his legal costs, the attorney general’s office should prosecute Loux on criminal charges, Gibbons told Masto during a Board of Examiners meeting.

The administration contends Loux over at least a three-year period gave himself and his staff salary increases far beyond what they were legally entitled to receive.

For example, it alleges that Loux paid himself a $151,542 salary last year, nearly 33 percent more than the $114,088 he was entitled to receive by law.

“Should the state of Nevada be defending someone who violated the state law?” Gibbons asked.

But Masto said state laws require her office pay for Loux’s defense. She also noted her office has a longtime record of working with Loux on cases involving Yucca Mountain that causes potential conflicts of interest.

As a result, Loux has hired private lawyers to represent him with their fees paid by the state. Masto said about $8,000 already has been spent on those lawyers and the Board of Examiners had no choice but to approve a contract change to bring that total to $20,000.

She also reminded Gibbons, a non-practicing lawyer, that Loux and everyone else is innocent until proven guilty.