Henderson council hires Josh Reid as city attorney

The Henderson City Council voted 4-0 with one abstention Tuesday to hire Josh Reid as the next city attorney.

During a public and City Council comment period that lasted about an hour, Mayor Andy Hafen criticized the media for speculating that he and council members would select Reid as a political favor to his father, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

"I'm very well aware of what's out there with Senator Reid," said Hafen, who disclosed that his daughter worked with the congressman for eight years until 2006, when she left to challenge -- unsuccessfully -- former U.S. Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., in a race that was decided by 1 percentage point.

Councilwoman Kathleen Vermillion abstained from voting after announcing that she would resign from the City Council effective Jan. 1.

Neither Josh Reid nor interim City Attorney Christine Guerci-Nyhus was present. Only two people spoke against hiring Reid out of about 70 who were at the meeting.

The attorney, one of the senator's five sons, walks into the job amid controversy.

Accusations that the job description was tilted in Josh Reid's favor surfaced several weeks ago when it was learned that his father had lobbied Hafen and at least one other City Council member to hire him. The city also lowered the qualifications for the position. It's a move critics contend was made so that the less experienced Josh Reid would be eligible to be hired, but Hafen and City Councilman Sam Bateman said that assertion is inaccurate.

At Tuesday's meeting, Bateman echoed comments he made to the Review-Journal on Monday night, saying it was he who had requested the revised standards because the original ones called for applicants to have at least five years of experience working in the public sector and to meet other thresholds.

COUNCIL: ORIGINAL TERMS WERE TOO HIGH

Council members said the first set of qualifications left too many good attorneys out of the candidate pool. Hafen added that not one of the seven Nevada Supreme Court justices would have qualified for the city attorney's job under the original terms.

Hafen also said Reid emerged as the top candidate in both the written and oral components of the interview process.

"He showed a clear ability and knowledge, and he tackled the complex challenges we presented to him," Hafen said.

While all of the council members rejected the notion that Sen. Reid's lobbying on behalf of his son had influenced their decisions, Bateman was particularly incensed.

"If the Senate majority leader of the U.S. Congress was strong-arming Sam Bateman to hire his son, who was wholly unqualified, I would agree hiring him would be inappropriate," Bateman said.

But Josh Reid, he said, has worked for a decade for three respected law firms in Nevada and Utah. He also has worked for government entities and has tackled complex civil litigation.

Council members agreed that Reid's background is exactly what the city needs now, particularly as it faces billion-dollar bankruptcies at the Lake Las Vegas and Inspirada master-planned communities. They acknowledged that hiring Reid could cost them politically but said choosing the candidate who is best for Henderson drove the decision.

Hafen and Vermillion said they received phone calls and emails from people who advocated for a variety of candidates. Bateman said he wasn't lobbied very heavily. Councilwomen Gerri Schroder and Debra March said they did not receive calls from Sen. Reid or anyone else.

Vermillion said in an interview Monday that the elder Reid was far from the only influential person to lobby on behalf of an applicant for the job, which became available in August after then-City Attorney Elizabeth Quillin lost her position following a misdemeanor drunken driving conviction.

Quillin, hired in 2009, earned $190,000 a year. Hafen said that the city could have appointed her replacement, because that is legal under the city's charter, but that the decision was made to open the process to the public to be more transparent.

OTHERS LOBBIED FOR APPLICANTS

Vermillion said Monday that Tim O'Callaghan, former publisher of the defunct Henderson Home News and eldest son of the late Gov. Mike O'Callaghan, and Secretary of State Ross Miller and Clark County District Attorney David Roger had called her on behalf of O'Callaghan's brother, Michael.

Michael O'Callaghan withdrew his name from consideration shortly after Josh Reid applied. Attempts to contact O'Callaghan for comment were unsuccessful.

Vermillion said former Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson called her to advocate for Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority attorney Luke Puschnig, who was one of the six finalists for the position.

Influential political adviser Sig Rogich contacted her to endorse former Las Vegas Municipal Judge George Assad, a semifinalist. Vermillion said an unidentified partner from the Lionel Sawyer Collins law firm emailed her in support of Guerci-Nyhus.

"Senator Reid didn't do anything that Mr. Rogich, Mr. O'Callaghan, Mr. Roger, Mr. Miller and Mr. Gibson didn't do," Vermillion said.

Bateman said nobody contacted him to "overtly" support any candidate.

"I got phone calls and emails here and there, but nothing you wouldn't expect, and I can tell you I got no calls from Harry Reid," he said Monday.

TIMING CALLED 'UNFORTUNATE'

Bateman conceded that the timing is questionable.

"It is unfortunate. The way it looks on its face, I understand the public's perception, but it is absolutely false that we did this to pave the way for Josh Reid. I understand how people got their perception, but it's still the wrong perception."

Because the initial qualifications were so limiting, Bateman said, few candidates applied.

"People who have jobs in the public sector want to stay where they are," he said. "Their jobs are kind of protected, so the top-tier candidates don't want to leave those protected jobs and take an at-will job."

Josh Reid's contract will differ from the one Quillin signed. The city had to pay her about $100,000 after her DUI conviction because that is what her contract's separation clause required. The City Council continues to bristle at the outcome and has vowed to avoid those types of employee deals in the future.

As for the elder Reid lobbying for his son -- and several influential people endorsing other candidates -- Bateman is philosophical. "That's the thing with these jobs," he said. "That's how it works. It's typical."

Contact reporter Doug McMurdo at dmcmurdo@ reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5512.