Letter from secretary of state conditionally clears Beers

Nevada's secretary of state has concluded that if state Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, is telling the truth, campaign finance laws weren't broken when contributions were solicited on his behalf during the period when legislators can't engage in political fundraising.

However, the letter issued to Beers by Secretary of State Ross Miller on Tuesday leaves the door open, warning that if information surfaces to counter Beers' claim of ignorance of the solicitations, "appropriate action will be pursued."

Beers said Tuesday that he "was never in doubt" about the inquiry reaching "an intuitively obvious conclusion" of no law being broken.

Beers on Sunday responded to a query from Miller about an e-mail sent by political consultant Robert Uithoven on June 25. In the e-mail, Uithoven asked a lobbyist whether he would be interested in co-hosting a Beers fundraiser at a cost of $1,000.

The legislative session ended June 5. By statute, legislators, other state officials and political party caucuses may not accept or solicit contributions or commitments until 30 days after the end of the session.

The fundraiser is scheduled for Thursday at Cili Restaurant in Las Vegas.

Beers said he knew that Uithoven was arranging an event for him, but nothing more. "My complete involvement was to save the date of July 19 and to ask that if an invitation were to be sent out, it would not be until after July 6," Beers stated in his letter.

Formal invitations to the fundraiser were sent July 9.

"Mr. Uithoven and his employees were the sole organizers of the event, were acting independently, and are not employed by me or my re-election campaign," Beers added. "I had no knowledge of any other correspondence or any other details of this event. ... My list of past and potential contributors was not used. I did not make any phone calls inviting people to this event."

Beers also questioned whether Uithoven's e-mail even constituted a solicitation for political contributions.

Miller, however, said that the e-mail "was clearly a solicitation for political contributions."

Uithoven has said that he takes the blame for any wrongdoing associated with the e-mail.

Based on Beers' assertion that he wasn't involved in planning the fundraiser, Miller wrote, "this office finds no apparent violations" of the statute in question. However, he noted, "if you had knowledge of the solicitation, or acquiesced in the conduct, the provisions of NRS 294A.300 would have been violated."

Craig Walton, president of the Nevada Center for Public Ethics, said the Uithoven e-mail created a clear appearance of impropriety and, in forcing Beers to dispel that cloud, embarrassed the senator. "In the future, legislators should tell their inspired, unpaid friends to take a look at the law," Walton said. "He (Uithoven) was wrong, and he made Beers look bad."

The spirit of the law, he said, is to impose a cooling-off period so those with interests before the Legislature do not repay lawmakers with "quasi-bribes."