Loopholes allow former legislator to start lobbying

Some legislators are forbidden from lobbying colleagues immediately after leaving office, but not former Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins.

Also, state and local government retirees in Nevada are forbidden from going back to work for the public sector while collecting a pension.

But that isn't stopping Perkins, former police chief in Henderson, from collecting a pension worth nearly $99,400 while also collecting a $240,000, two-year contract to lobby his former colleagues in the Legislature on behalf of the Henderson City Council.

Unless the Legislature approves a temporary exemption, as it has done in the past for retired school teachers with a particular specialty that is in short supply, government retirees cannot collect a salary and a pension simultaneously, said Dana Bilyeu, executive director of PERS.

Yet in the case of Perkins and others, the rule doesn't apply because Richard Perkins Co. is a corporation with a contract, not an individual re-employed by the city of Henderson and eligible for benefits through Nevada's Public Employees' Retirement System.

In addition, unlike other legislative bodies, Nevada lawmakers are not subject to a "cooling-off period" between the time they step down from the Legislature and the time they start lobbying their former colleagues, said Lorne Malkiewich, executive director of Nevada's Legislative Counsel Bureau.

"Cooling-off periods are largely symbolic to gain the confidence of voters," Perkins said. "Nevada has never taken up the cooling-off period. ... If you are going to be crooked, you are going to be crooked whether there is a cooling-off period or not."

In Washington, D.C., new ethics rules were approved in 2007 after the Democrats took control of Congress and following lobbying scandals in which lobbyists who previously were congressional staffers pleaded guilty to corruption.

The new rules extended the cooling-off period from one year to two years in the U.S. Senate and kept in place a one-year cooling-off period for House members.

Also, Senate staffers are prohibited from lobbying for one year after they leave the Senate.

Former House staffers can lobby Congress, but they must follow ethics rules and are prohibited for one year from lobbying the former office or committee for which they worked.

The Clark County Commission in 2005 enacted a one-year cooling-off period after former commissioners started lobbying the commission on behalf of developers and others just days after stepping down in December 2004.

This will be Perkins' first legislative session working as a lobbyist full-time.

However, he first started lobbying for Henderson at the end of the 2007 legislative session, just weeks after his last term as Assembly speaker ended in December 2006.

With term limits ousting Nevada lawmakers on a regular basis, and with 18 months between sessions, the Legislature "sort of cools itself," Perkins said.

Contact reporter Frank Geary at fgeary @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0277.