Nye County official fined for violating ethics laws
A Nye County official who landed in hot water last year for making racist comments about Hispanics has been fined $5,000 for violating state ethics laws.
The Nevada Commission on Ethics issued the penalty last week to Nye County Assessor Shirley Matson for "failing to separate properly her public duties from her private interests," said Caren Jenkins, the panel's executive director.
The commission found Matson guilty of two willful violations of ethics laws for what Jenkins described as a "course of conduct" after the elected assessor was targeted for recall in July.
Jenkins said Matson used county office supplies to make anti-recall signs and hang them on her county-owned vehicle. She also directed a member of her staff to send a letter to one of the recall organizers that wrongly accused the woman of failing to report a business she owned.
Last week's ruling came after a hearing in Las Vegas that was marked by "a lot of bad feelings and fear and anger" by those called to testify, Jenkins said.
The Ethics Commission could have fined Matson up to $15,000 and recommended that she be removed from office. Instead, Jenkins said, commissioners urged everyone involved to try to set aside their hostilities and work together.
Matson's troubles began on March 11, 2011, when she sent an email to Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo asking him to investigate the citizenship of "Mexican/Latino non-English speaking" workers building a new county jail in Pahrump.
Shortly after her email exchange with DeMeo was made public, far more offensive rants from Matson surfaced, including ones sent before she was elected in 2010 in which she railed against "dirty filthy Mexican/Latino illegals" who she said devour the nation's resources like locusts.
In March 2011, the Nye County Commission publicly reprimanded Matson for her comments about Hispanics.
Her opponents failed to collect enough signatures to force a recall election.
Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350.
