State senator to become leader of mining association

CARSON CITY -- State Sen. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, said Thursday that he's leaving his job as a partner with a statewide law firm to become executive director of the Nevada Mining Association.

Amodei said he's replacing Russ Fields, who is retiring after 10 years as head of the mining association. Amodei will start Oct. 1 and will work with Fields until he leaves at the end of the year.

While Amodei didn't disclose his mining association salary, he said it's about what he was earning with the Kummer Kaempfer Bonner Renshaw & Ferrario law firm.

With the shift to the trade association, Amodei said there's no requirement that he leave his Senate position. His term expires at the end of 2010.

"This is just my new day job," Amodei said, adding that many legislators have full-time outside jobs and make a practice of disclosing any potential conflicts to determine whether they should vote on certain measures.

The Kummer Kaempfer law firm is involved in many legislative issues, and by shifting to the mining association any conflicts "ought to go down by about 95 percent," Amodei said.