Tax commissioners decide against challenging decision

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Tax Commission voted Monday not to challenge a recent state Supreme Court decision that found the panel violated the open meeting law in a tax refund case.

Despite disappointment over the court's decision, commissioners voted 6-1 against asking the justices to reconsider their case.

Commissioner John Marvel voted not to seek reconsideration of the decision though he thought the court's decision was wrong. "To me it's an outrage the Supreme Court blew it so badly," he said.

In its unanimous April 24 decision, the court said the commission violated the law by deliberating and voting in closed session on a $40 million refund for Southern California Edison. The attorney general's office brought the open meeting law complaint against the board.

Commissioner Hank Vogler said if the case had involved a modest amount of money, it never would have been the focus of such media attention. He supported asking for reconsideration to clarify the panel did nothing improper or out of the ordinary in the case.

James Giudici, a private lawyer working for the commission in the open meeting dispute, told the panel that the court misunderstood the intent of the Legislature when it enacted a law in 1983 providing for taxpayer confidentiality in tax cases.

But Giudici and his colleague, Thomas "Spike" Wilson, said that persuading the Supreme Court to rehear the case would be difficult.

"The question is: Do you want the point made? Sometimes the point is worth making," Wilson said. "I'm disturbed by the opinion, frankly, and disappointed by it. Not because we lost representing the commission but because we don't think it addresses the fundamental central issue."

Requests for reconsideration sometimes are sought by losing parties but rarely are granted by the court.

Southern California Edison still can seek a rehearing.

The Tax Commission will reconsider the utility's refund request at a June 25 meeting.

Tax Commissioner George Kelesis said the commission should hold the new hearing in public to show that the commission's initial decision was handled properly.

"The only way the public is going to believe the right thing was done is when the public has access to it," Kelesis said. "The more that is open to the public, the better off we are."

Short of a Social Security number or trade secret, most of the information received by the commission in tax cases should not be kept confidential, he said.

Despite objecting to what he called a Supreme Court record that was unfair and incomplete, panel Chairman Thom Sheets said he would live with the court's ruling in the case.

The commission's use of private lawyers in the open meeting law dispute has cost at least $500,000.

Contact Capital Bureau writer Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900.