EDITORIAL: ‘It could have all been avoided’

Is it any wonder that Clark County tried to keep secret the email messages of convicted killer Robert Telles? The communications offer a less than flattering — no, embarrassing — look at county oversight, workplace conditions and personnel procedures.

It has been 29 months since Telles, the Clark County public administrator, murdered Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German, stabbing him multiple times outside his Las Vegas home. Mr. German had written a series of stories revealing turmoil and low morale in the office Telles was elected to run. In August, a jury convicted Telles of first-degree murder, and a judge sentenced him to life in prison with a possibility for parole after 28 years.

Following the death of Mr. German, Clark County officials refused to release emails sent by Telles and Roberta Lee-Kennett, an employee who worked in the public administrator’s office. Mr. German’s reporting revealed that the two — both of whom were married — were suspected of having an affair.

Last month, the county relented and made public more than 10,000 messages from Telles. They leave little doubt that he was more than just Ms. Lee-Kennett’s boss.

The Telles emails show that he spent an inordinate amount of time on the relationship, particularly during work hours. In one correspondence he writes, “I love you … It’s going to be a bummer that I won’t see you for three days.” In another, he expresses a desire to “run away together” because he can’t “imaging us not being together.”

Of greater importance, however, county officials apparently had little interest in looking into Telles’ behavior or to thoroughly investigate reports of inappropriate workplace behavior. Aleisha Goodwin, an employee in the office, had filed two complaints with the county — one in 2020 and another two years later — that alleged various problems in the office, including favoritism for Ms. Lee-Kennett. She was also acting on the behalf of other office workers, but her complaints were essentially ignored. County officials acknowledge that they never reviewed the emails — on taxpayer-funded work devices — between Telles and Ms. Lee-Kennett.

Ms. Goodwin then turned to Mr. German, who lost his life after digging into the controversy.

Ms. Goodwin not unreasonably questions whether the senseless killing of an award-winning journalist could have been avoided had county officials taken appropriate action. “It could have all been avoided,” she said. “If someone in the county had just listened to us. If someone in the county would have just done something to look into what we were alleging.”

A county spokeswoman told the Review-Journal’s Katelyn Newberg that personnel investigations are all “unique to the circumstances” but that “the process of investigating HR complaints does not always involve going through the electronic communications of employees.” What, then, did it involve? Anything at all?

It’s true that the County Commission has limited jurisdiction over the elected officials who serve as clerk, treasurer, recorder and public administrator. But the local government, like any employer, also has an obligation to protect workers — many of whom serve in those offices — from a hostile work environment. In this case, the county failed in that regard and then tried to cover it up by withholding public information. Shameful.