The importance of timely disclosure

Is $200 enough to buy a government job from an elected official? Probably not.

But when the government job is in Henderson, a city with a well-earned reputation for insider back-scratching, and the person who gets the job is named Reid, it certainly warrants examination.

Two members of the Henderson City Council deposited campaign contributions from Josh Reid, son of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, while the city was considering his application for city attorney. Councilwoman Debra Anne March cashed a $200 check from Josh Reid on Aug. 23, and Councilwoman Gerri Schroder deposited a $200 check from Reid on Sept. 12, according to reports recently filed with the secretary of state's office. A few months later, the women joined in unanimous votes to give the city attorney's job to Reid at an annual salary of $190,000.

You might recall that when the position was first posted Aug. 11, Josh Reid didn't meet the minimum experience requirements of 10 years as a practicing attorney and five years with a public agency. But just before the Sept. 6 application deadline, Sen. Reid called members of the council to tout his son's application. The position's minimum requirements subsequently were lowered to eight years as a practicing attorney, allowing Josh Reid to remain in consideration.

Reid was one of six semifinalists to emerge from 46 applicants, and of those six, Reid was the only one who had failed to meet the initial minimum requirements, Review-Journal columnist Jane Ann Morrison reported in November.

His hiring remains widely perceived as a political juice job, a move made by the council to avoid the wrath of Sen. Reid. The donations, piled on top of recent Henderson controversies such as a police beating that was kept secret for more than a year, the resignation of Police Chief Jutta Chambers and generally insular decision-making by leaders, make the culture at City Hall look even worse.

Pay to play? For just $200? When the most powerful man in Nevada was already making calls on his behalf?

March, Schroder and Reid offered some explanations Friday.

Via email, Reid said he and other partners in the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck were asked to make donations to the council campaigns of March, Schroder and Sam Bateman. The checks were given to attorney Chris Stephens, a friend of March's, but Stephens apparently held onto the checks for months before distributing them.

"At the time of my donation, I had not thought about applying for the City Attorney position, and it was not open at the time," Reid wrote in an email. "I was not aware that these donations were not distributed until late summer or fall until Councilman Bateman was asked about it during my interview process."

Bateman said his check was dated June 19, the day he received it and reported it -- after then-City Attorney Elizabeth Quillin had been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving but before she had officially resigned, creating the vacancy. View News reporter Michael Lyle reported that donation last fall.

Schroder said in an interview that if she had noticed Reid's donation, she "didn't think about it at the time" she interviewed him and voted to give him the job. In fact, she said she hadn't thought about the connection until I called her Friday. She said she and other council members weren't made aware of the identities of the applicants for city attorney until October. "I certainly understand why you're asking about it," she said.

March said Stephens gave her a handful of checks in August, "which I promptly turned over to my accountant."

"I can assure you that my integrity is fully intact, my decisions are always in the best interest of the residents of Henderson," March wrote in an email. "Josh Reid was hired because he was the most qualified candidate for the position of city attorney."

Schroder faxed me a copy of Reid's cancelled check, which was dated April 12 -- well before Quillin's arrest (although the date was much darker than any other writing on the check).

Schroder, Bateman and March added that none had received a call from Sen. Harry Reid advocating Josh Reid's hiring.

If there's a lesson here, it's that elected officials need to pay much closer attention to their donors, and that candidates should have to report contributions within a few days of receiving a check, not several months. The Legislature routinely kills such campaign transparency reforms.

Should Schroder and March have noticed the names on a handful of checks received off-cycle, months after they had won their respective elections? They certainly should have noticed the name Reid. Bateman deposited his check right after a hard-fought runoff that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's easier to forgive him for not remembering a donor.

Let's take everyone at their word. I don't think Josh Reid did anything wrong or had any sinister motives in donating to those three campaigns. But he should have disclosed the donations to the council members when he interviewed with them and insisted that they disclose it, too. And even if those council members assert that the donations played no role in their votes to give Reid the job, they should return the money. Otherwise, it just looks bad, and perception is everything. It's never too late to do the right thing -- especially with such a small amount of cash.

Of late, it seems Henderson government is inclined to do the wrong thing. No deliberations. No comment. Stonewalling the press and the public.

Reid said better policies lie ahead.

"I take the City's obligations under the Nevada Open Meeting Law very seriously, and I am not aware of any allegations of Open Meeting Law violations since I arrived at the City," he wrote in an email. "I am currently working on a draft Code of Ethics for the City, which I believe will make the City an example of good and open government in the state. We are looking at ethics ordinances across the country in order to take what has been successful in other jurisdictions and bring it to Nevada."

We'll see.

Glenn Cook (gcook@reviewjournal.com) is a Review-Journal editorial writer.