Follow The Money, A Mantra Not Always Followed

Report's Accuracy Rarely Questioned Politicians Rarely Challenged

by Johnny Gunn

Yes, Virginia, there are Contributions and Expenses Reports to be filed, even if you lost in the Primary Election, and for some, even worse news; money must be returned. For those who lost in the primary, the deadline for C&Es is November 15. According to election laws in the Silver State, a candidate is allowed to receive as much as $10,000 from a contributor, of which, $5,000 is to be for the Primary election, $5,000 for the General Election.

For the losers then, anything over $5,000 from any contributor must be returned. The election law says the money cannot be retained for a future campaign, nor can it be used for personal expenses such as legal fees or other personal use. There are candidates under indictment in Nevada, and they will not be able to put campaign contributions into their legal funds.

Winning candidates of course can maintain their balance and seek more contributions.

A couple of things occurred when C&E reports were looked at following the August reports. Many candidates simply don't know the law, even one running for the state's highest court. As The Observer has pointed out so often, a candidate is required to sign the C&E Report indicating that, 'under penalty of perjury,' the report is true.

Then we must ask, why did District Judge James Hardesty, candidate for Nevada Supreme Court not sign his report? It was signed by his campaign treasurer, a violation of NRS 294A.120(1). Why did a man who wants to sit on the highest judicial bench have an underling sign for him? Sorry, your honor, but that's against the law.

According to Secretary of State Dean Heller, when a report such as Judge Hardesty's is turned in, no one looks to see if it follows the letter of the law. Heller insists he doesn't have jurisdiction over such matters, and the only way for someone to investigate a matter of possible illegal activity is for a citizen to file a formal complaint with his office.

This isn't a loophole in the law; it's a full-blown open pit in which a 150-ton ore truck could get lost. All C&E reports are not filed with the Secretary of State. Many are only filed at the county level, and if one wished to look at a report from say, Eureka County, one would have to drive there to do it. There is no comprehensive web site for Eureka County, Nevada. This is the case with many of Nevada's rural counties, and should be addressed in the legislature.

Two counties are under federal observation for possible election violations, but the question of fraudulent C&E reports is purely at the state level, and only if a citizen makes a complaint. The reports in the rural counties are probably rarely looked at, many of the counties don't have a newspaper of record that investigates such matters, and most citizens are probably not even aware that no one looks at the reports to see if they are filed properly.

By way of simple observation of C&E reports during the last year, The Nevada Observer has found serious discrepancies in reports filed by Nevada's highest law enforcement officer, Attorney General Brian Sandoval, and now, a candidate for Nevada's highest judicial office, Judge James Hardesty. The question that comes to the surface immediately is simple, how many thousands of illegal C&E reports have been filed just in this election cycle? One would have to drive thousands of miles to visit each county clerk in counties that do not have Internet web sites.

For years the public has been developing a level of cynicism regarding politicians. At the base of that cynicism is money, not honesty, money. When governors can be anointed years before an election because of money, when politicians themselves don't care enough to follow simple rules of conduct declaring where their campaign money comes from, when the highest officers of the state fib on their reports, the cynicism may be justified.

We have only scratched the surface of what is wrong with the current election reporting laws. Within the C&E reports, the E stands for expenditures, and an entire book can be written on how politicians and those who want to force their will on them manipulate this report. It's called bundling. An expense of say, $45,000 is reported to be spent with "Duh Public Relations." For what? Who really got the money?

One politician in the state is currently under investigation for spending thousands of dollars by way of cash payments to children to solicit votes in neighborhoods. And no record can be found on her C&E report.

Contribution reports can't be bundled. Why should expense reports be any different?

Will the legislature have enough fortitude to rewrite Nevada's election laws to force a level of openness between candidates, contributors, and the electorate? Will there be a central clearinghouse, so to speak for all election C&E reports from all the counties? Legislators are politicians after all. How's that for being cynical?