TransparentNevada's Blog

State Dems slightly outpace state GOP in April voter registrations

2012-05-03T13:23:00.000-07:00

Secretary of State Ross Miller has released April's party registration numbers and it shows state Democrats registered 1,638 more voters than state Republicans during the month.

At the end of April, there were 428,774 active Democrats (up 3,915 from March) and 392,050 active Republicans (up 2,277 from March). Non-partisans grew to 168,225 active voters (up 2,485 from March).

Statewide, active voters now total 1,049,004 — an increase of 9,464 from March.

Nevada Journal relaunches with new look and more multimedia capabilities

2012-05-03T13:22:00.001-07:00

As you've probably noticed, things have been a little quiet here on the blog these past few weeks. Well, I just wanted to take this time to direct to your attention to the reason:

A complete redesign of Nevada Journal, TransparentNevada's sister-site in NPRI's drive for governmental transparency and accountability!

From the announcement:

NPRI and TransparentNevada are proud to announce a new-and-improved Nevada Journal, relaunching with a fresh look yet as dedicated as ever to "in-depth reporting in the public interest."

The Nevada Policy Research Institute today announced a complete redesign of its Nevada Journal news site, on the Web at NevadaJournal.com.

Already featuring detailed investigations into the impact of state, local and federal government agencies on the lives of Nevadans, the publication now adds a significant new multi-media capability.

“Ever since Nevada Journal was founded some 15 years ago, its mission has been to offer in-depth reporting in the public interest. Now we’re expanding our ability to provide that in as engaging a way as possible,” said Steven Miller, managing editor.

“That’s the reason for the redesign: We want to bring readers more multi-media stories, improved functionality, a robust commenting system, an easier site navigation system and a more open and visually appealing style.

“In the past few years, Nevada Journal investigations have documented significant misfeasance at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, double dipping during many legislative sessions by outgoing Assembly Speaker and North Las Vegas firefighter John Oceguera and — over many years — prescient, high-quality reporting on the continuing Las Vegas Monorail soap opera. This new website will enhance the presentation of such investigative journalism efforts.”

Nevada Journal reporting recently made its way onto the Drudge Report, Fox News and the Rush Limbaugh show, and has been picked up frequently by major media outlets throughout Nevada.

Feel free to take a look at the site and please don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any comments or suggestions.

Reid takes $1,500 from BP two years after oil spill disaster

2012-04-20T08:54:00.001-07:00

Great catch by Ralston, and even better headline:

Back in 2010, no one was stronger about BP’s behavior after the Gulf oil spill than Harry Reid: "Their greed led to 11 horrific and unnecessary deaths. It has harmed an enormous tourism industry, threatened business at countless fisheries and disrupted life for many along the Gulf Coast. As the pollution grows worse, those consequences will only compound." Here is the video, courtesy of Real Clear Politics. ...

Friends For Harry Reid, with the amusing notation of “2016 primary,” received $1,500 on March 5 from BP’s PAC, FEC records show. (The donation was first reported by Bloomberg's Greg Giroux.) That the donation came at a renewables event hardly vitiates the hypocrisy.

Mega-donors find open doors at White House

2012-04-20T08:54:00.000-07:00

The New York Times digs into White House visitor logs and donation records and finds a clear link between the two:

Although Mr. Obama has made a point of not accepting contributions from registered lobbyists, a review of campaign donations and White House visitor logs shows that special interests have had little trouble making themselves heard. Many of the president’s biggest donors, while not lobbyists, took lobbyists with them to the White House, while others performed essentially the same function on their visits.

More broadly, the review showed that those who donated the most to Mr. Obama and the Democratic Party since he started running for president were far more likely to visit the White House than others. Among donors who gave $30,000 or less, about 20 percent visited the White House, according to a New York Times analysis that matched names in the visitor logs with donor records. But among those who donated $100,000 or more, the figure rises to about 75 percent. Approximately two-thirds of the president’s top fund-raisers in the 2008 campaign visited the White House at least once, some of them numerous times.

Heller, Berkley neck-and-neck in first quarter fundraising

2012-04-20T08:53:00.000-07:00

Hotline on Call has the numbers.

Rep. Berkley raised $1.36 million in the first quarter of 2012 and has a little over $4.4 million cash on hand.

Sen. Heller raised $1.07 million during the same period and has a little over $4.2 million in the bank.

Election numbers

2012-04-13T08:57:00.000-07:00

Jon Ralston takes a look at some key numbers from the past few weeks and what they could mean for the 2012 election:

Some highlights:

State Democrats saw their active voter registration edge slip to 35,000 against the GOP as thousands of voters were flagged as "inactive." Inactive voters can still vote come November, but a good chunk of them likely moved out of state. State Democrats have seen their edge over the state GOP shrink from 8 points in 2008 to 3 points today.
Danny Tarkanian raised $344,000 in the first quarter of 2012 in his bid for Nevada's 4th congressional district while the Democratic challenger, state Sen. Steven Horsford, raised $260,000. Horsford still enjoys a sizable cash-on-hand lead and a 9 point Democratic registration advantage, but if Tarkanian or whoever the GOP nominee is can keep putting up these kind of fundraising numbers I wouldn't be surprised if the national GOP decided to make a serious play for it.
State Assembly Speaker John Oceguera raised $373,000 this past quarter in his bid to unseat Rep. Joe Heck in CD-3. Heck hasn't released his first quarter numbers yet but has $900,000+ on hand.

As Ralston says, numbers aren't destiny but they do provide some key insights into how the election is shaping up.

New benefits information added to TransparentNevada

2012-04-12T16:24:00.100-07:00

While our launch last week couldn't have gone much better, we're always working to bring you the latest and most up-to-date information on public-employee salaries in Nevada. As such, we're very proud to announce some exciting updates to the site this week.

Benefits data for Reno, Henderson, Clark County School District and the Washoe County School District is now available on TransparentNevada!

Following our launch last week, those agencies each began sending us updated spreadsheets that included benefits data. It's great that these agencies are no longer violating Nevada's open records law and that TransparentNevada has more data than ever before.

In the coming weeks, we'll be contacting the remaining agencies that didn't fully responded to our records requests. Keep an eye on @TransparentNV for notices of when new data is added.

Thanks for all your support!

STOCK Act becomes law

2012-04-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

The Los Angeles Times reports:

The measure was the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, better known was the STOCK Act. A long-lingering piece of legislation, it shot to the top of the priority list after a "60 Minutes" investigation highlighted instances of what the program called congressional "insider trading" -- lawmakers using information gleaned on the job, "non-public information," for personal profit.
The STOCK Act affirms that lawmakers and staff are not exempt from federal insider-trading laws and gives the House and Senate ethics committees the authority to enforce new rules. It also requires lawmakers to disclose more information about their stock trades.

One group that will be exempted from the new rules are so-called "Political Intelligence Firms," which the Sunlight Foundation describes as "groups that use their connections with congressional insiders to get information that they then use to make decisions about investments in the stock market."

The entire Nevada delegation voted in favor of the bill.

State Democrats slightly expand voter registration edge in March

2012-04-03T14:17:00.000-07:00

The Nevada Democratic Party registered 1,590 more voters in March than the state Republican Party did, according to figures released by the Secretary of State's office on Tuesday.

It marks the first time in five months state Democrats have increased their active voter registration edge over state Republicans. State Democrats currently maintain a 48,654 active voter registration edge in the state, down from a December 2008 peak of 104,556.

By the end of March there were 403,565 active Republican voters (an increase of 954 voters from February) and 452,219 active Democratic voters (an increase of 2,544 voters from February). There are 1,095,017 total active voters in Nevada, an increase of 6,076 from February.

'Sunset Subcommittee' saves all three boards from chopping block

2012-03-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

The Las Vegas Sun reports that a legislative subcommittee tasked with making recommendations regarding the elimination of dormant state boards and commissions has spared three boards from the chopping block during Tuesday's meeting.

The Gaming Policy Committee hadn't met in years but was called into meeting Wednesday by Gov. Sandoval to discuss internet gaming. That move prompted subcommittee member David Goldwater to propose the subcommittee "consider eliminating it at a later date."

The Well Driller's Advisory Board was also kept but a letter will be written to the state engineer to determine if it and the Contractors Board share any overlapping duties.

The Commission on Postsecondary Education -- responsible for "oversight and regulation of the private postsecondary school industry" -- was also kept.

The subcommittee will meet next month where it will decide on recommendations for the Nevada State Board on Geographic Names, the Board of Wildlife Commissioners and the Committee on Anatomical Dissection among others.

Lawmakers fined for not fully reporting campaign expenses

2012-03-29T14:30:00.000-07:00

Anjeanette Damon has an update to a story the TransparentNevada blog helped publicize last month:

Seven Assembly Democrats who did not report all of their campaign expenses have been fined $150 for violating state campaign finance laws, Secretary of State Ross Miller said Wednesday.

Democrats including Assembly Majority Leader Marcus Conklin, D-Las Vegas, who is facing a difficult re-election campaign this year, failed to report expenses related to their public office, such as rent in Carson City and travel to professional conferences.

They decided against reporting those expenses after receiving advice from their private lawyer, Bradley Schrager, who told them they only had to report expenses directly related to their election efforts.

The $150 fine must be paid from their personal funds, not their campaign's account.

Miller could have fined the lawmakers as much as $5,000 but claimed he settled on $150, in part, because the lawmakers were forthcoming about it when confronted by the Las Vegas Sun.

Changes to Nevada Legislature considered

2012-03-22T16:00:00.000-07:00

Las Vegas Sun:

Nevadans will vote on a proposed constitutional amendment in November that would allow the Legislature to call itself into special session with a two-thirds vote. And lawmakers are also discussing the possibility of annual sessions as they look at needed changes.

The Legislature meets once every two years for 120 days. And only the governor can convene a special session.

Assemblyman Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, says it's time to eliminate the biennial sessions. "Meeting every two years does not work any longer," said Segerblom, chairman of the Legislative Committee to Study the Structure and Operations of the Nevada Legislature.

It's funny, because when the Nevada Legislature does meet, legislative leaders often wait until the last few weeks or days to introduce major bills. If legislators are worried about getting more done, they should make better use of the time they have.

Nevada middle of the pack in access to government spending data

2012-03-19T12:15:00.000-07:00

Nevada News Bureau:

Nevada barely earned a C grade for its efforts in providing online access to government spending data with a score of 70, according to the latest report: “Following the Money 2012”, released this week by a national group.

The report from the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs) ranked Nevada 31st among the states, with Texas coming in at No. 1 with a score of 98 and Idaho coming in last with a score of 6. ...

Nevada was identified as one of 14 “emerging states” with a C grade for its transparency website, which was described as having checkbook-level detail that is easily searchable, but that is far less comprehensive in terms of detail as the 21 states with A and B grades.

Nevada’s under-performing areas include the inability to search for information by a keyword or activity, only partial ability to obtain contract or summary information, a lack of access to tax expenditure reports, and the inability to download data.

Nevada ranks near bottom in "Corruption Risk Index"

2012-03-19T11:19:00.000-07:00

That's according to a report released today by the Center for Public Integrity, Public Radio International and Global Integrity.

Key concerns cited in the report include: Part-time legislators who face conflicts of interest when laws deal with their private-sector employer, forcing lobbyists to only file disclosure reports during the Legislative session while the other eighteen months go undisclosed, a handful of legislators on the Interim Finance Committee making major budget changes and the Legislature exempting itself from open-meeting laws.

The report tracked fourteen different categories to arrive at the overall "D-" grade. Only two categories received a "C-" or better, while the rest received D's and F's.

The report did commend Nevada on "the variety of state records available online free to the general public" and the NELIS legislative tracking system that debuted in 2011.

Here's the report card:

Obama bundlers get plum government jobs

2012-03-14T16:23:00.000-07:00

Terrific Washington Post story last week detailing how being a major Obama campaign donor is a great way to get a job inside the Obama administration:

Obama campaigned on what he called “the most sweeping ethics reform in history” and has frequently criticized the role of money in politics. That hasn’t stopped him from offering government jobs to some of his biggest bundlers, volunteer fundraisers who gather political contributions from other rich donors.

More than half of Obama’s 47 biggest fundraisers, those who collected at least $500,000 for his campaign, have been given administration jobs. Nine more have been appointed to presidential boards and committees.

At least 24 Obama bundlers were given posts as foreign ambassadors, including in Finland, Australia, Portugal and Luxembourg. Among them is Don Beyer, a former Virginia lieutenant governor who serves as ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

Obama isn't the first to do this and won't be the last, but if he wanted to implement "the most sweeping ethics reform in history" — why not only appoint career foreign service agents as ambassadors?

Government still struggling with FOIA responses

2012-03-14T15:15:00.000-07:00

ABC News reports that government agencies are still struggling to keep up with FOIA requests:

The Obama administration couldn't keep pace with the increasing number of people asking for copies of government documents, emails, photographs and more under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, according to a new analysis of the latest federal data by The Associated Press.

However, there were a few bright spots, such as the government increasing its response rate by five percent in 2011 compared to 2010 and less frequently citing legal provisions allowing them to keep deliberations secret.

NoMoNicknames

2012-03-14T14:50:00.000-07:00

Secretary of State Ross Miller has removed from the 2012 ballot the nicknames of two candidates who were in violation of NRS 293.2565 which states "a nickname must not indicate any political, economic, social or religious view or affiliation."

Nancy "Occupy" Price and Eddie "WarNoMo" Hamilton are running for the Senate as a Democrat and Republican, respectively.

The law was created after Emil Tolotti Jr. ran and lost as "God Almighty" in the 1992 Senate Democratic primary.

Horsford forgets to file disclosure form

2012-03-08T08:11:00.001-08:00

Whoops:

State Sen. Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, who is running to represent Nevada’s newest congressional district, seems to have overlooked filing his federal personal financial disclosure form.

Horsford's campaign manager said it was an internal mistake and will be filed soon.

While mistakes happen, it certainly doesn't look great for Team Horsford.

Obama's FOIA record 'the worst'

2012-03-05T16:00:00.000-08:00

Politico talks to top open-government advocates and finds "the most open and transparent" administration in history has fallen far short of that goal:

President Barack Obama set a high bar for open government, and he set it quickly.

A minute after he took office, the White House website declared his administration would become “the most open and transparent in history.” By the end of his first full day on the job, Obama had issued high-profile orders pledging “a new era” and “an unprecedented level of openness” across the massive federal government.

But three years into his presidency, critics say Obama’s administration has failed to deliver the refreshing blast of transparency that the president promised.

“Obama is the sixth administration that’s been in office since I’ve been doing Freedom of Information Act work. … It’s kind of shocking to me to say this, but of the six, this administration is the worst on FOIA issues. The worst. There’s just no question about it,” said Katherine Meyer, a Washington lawyer who’s been filing FOIA cases since 1978. “This administration is raising one barrier after another. … It’s gotten to the point where I’m stunned — I’m really stunned.”

State GOP slightly shrinks Dem voter registration gap

2012-03-05T15:09:00.000-08:00

Nevada Republicans shrunk their active voter registration gap with Nevada Democrats by a little over 500 voters, according to February's voter registration numbers, which were released by the Secretary of State's office over the weekend.

As of February 29, the Nevada Democratic Party had 449,675 active voters, while the Nevada Republican Party had 402,611. Non-partisan and third parties combined for 236,655 active voters.

As a share of Nevada's 1,088,941 total active voters, 41.29 percent are registered Democrats, while 36.97 percent are registered Republicans. Non-partisans are the third largest voter group at 15.97 percent.

Republicans trail Democrats by 47,064 active voters, a significant decrease from the active-voter edge of 104,556 that Democrats held in December 2008.

Firefighter sick leave plummets following investigation

2012-03-01T16:12:00.000-08:00

These numbers are almost unbelievable:

Since county officials began questioning firefighters’ use of sick leave two years ago, sick-leave requests in the Clark County Fire Department have fallen by 57,000 hours.

A report by county administration obtained by the Sun finds that within those 57,000 hours, battalion chiefs’ sick leave fell from an average of 164 hours a year two years ago to about 16 hours last year, a 90 percent decline.

For rank-and-file firefighters, the average hours of sick leave taken fell from 227 hours two years ago to 136 hours last year, a 40 percent drop. (Emphasis added)

A 90 percent decline in sick leave in just two years. That's incredible.

The county has saved millions of dollars as a result of the drop-off.

As we've written about before, efforts to stop sick leave abuse at the Clark County Fire Department can only occur when politicians, the media and the public all start shining a light where none previously was. Kudos to Commissioner Sisolak and the Sun for bringing this issue to the public's attention.

DA Wolfson won't file charges against Henderson officer filmed in beating

2012-03-01T16:00:00.000-08:00

From the Review-Journal:

The Henderson police sergeant caught on video repeatedly kicking a man in the head during a traffic stop in 2010 will not be charged criminally for his actions, newly appointed Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said Monday.

Wolfson said that although he and other attorneys in his office seriously considered charging Henderson police Sgt. Brett Seekatz, who is at the center of the controversial video, too much time has passed since the incident was recorded Oct. 29, 2010.

Wolfson goes on to say bringing charges against Sgt. Seekatz is not in the "community's best interest."

Wolfson's decision gives officers and their supervisors a perverse set of choices when it comes to owning up to official misconduct. In the future, the choice will be 1) immediately make public any misconduct and likely face charges or 2) keep everything under wraps and out of the public's eye for as long as possible in the hope enough time will pass that the District Attorney will pass on filing charges. Which option do you think will be more popular?

Trials of former Bell, Calif. officials continue

2012-03-01T15:02:00.000-08:00

In an update to a story we've been following for awhile now, a Los Angeles County judge has refused to throw out charges against former Bell, Calif. city administrator Robert Rizzo and his top assistant, Angela Spaccia:

A Los Angeles County judge refused Tuesday to dismiss charges against the former city administrator of Bell and his chief assistant, who are accused of being the architects of a scheme to fatten their paychecks, draw generous fringe benefits and lend the city’s money to friends, colleagues and local business interests.

Robert Rizzo and his top assistant, Angela Spaccia, are among eight former city leaders accused in a massive public corruption case that left the city financially and politically shaken.

The judge did dismiss some charges against a former mayor and councilman, saying neither knew they were breaking the law by accepting loans from Rizzo. However, both still face charges for "allegedly collecting excessive pay for sitting on city boards and commissions that rarely, if ever, met."

The whole scandal has highlighted how important publicly available salary information is to holding government officials accountable.

Four more Assembly Dems file amended reports following Sun story

2012-02-24T08:25:00.009-08:00

A review by TransparentNevada has found four additional Assembly Democrats — along with three already identified in an earlier report — filed amended Contribution and Expense reports with increased campaign expense amounts following a story by the Sun's Anjeanette Damon that discovered lawmakers not itemizing expenses relating to official duties.

The four members are Majority Leader Marcus Conklin, Skip Daly, Marilyn Dondero Loop and Peggy Pierce. The Las Vegas Sun reported last night on the amendments filed by Conklin, Dondero Loop and Pierce.

Here are the expense numbers of the original and amended reports, with links pointing to the respective documents along with the date of the amendment:

Name	Original expenses	Amended expenses	Difference	Date
Marcus Conklin	$112,746.71	$115,625.21	$2,878.50	02/20/12
Skip Daly	$5,078.31	$9,242.42	$4,164.11	02/19/12
Marilyn Dondero Loop	$10,736.77	$15,898.49	$5,161.72	02/19/12
Peggy Pierce	$5,040.00	$7,674.00	$2,634.00	02/20/12

TransparentNevada found that no Assembly Republicans or state senators filed amended reports following the story.

Update (2/24/12): Marilyn Kirkpatrick was originally listed as one of the lawmakers who filed an amended report following the Sun story but her amendment was filed January 17, not February 17. TransparentNevada regrets the error.

Update (2/24/12): Clarified wording.

Democrats file amended reports following story of incomplete expense reporting

2012-02-23T13:51:00.000-08:00

A trio of Democrats who did not list thousands of dollars in campaign expenses last month has all now filed amended reports, TransparentNevada has learned.

In her February 17 story, the Sun's Anjeanette Damon found that Assembly Democrats Debbie Smith (Sparks), David Bobzien (Reno) and Lucy Flores (Las Vegas) were not including expenses related to their official duties in their annual Contribution and Expense report filed mid-January and covering all of 2011. Such expenses could include "rent in Carson City during the legislative session or travel to professional conferences." By law, campaign expenses cover office expenses, travel expenses and special events, along with other expenses "without limitation."

All three were relying on the counsel of attorney Bradley Schrager to justify not reporting the expenses.

On the same day the story was published, however, Bobzien and Smith filed amended reports that included campaign expenses relating to their public office. Flores filed her amended report on February 20.

Here are the expense numbers of the original and amended reports, with links pointing to the respective documents:

Member	Original expenses	Amended expenses	Difference
David Bobzien	$16,827.09	$21,674.07	$4,846.98
Debbie Smith	$71,464.06	$86,160.64	$14,696.58
Lucy Flores	$22,584.77	$31,134.26	$8,549.49

The quick turnaround between the story being published and the amendments being filed makes it obvious they had the full records on-hand but simply chose not to release them. Secretary of State Ross Miller is reportedly contacting the lawmakers and will determine how serious the infractions are and possibly “issue notices of violations.”