Nevada’s Ethics Commission: Guard Dog or Lap Dog?
A gallery of bureaucrats from the City of Reno City Council; Kathleen Taylor, Miguel Martinez, Meghan Ebert, Naomi Duerr, and Devon Reese.
Well, it looks like the Nevada Commission on Ethics has folded again — or to put it less politely, chicken-shitted out.
The Nevada Commission on Ethics are going to Dismiss and Defer - why should this commission even be funded by taxpayers.
Reno Councilmember Devon Reese, now running for mayor, just waltzed his way into a sweetheart deal:
Proposed Stipulated Dismissal Agreements for Ethics Complaint Nos. 24-036C and 24-050C.
Proposed Stipulated Deferral Agreement for Complaint No. 22-104C.
Translation: hire a private attorney, cut a deal, and walk away without a finding of guilt. On paper, Reese gets to say: “I’ve never been found guilty of an ethics violation.” In reality, taxpayers are left holding the bag — again.
This isn’t the first time the commission has played calendar politics either. They conveniently delayed findings on Reese until after the general election in 2024, effectively handing him a clean slate to be elected to the Ward 5 council seat, when voters deserved transparency. Now, with Reno’s mayoral race on the horizon, they’re greasing the skids for him again.
Which raises the obvious question: why does Nevada even have an Ethics Commission if its job is to protect politicians instead of the public? When dismissal agreements and deferrals become standard operating procedure, the “watchdog” starts looking more like a very well-fed lap dog.
For Reno residents, this is déjà vu with a twist. Reese gets a campaign talking point, the Commission gets to avoid controversy, and taxpayers get screwed.
Ethics shouldn’t be negotiable. But in Nevada, apparently, they’re up for stipulation.
The Nevada Commission on Ethics meets today at 3PM.