State fails test for legislative disclosure

The Center for Public Integrity, a Washington, D.C.-based international watchdog group that reports on lawmakers and their outside interests, gave Nevada a 49.5 out of a possible 100 points for legislators' financial disclosure in a recent study.

That's a solid F-minus.

According to spokeswoman Susie Schaab, the nonprofit, nonpartisan center looked at all participating states to determine how often lawmakers are required to file financial information, what depth of information is required, the public's ease of access to the information, and state enforcement. It's all in an effort to identify potential conflicts of interest among legislators.

While the state earned points for requiring legislators to file (Idaho, Michigan and Vermont have no such requirements), the CPI found Nevada's two-page form limited in scope.

"The important thing is the disclosure," said Schaab. "People don't realize how much power state legislators have on their everyday life - everything from telecommunications to health care to homeland security."

At least the information for Nevada legislators is there.

Sort of.

While the form requires state lawmakers to disclose sources of income, gifts received from donors worth more than $200, debts and business interests, some of the forms are incomplete or filled-in with esoteric or otherwise unrecognizable abbreviations. Some are perfectly legible, but others look like they were completed in a moving car, possibly during a rush-hour commute.

The CPI found 23.8 percent of Nevada legislators and 31.7 percent of their spouses reported a financial tie "through an employer, a personal business, a stock investment or a directorship" to a registered lobbying interest. The significance of these numbers is hard to gauge, as there is no law allowing the state to audit or check the information for accuracy.

Inevitably, it's an issue of public trust.

"Nevada ranks 38th in the nation for making basic information on state legislators' income, assets and potential conflicts of interest available to the public," said Schaab.

With the actual depth of reporting left entirely to the lawmakers, reviewing the hundreds of filings is a study in suffering.

"There were times when we were calling legislators asking (to elaborate) what something like 'farm interests' meant," said Schaab.

"Sometimes an appearance of a conflict of interest is just as bad as the real thing," she noted.

The public is encouraged to go to the CPI site at www.publicintegrity.org/oi.

Contact reporter Peter Thompson at pthompson@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1215.