State Contractors Board makes annual report public

The Nevada State Contractors Board has posted its annual report and strategic plan on its website, reports the Reno Gazette-Journal.

According to the RGJ, the reports "highlight goals, potential challenges and opportunities for the 2011-12 fiscal year while looking back at accomplishments from the previous fiscal year."

The Contractors Board is funded from various licensing fees such as construction and engineering permits and does not receive money from the State General Fund.

In addition to the state contracts posted on TransparentNevada, citizens can use these reports to ensure infrastructure projects are contracted responsibly and not as pet projects for politicians.

The reports and licensing process can be found at http://www.nscb.nv.gov/index.html.

Correlation between campaign spending and national debt

Dan Glickman of the Bipartisan Policy Center has an interesting Op-Ed in Politico today comparing campaign spending to the national debt.

Glickman writes:

The national debt in 1980 was $907 billion ($2.55 trillion in 2010 dollars) — or 32.7 percent of gross domestic product. By 2010, the debt had increased to $13.5 trillion, or 91.8 percent of GDP. So, as percentage of GDP, the debt nearly tripled in 30 years, increasing by 180.7 percent.

The increase over this period in campaign spending is uncannily similar. Congressional campaign spending in 1980 was $532 million. In 2010, it was almost three times greater, tripling at $1.497 billion (both figures in 2010 dollars). That means campaign spending in Congress increased by 181.3 percent.

Debt to GDP is up 181.3 percent since 1980. Congressional campaign spending is up 180.7 percent over the same period: A statistical correlation of 99.669 percent.

Since campaign spending isn't a form of government spending, it obviously isn't the cause of our skyrocketing national debt, but Glickman's comparison is still very eye-opening.

Transparency Review (8/22-826)

• The Legislative Counsel Bureau approved new public records fees and campaign expense reports. According to the Nevada News Bureau, the LCB can now charge five cents per page after the first five pages of a request and 10 cents per page for color copies. Additionally, two new forms for PACs and campaign expenses were approved as required in AB452, one of several campaign finance reform bills passed during the 2011 Legislative session.

• Taking advantage of their open meeting law exemption, the Legislative Commission and other interim committees have held several meetings this summer without posting meetings agendas or minutes. According to the Las Vegas Sun, one of the "juicier" behind-closed-doors moments included Republican Senators Barbara Cegavske and Michael Roberson vying for the Republican caucus leadership position.

• Over 100 business leaders have joined Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz's pledge to boycott political donations. The leaders represent companies such as JC Penny, Whole Foods, AOL and J. Crew Group.

• Keep checking TransparentNevada for updates to our public employee salary database. Visit us at http://transparentnevada.com or follow us on Twitter @TransparentNV.

Heller weighs in on Russell-Amodei connection

Senator Dean Heller, R., said he wishes Judge James Russell would've disclosed his business relationship with Republican candidate Mark Amodei before ruling on the CD-2 special election.

In an interview on the local Nevada NewsMakers TV show, Heller said:

"I was as surprised as anybody anybody else when I read that they had some business dealings together."

Heller added that Russell justified himself because he ruled on the election process rather than the candidates.

The special election for Heller's old CD-2 seat will be held on September 13 between Amodei and State Treasurer Kate Marshall.

Transparency Review (8/15-8/19)

• TransparentNevada added official financial documents for the State of Nevada as well as Board of Education contract summaries. Keep checking http://transparentnevada.com or follow TransparentNevada @TransparentNV on Twitter for the latest updates.

• NPRI's Geoff Lawrence writes about firefighter unions and their fight to keep their lavish contracts and perks while the cities they serve are forced to cut back.

• Speaking of public employees and pay cuts, Clark County commissioners approved a 2 percent pay cut for 3,600 University Medical Center employees. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported the pay cut is expected to save UMC $5 million a year after the hospital suffered a $70 million loss in 2010.

• Nevada Senator Dean Heller, R., continues to lead a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Capital Hill calling for increased transparency from the debt-ceiling super committee. The National Taxpayers' Union supported Heller's call for open and televised committee hearings. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi D., CA, has also called for transparent committee hearings.

Lobbying spending declined in 2011 Legislature

School districts and local governments spent 19 percent less on lobbying during the 2011 Legislative session than they did during the 2009 session.

Writing in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, capital reporter Ed Vogel reported that Clark County and Clark County School District cut back the most with their lobbying expenses, down 29 and 35 percent, respectively, from the 2009 session.

Vogel noted that not all jurisdictions cut back on lobbying expenses. The city of Henderson, for example, increased lobbyist expenditures to $312, 867, an 11 percent increase from the 2009 session.

Other jurisdictions included the Las Vegas Metro Police Department, which spent 10 percent less in 2011, and the cash-strapped City of North Las Vegas, which decreased expenditures by 24 percent.

The Legislative Counsel Bureau also maintains monthly expense reports required by individual lobbyists. According to the LCB's files, 875 registered lobbyists spent over $118,000 "wining and dining" lawmakers during the 2011 session.

Vogel cited the recession and declining tax revenue as reasons for the decrease, but whatever the reasons, it's encouraging to see that, as a whole, public entities spent fewer taxpayer dollars "wining and dining" lawmakers to get more taxpayer dollars.

Starbucks CEO calls for no political donations

Howard Schultz, CEO of the Washington-based Starbucks coffee chain, wrote a letter to company employees criticizing the "irresponsibility among elected officials" and urged fellow business leaders to refuse political donations until a serious deficit plan is submitted.

Schultz, who in the past has contributed to politicians such as Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John Edwards, further emphasized his no-contributions idea in a New York Times interview on Saturday, telling columnist Joe Nocera:

The fundamental problem is that the lens through which Congress approaches issues is reelection. The lifeblood of their re-election campaigns is political contributions...Whether big donors or small ones, Americans should stop giving and see if it galvanizes Washington to act.

Although Schultz's idea may fall on deaf ears, especially in the wake of the Supreme Court's campaign finance ruling last year, it's encouraging to hear a CEO demand accountable politicians.

Transparency Review (8/8-8/12)

• The constitutionality of Nevada's Foreclosure Mediation Program was challenged in the Second District Court in Washoe County. As reported by NPRI's Nevada Journal, the program is overseen by the state Supreme Court, which the plaintiffs argue violates Article III of the Nevada Constitution, the separation-of-powers clause. If the case goes to the Supreme Court, the entire Court may have to recuse itself due to the conflict of interest.

• The former grassroots activist group ACORN was fined $5,000 for its role in a voter registration scheme in Nevada during the 2008 election cycle. The group, defunct since April 2010, received the maximum fine under Nevada election law of $5,000. Clark County District Judge Donald Mosley, who heard the case, said an individual convicted of a similar crime would have received a 10-year prison sentence.

• The Reno Gazette-Journal reports that Saturday, Aug. 13 is the final day to register to vote in the September 13 CD-2 special election. The special election is between Republican Mark Amodei and Democrat Kate Marshall for the vacant congressional seat left by Republican Dean Heller, who was selected to replace retired senator John Ensign.

• TransparentNevada continues to add jurisdictions to its growing database of public employee salaries. Keep checking http://transparentnevada.com or follow TransparentNevada on Twitter @TransparentNV for updated salary information.

State Supreme Court proposes video testimony

The Nevada Supreme Court proposed a new rule allowing witnesses to appear in civil and criminal trials via videoconferencing.

According to the Nevada News Bureau, attorneys, litigants, and witnesses are already allowed to appear via audio-visual links for certain hearings, but this rule would expand the technology to trial testimony.

According to Justice Mark Gibbons, this rule would "improve access to the courts and reduce litigation costs."

The Court's hearing on the new rule will be teleconferenced to state courthouses on September 8 and the public is invited to weigh on on the proposal.

House Minority Leader calls for transparent super committee hearings

While not required by law, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D., CA, called for Congress's deficit-cutting super committee meetings to be open to the public and broadcast online.

Congressional leaders have not yet announced the 12 members of the super committee. The 12 members will be tasked with recommending $1.2 trillion in deficit cuts by Thanksgiving, according to the debt ceiling agreement signed by Obama last week.

The recent debt ceiling talks were held behind closed doors, including several meetings held by Vice President Joe Biden and White House meetings with House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Politicians from both political parties, including Nevada's Dean Heller, R., echoed Pelosi's call for transparency.

Transparency Review (8/1-8/5)

• Transparent Nevada added salary data for the Las Vegas Metro Police Department and White Pine County. Keep checking http://transparentnevada.com/ or follow Transparent Nevada on Twitter @TransparentNevada for the latest releases of public employee salary information.


• Three "special masters" were appointed to redraw Nevada's state and congressional districts. The "masters" are Alan Glover, Carson City clerk-recorder, Thomas Sheets, a Las Vegas attorney, and Robert Erickson, a retired research director at the Legislative Counsel Bureau. Ninth District Court Judge James Russell scheduled a September 19 hearing to settle the Voting Rights Act debate over a majority-minority congressional district, and the panel masters will begin drawing maps after the ruling.


• Speaking of Judge Russell, he and Republican congressional candidate Mark Amodei were late on property tax payments for a mining claim they co-own in Storey County. The bigger question is whether it was a conflict-of-interest for Russell to hear the "ballot royale" case for the CD-2 special election since Amodei is A) a candidate for CD-2, and B) was head of the Nevada GOP, one of the plaintiffs in the case, and Russell ultimately ruled in their favor.


• There's not a lot of sunshine when it comes to transparency in Florida, reports the Sunshine Review. According to their report, Miami-Dade County, Florida's largest county, demanded Sunshine Review pay $22,000 for a public records request they filed for employee salaries. The average price for similar requests in other states, according to the report, was only $17.

Congressional candidate Amodei late on property tax payments

Republican congressional candidate Mark Amodei was late 25 times in 10 years in paying property taxes on his Storey County mining claim, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Amodei insisted he tried pre-paying the taxes but was denied by the county due to the county's tax collection schedule.

Amodei co-owns the mining property with Judge James Russell, who ruled on the CD-2 special election case prior the case reaching the State Supreme Court and is currently overseeing the state's redistricting hearing.

The largest fine for Amodei's late taxes was only $3.81 a year, but the bigger question is whether Russell should've ruled on the CD-2 special election when Amodei was running for the Congressional seat. It seems like a clear conflict-of-interest for Russell to hear a case in which one of his investment partners has a stake.

GOP presidential candidates yet to disclose major fundraisers

Nevada state Democrats challenged Republican presidential candidates to disclose their largest campaign fundraisers, something President Obama did on July 15.

State Senator Mo Denis, D., North Las Vegas, made the request during a teleconference with reporters last week. Denis said former President Bush and 2008 Republican nominee John McCain released their major fundraiser lists, as did Mitt Romney during his 2008 presidential campaign.

According to Denis, Obama released his list because he "has always believed that sharing the name of major fundraisers is a critical step in making campaigns more transparent and accountable."

Nevada is one of the first early caucus states for Republicans in February 2012.