CITIZENS OUTREACH NEWS RELEASE
LAS VEGAS – Secretary of State Ross Miller is all atwitter that certain Democrat legislators are not declaring all their expenses in their Contribution and Expense Reports. Assemblywomen Debbie Smith (D – Sparks) and Lucy Flores (D – Las Vegas) and Assemblyman David Bobzien (D – Reno) all admitted in a story in the Las Vegas Sun that they did not disclose all the disbursements from their campaign accounts. Perhaps Mr. Miller should look in the mirror to see who is responsible for this lack of transparency.
On October 28, 2010, I submitted a complaint to Mr. Miller’s office because the Assembly Democrat Caucus did not disclose all contributions and expenses, as required by law, on their Contribution and Expense Report. On December 9, 2010, Mr. Miller’s office issued an opinion saying they did not have to report all expenses and contributions. Either through negligence or incompetence Mr. Miller’s office has created this mess. Mr. Miller now says “The law is clear: Anytime you raise money into a campaign account and you spend that money, it is an expenditure that must be reported.”
Mr. Miller’s December 9, 2010, letter was based on a section of the Nevada Revised Statutes that had nothing to do with candidates or their supporting caucuses; it only pertained to a “Person or group of persons organized formally or informally, including a business entity, who advocates the passage or defeat of a question or group of questions on the ballot.” This was the argument the attorney for the Assembly Democrat Caucus used in their response to my complaint. It appears that Mr. Miller’s office might have “cut and pasted” the caucus’ response without reading the relevant statutes.
As secretary of state Mr. Miller has certain obligations to the citizens of the state of Nevada. He is the chief election officer of the state and is expected to act in a nonpartisan manner when enforcing our election laws. Instead he has consistently conducted himself as a political hack in this matter whose only obligation is to the Democrat Party.
It is time Secretary of State Ross Miller grows up and decides if he wants to be secretary of state or a mouthpiece for entrenched Democrat special interests.
The preceding statement was issued today by Citizen Outreach CEO Dan Burdish. Citizen Outreach is a non-profit, non-partisan grassroots lobbying organization which promotes limited-government public policies and legislation.
