Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve was acting in her official capacity by celebrating the Reno arch’s makeover. That’s the latest on the ethics complaint filed by her mayoral opponent, Eddie Lorton.
As first reported on ThisisReno, Lorton accused the mayor last month of crossing lines between her re-election bid and her official capacity as mayor.
When running for mayor in 2014, part of Schieve’s campaign was to take selfies with supporters. She also promoted selfies and hashtags during this year’s arch celebration, but the state Ethics Commission this week declined to investigate the matter saying there was no evidence of impropriety.
“The Commission declines to investigate this matter and dismisses the ethics complaint based upon lack of sufficient evidence that subject’s conduct implicated her current campaign for re-election to support alleged violations of (state law),” wrote Ethics Commission Chair Cheryl Lau.
Schieve denied wrongdoing at the time.
“I was not focused on my campaign for mayor, but on the event,” she explained. “I still have to do my job to champion my city. I am focused on my goal of making the city a better place to live. I think there’s a distinct difference when you are promoting your candidacy versus the role that you serve at that current time.”
Lorton said he disagreed with the ruling:
“The ethics board has always been very weak,” he told ThisisReno. “In the past they’ve let certain politicians vote on things they shouldn’t have voted for. I have more than enough evidence. I realize it’s not a court of law, and every time I’ve gotten legal with them, we’ve won. We’ll see what’s to come.”
UPDATE: This story has been updated to include a response from Lorton.
