The Nevada Ethics Commission on Tuesday voted to appeal the district court’s recent decision to overturn the commission’s ruling against Washoe County School Board Trustee Joe Rodriguez.
The commission’s ruling stems from a complaint that Rodriguez violated state law (NRS 281A) in 2022 by wearing his Nevada State Fire Marshal Division Lieutenant uniform in campaign photographs.
The commission heard the complaint and ruled that Rodriguez had violated state ethics laws. The commission also imposed a penalty of $250 per violation for a total of $1,000. The opinion against Rodriguez was issued and served on May 18, 2023.
On June 2, 2023, Rodriguez filed a motion for consideration to the commission. Two of the violations were vacated, but the fines for the remaining two violations were increased to $500 each, keeping the total penalty at $1,000.
Rodriguez then filed a petition for judicial review in Washoe County’s Second Judicial District Court and filed a brief on Feb. 20, 2024.
District Court Judge Kathleen Sigurdson determined that the first picture of Rodriguez in his uniform on his campaign website was taken in 2019 and that he “did not request that the picture be taken and was not considering applying for WCSD Trustee at the time the picture was taken,” according to court documents.
Similarly, the second photo was taken in 2020 when he was not considering applying for the trustee position.
Sigurdson further ruled that for the commission to find a violation, a public official needs to “actually use time, property, equipment or other facility” belonging to the government for their campaign. An example is a 2002 ruling related to Kathy Augustine’s usage of a government computer for her re-election campaign.
“Although the photographs depicted Trustee Rodriguez in his uniform and with a badge and/or gun, at the time the photographs were taken Trustee Rodriguez was not using these items for any personal purpose but was undisputedly performing his official duties,” Sigurdson wrote.
“I think the Ethics Commission’s decisions have extended this prohibition on use of photographs too far.”
Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo was censured by the ethics commission and fined $20,000 in 2023 for violating the same state law after using his Clark County sheriff’s badge and his Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department uniform in campaign materials. Among the violations noted was a 90-second ad filmed for the campaign featuring long shots of Lombardo walking – first in his Metro uniform but also in two separate sets of civilian clothes with his badge clearly visible on his belt.
On Tuesday, the commission voted to challenge the court’s ruling to overturn their decision.
Ethics Commission Counsel Elizabeth Bassett said she believes there are some legal precedents in the order that should be challenged.
“[The ruling] should be challenged based on the long-standing precedent of the commission, and some of the rulings that the court made on the limited use exception,” Bassett said. “[The judge] shifted the burden [of] proving some of the factors to the commission as opposed to the subject.”
Bassett recommended filing an appeal.
Commissioner Scott Scherer said that while he agrees with the judge’s opinion, he is in favor of appealing the decision.
“I believe, ultimately, the district court judge reached the correct decision under the statute,” Scherer said. “I think the Ethics Commission’s decisions have extended this prohibition on use of photographs too far. Unless the photograph actually belongs to the government, I believe it is not government property.”
However, Scherer said, an appeal would provide clarification.
“I think there’s a great need for clarification of this law; we’re getting a lot of these kinds of complaints,” Scherer added. “I’m willing to support the appeal of this case so we can get some clarification from the Supreme Court, but for the record, I ultimately believe the judge reached the correct decision under this statute.”
At the time of publication, Rodriguez had not responded to comment on the court’s decision.
