LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Governor Joe Lombardo is set to pay $20,000 in fines for ethics violations. That's due to Lombardo using photos of himself in uniform while campaigning for the Governor's office.
The Nevada Commission on Ethics handed down the ruling Tuesday afternoon.
Attorney Elizabeth Bassett with the Ethics Commission pointed out the commission consistently said the law prohibits Nevada sheriffs from using their uniforms, badges, and other government-owned equipment to support any campaign, including their own.
"In the penalty matrix attached to the executive director's motion, we have calculated the maximum civil penalty that may be imposed for subjects for violations, which totals $1.665 million," Bassett said. "A civil penalty in this amount or even near this amount would in fact be unprecedented. However, [the] subject's conduct in these matters was unprecedented and therefore requires an equivalent penalty. The evidence shows the subject's violation of the ethics law was intentional, pervasive, repeated and ongoing."
However, Lombardo's attorney, Colby Williams, said according to the law, to be in violation, Lombardo must have received an unwarranted privilege or advantage. He added the $1.6 million fine is out of sync with prior ethics cases.
"There is no proof in any of these stipulated facts that these 34 postings of the same four images caused anyone to vote for Governor Lombardo, to give him a campaign contribution or to provide him with any other benefit," Williams said. "The highest one we have found is a $15,000 fine imposed against Kathy Augustine. The fine here is 111 times higher than that highest fine. It is 10 times higher than Governor Lombardo's annual salary. Consider this. It is 1.665 million times higher than the highest fine you have ever imposed on a law enforcement officer that was before you previously. Why is that? Because you have never imposed a fine of a single cent against any prior sheriffs or under sheriffs."
After deliberating for about two hours, commissioners found Lombardo to be in violation of ethics laws so he will be censured and he will have to pay $20,000 in civil penalties.
The Nevada Democratic Party disagreed with the ruling and released the following statement.
"At today's hearing, Joe Lombardo's own legal team admitted he knowingly used his uniform and badge as a current law enforcement officer for the sole purpose of boosting his candidacy. From willfully flouting the law, to postponing an ethics hearing just to stack the commission with his own appointees, Lombardo has never acted as if the law applied to him. 'Law and Order' has never been more than a campaign slogan to him."
