Knappster: Wendell Williams stirs pot with Boggs McDonald revelations

By George Knapp

Newly appointed County Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald has built her career, in part, on fearlessly crusading for stronger ethics standards in politics. She first entered the fray back in the late '90s when she led the charge for strict disclosure standards for elected officials. While she was still a city councilwoman, the Review-Journal dubbed her "Ms. Disclosure" after she led a very public effort to tighten conflict-of-interest rules at the city.

"Once you enter the public arena as a candidate, your life is a public matter," Boggs McDonald told the R-J, adding later that she "always had an overarching belief that the public has a right to know, and that is the basis of good government."

When the nasty allegations surfaced last year about double dipping by public employees who also served as legislators, Boggs McDonald once again took the lead in calling for reforms. She proudly proclaimed it to be a separation-of-powers issue, and was again praised by the R-J as being the council's "only informed, forceful and principled voice" on the issue.

In light of Boggs McDonald's oft-stated interest in full disclosure and strict ethical standards, it would seem fair to ask the commissioner about her own requests for personal favors from at least one of the so-called double dippers who worked for the city while she was on the council. Former assemblyman and city employee Wendell Willliams was fired from his city job last November over the double-dipping allegations. While campaigning for re-election this spring, Williams dropped tantalizing hints that he is writing a book about the ethical shortcomings of others in government, including some at City Hall who were only too happy to take advantage of his legislative clout. At the time, Williams singled out Boggs McDonald as being a hypocrite. Williams said that Boggs McDonald has called to ask personal favors of him while he served in Carson City (and while he was still a city employee).

Boggs McDonald responded with a somewhat cryptic statement to the R-J:

"I have no recollection of ever sending any type of correspondence regarding any bill or my husband to Wendell Williams. I challenge him to produce any document that shows I did. If he can produce something, I will be very interested to see it so I can challenge the authenticity of any such document."

Huh? Does that seem like a really strange response?

Well, here it is months later and Wendell Williams has lost his bid for re-election, but he hasn't lost his interest in explaining what he meant by his allegation that Boggs McDonald is a hypocrite who asked for special favors.

"She asked me to intervene with the treasurer's office to try and save her husband's job," Williams alleges. "She sent me an e-mail that asked me to contact her husband, Steve, which I did. He then delivered to me a set of tough questions that I was to ask at a legislative hearing. The Government Affairs Committee was hearing a proposal to reorganize the treasurer's office, and that reorganization would mean that Steve, Lynette's husband, would lose his job."

Williams says he followed through with the request from the councilwoman, who technically was his boss at the city. He grilled the treasurer's office over the proposed reorganization and several other items that had been suggested by Boggs McDonald's husband. Minutes of the hearing tend to bear out Williams' recollection.

But he has more than just his memory of the events. He also has a copy of the e-mail sent from City Hall to his legislative office. The memo was sent by Audrie Dodge, the senior executive assistant to the councilwoman. The memo was also cc'd to the e-mail address of the councilwoman's husband. It asked that Assemblyman Williams call the husband, and it provided his office and cell numbers. The request for Williams' "immediate attention" was requested by Boggs McDonald herself, the memo states.

Audrie Dodge declined to speak to Knappster directly, but when shown a copy of the e-mail, she said through a city spokesperson that it "certainly looks legitimate, especially since it includes the e-mail address for Lynette's husband as well."

It turns out that another former city employee at the Legislature also remembers being contacted by Boggs McDonald. Assemblyman Morse Arberry, who left his city job in 2002, says he too was contacted and was asked to intervene on behalf of the councilwoman's husband.

"Lynette called me and asked me to put pressure on the treasurer to help save Steve's job," Arberry says. "But by that point it was too late."

There's no need to belabor the obvious here. Commissioner Boggs McDonald has positioned herself as an ethics crusader. In fact, just this past week she issued a blistering attack on her latest campaign opponent, David Goldwater, accusing him of all manner of ethical transgressions. If it's true that she asked not one but two state lawmakers to intervene on behalf of her husband's job, and that she still had the gall to complain about public employees who 'double-dip' at the Legislature, then she needs to be held accountable.

It will be curious to watch as this story unfolds whether anyone chooses to pursue a possible ethics complaint against Ms. Disclosure. Surely there are applicable state laws that would address such questions. The obvious strategy is to reach out and slime Wendell Williams, but anyone who does that will also have to challenge the word of respected Ways and Means chairman Arberry, and will also have to explain the existence of the e-mail, which has been confirmed by legislative staff members as being authentic.

Add Williams

Wendell Williams wanted to be re-elected, despite all the grief he has taken during the past year, but now that he is out of politics, he says he is greatly relieved. To this day, he feels betrayed by his former city bosses, who were only too happy to make use of his influence when it was in their own interests, but were just as willing to cast him aside when it became convenient for them to do so. He harbors similar feelings for the folks at the community college, many of whom relied on Williams' power to help steer their own projects through the Legislature, but who turned on him when things got rough. Williams caused many of his own problems and dug his own hole, that's for sure, but he seems to have had a heck of a lot of help along the way from other officials carrying their own shovels.

Names and faces

It didn't get much attention locally, but a federal judge has finally issued a written ruling in the case of Nevada Power vs. the Southern Nevada Water Authority et al. Nevada Power is suing SNWA, along with four employees of the Colorado River Commission, alleging that the defendants conspired with Enron to screw over the power company as part of a scheme to take it over. U.S. District Judge Robert Jones' written opinion denied a request by SNWA to dimiss the case, which means it will move forward through the federal courts. ... A highly regarded Metro officer named Christopher Dean has raised some eyebrows downtown with his personal website, macktactics.com. On the site, Officer Dean advises lesser men about the techniques of "how to meet and succeed with women at a level you never dreamed possible." Take notes, fellas, because this is some good stuff. ... Don't be surprised to hear about a possible legal challenge to the Clark County School District over the constitutionality of the district's dress code policy. ... A tentative date has been set for a Mount Charleston summit, a meeting that would focus on the many problems facing the mountain. Expect the summit to be slated for sometime soon after the November election. Kudos to Sen. Harry Reid for carrying the ball on this one.