A lawyer for Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, plans to address a federal opinion that could prevent Perkins from running for a seventh term without retiring from his job as deputy police chief in Henderson.
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel issued an opinion dated Sept. 30 that says Perkins unknowingly violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal and some state and local employees from participating in partisan politics. Perkins said Thursday he was confident the opinion was wrong and he would not have to choose between work and politics, and his lawyer agrees.
"I am highly confident we can adjust the compliance program in a fashion that addresses the concerns of the Office of Special Counsel," said Steve Ross, a partner in the Washington office of international law firm Akin Gump. "I don't think having to choose is a likely outcome at all."
The act, in effect since 1940, applies to state and local employees who work in an executive branch of government that receives certain types of federal money, such as Head Start or community block grants, said Amber Bell, an attorney with the Hatch Act Unit in the Office of Special Counsel. It does not apply to teachers or other education employees.
Perkins' Henderson Police Department position falls under the jurisdiction of the city manager and the department has taken federal grants for several programs, including putting laptops in patrol cars.
For three years the police department has worked to insulate Perkins, who is deputy police chief of operation, from programs that accept federal money.
Ross said he has been working with the city of Henderson on a Hatch Act compliance program to make sure employees know who is covered and that Perkins does not have any substantial contact with those covered by the act.
"The issue of application of the Hatch Act to a large modern police force is a new one for the Office of Special Counsel," Ross said. "Because Perkins has not been charged with anything, we are going to discuss the proper steps are necessary to implement to be in compliance."
Ross said the situation stems from a disagreement over technical definitions in an "arcane"law.
Bell said the argument that there are several levels of administration between him and the federal money the police department receives may not change anything.
"Just because there are four or five levels of separation doesn't necessarily mean they will not be covered," Bell said.
Ross said he disagrees that if the department buys road flares with federal money, Perkins should be held in violation of the act, but recognizes this is a disagreement between lawyers.
"Their criticism is really more of me at this point than of him," Ross said, since he developed the compliance program. "Really what is happening is that the lawyers at the Office of Special Counsel now have the opportunity to review the compliance program."
The request for the opinion came last year from Knight Allen, 60, a longtime Las Vegas resident and stock market investor.
"I like Richard Perkins," Allen said, "but I have a real problem with government employees sitting in government office."
Allen said he thought a handful of other state legislators may also violate the act, but he sought the opinion on Perkins to make a point.
Not only is Perkins a deputy chief, the second-highest position in the police department, but he also is the speaker of the Assembly, "the second or third most powerful man in Nevada," Allen said. "No other government employee ranks that high in both branches."
Allen, who describes himself as a "Jeffersonian Democrat" and ran unsuccessfully for State Senate in 1992, said being a legislator passing laws and a government employee enforcing them is a violation of the separation of powers, and it's a matter of principle for him.
"My position has been that I don't care what their political philosophy is," he said. "What matters is someone up in Carson City who is pushing these policies through cannot come back and execute them."
Allen also recently helped write an initiative petition that seeks to bar all public employees from running for public office, a drive backed by anti-tax advocate George Harris that is scheduled to be launched Oct. 31.
Other legislators Allen said may also violate the act include Assembly members Wendell Williams, D-North Las Vegas, who is a Las Vegas Neighborhood Services management analyst; Kathy McClain, D-Las Vegas, who is a Clark County senior advocate; Kelvin Atkinson, who is a Clark County senior management analyst; Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, who is special courts coordinator for the District Court in Reno; and John Oceguera, D-North Las Vegas, who is a captain in the North Las Vegas Fire Department. Assemblyman Ron Knecht, R-Carson City, is an economist for the Public Utilities Commission, but Allen wasn't sure whether that agency received federal money.
Allen said he has not decided whether to ask the Office of Special Counsel about any of them.
The opinion found that Perkins violated the law by running for re-election in 2002, but added that he hadn't done it intentionally so it chose not to discipline him.
"However, we have advised Mr. Perkins about his violation and warned him that future violations will be considered knowing and willful, and could result in disciplinary action," the opinion said.
The act only prohibits campaigning, not holding the office, Bell said, so Perkins would not be held in violation unless he worked on a 2004 campaign while employed by the police department.
If employees are found to violate the law and the government agencies do not fire them within 30 days, the agencies could be forced to forfeit the equivalent of two years of the employees' salary, she said.
The Office of Special Counsel investigates allegations of Hatch Act violations and monitors candidates for violations, Bell said. She said she wasn't surprised Perkins, even as long as he's been in office, unintentionally broke the federal law.
"A lot of people just have never received any information on the Hatch Act," Bell said. "I am never surprised to learn that someone has been in office for years and has never learned about the Hatch Act."
Sun reporter
Cy Ryan contributed to this story.
archive