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GOP adds to claims against Clark County auditor

Party accuses Kimsey of violations tied to home-rule charter

By Tyler Graf
Published: December 4, 2014, 12:00am

The Clark County Republican Party added to a list of alleged violations it believes County Auditor Greg Kimsey, himself a Republican, committed in the run-up to the passage of the home-rule charter.

Clark County Republican Party Chairman Kenny Smith initially accused Kimsey of using his office to advocate for the passage of the home-rule charter when he put a two-page explanation of the charter in the general election voters’ pamphlet.

Since then, Smith said he continued to look into the matter and uncovered additional concerns. The most recent alleged infractions follow along the lines of the initial complaint that Kimsey “actively campaigned for the passage” of the charter.

“We were just trying to understand the process and how it’s supposed to look, and as we looked into it, we thought this is building on the same complaints, and we think we ought to present that, as well,” Smith said.

The most recent letter outlines additional alleged infractions, including Kimsey’s involvement with the group “Team Clark Forward,” which the letter states sought contributions. The letter claims such involvement was inappropriate for someone in Kimsey’s position. The letter also raises questions about whether the information Kimsey provided to explain the charter was accurate.

Kimsey, who declined to comment, citing a potential pending investigation, said previously the county auditor has the authority under state law to provide information about a home-rule charter. He confirmed that with both the secretary of state’s office and the county prosecutor’s office before preparing the pages.

Smith said the party’s primary goal is to “understand the rules of an elected servant’s job well enough we could say this is a violation of these rules.”

“I don’t think we were at that level as these things were occurring; it just hasn’t felt right,” Smith said.

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The local Republican Party opposed the charter, and although Smith said the goal of the complaint is not to lay the groundwork for a repeal of the home-rule charter, that is a possible outcome.

“One of the remedies available if they were to say ‘the vote wasn’t fairly conducted,’ they would have to hold another election,” Smith said. “So that does seem to be a potential remedy if certain allegations were found to be true and accurate.”

Clark County Prosecutor Tony Golik said he would disclose sometime this week whether he plans to investigate.

While the GOP’s request for an investigation into Kimsey is one sign of divisions within the local Republican ranks, it’s not the only one regarding the longtime auditor.

In November, Kimsey’s office presented a critical audit of a program promoted by county commissioners that eliminated fees for new development. The audit suggests that the fee waiver program has a potential to be costly to the county and isn’t directly responsible for employment growth.

The program, slightly more than a year old, has been lauded by Republican Commissioner David Madore as a cornerstone in the county’s economic recovery.

On Wednesday, Madore presented a response to Kimsey’s audit and suggested commissioners Tom Mielke and Jeanne Stewart, also Republicans, review and sign off on it as the commissioners’ official response.

“I don’t want to dismiss the whole thing,” Madore said, referring to Kimsey’s audit. “I’m not refuting. I’m putting the conclusions side-by-side.”

Madore’s response to the audit, which is hosted on the commissioners’ website known as “The Grid,” uses data collected from the community development department along with regional economic data to show that the program is sustainable and that the county has created jobs.

Stewart, in her first week as a commissioner, said she had read the audit and thought the conclusions it reached were illogical.

“I didn’t see they made an extremely strong case that there was no benefit (from the program),” Stewart said.

When Stewart asked to be caught up to speed on the fee waiver program and the audit, Madore explained that Kimsey had opposed the program from the outset.

Kimsey has said that the program was investigated based on its merits, not a vested belief that it would fail.

Stewart said she would review Madore’s report and submit her own ideas for how it could be improved.

It will not become an official response to the audit, however. The commissioners missed their opportunity to provide one.

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