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About Last Week: Rosen fundraises in California, Sandoval appoints members to school safety task force

Riley Snyder
Riley Snyder
Megan Messerly
Megan Messerly
Michelle Rindels
Michelle Rindels
EducationGovernment
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Editor’s note: Seven days. Never enough hours.

Stacks of paperwork at the office and piles of laundry at home. It’s a never-ending cycle, which makes it difficult to stay on top of the endless news nuggets flowing from the White House, state capital, local government and business community. We get it — and we’re in the news business.

Enter “About Last Week.” This is our way of bringing news-hungry but time-strapped readers up to speed on happenings that may have flown under the radar. Our promise: We’ll keep it brief.

Our hope: You’ll read (or skim) and keep checking back every Monday.

So, without further ado, here are some noteworthy things that happened in Nevada last week.

Nevada GOP files complaint against Rosen

The Nevada Republican Party has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging that Democratic Rep. Jacky Rosen’s campaign hasn’t paid for legal services defending her in a defamation lawsuit from the 2016 election.

The complaint, which was filed on Thursday, alleges that Rosen’s campaign hasn’t reported paying one of the two law firms representing her in a defamation suit filed by her 2016 congressional opponent, Danny Tarkanian, 16 months ago.

“This complaint shows that Jacky Rosen was engaging in wildly inappropriate behavior even before she took office, so it’s no surprise that her short time in Congress has been defined by a series of reckless and self-serving decisions,” party executive director Greg Bailor said in a statement.

The complaint states that Rosen’s campaign has paid the law firm of Perkins Coie only $6,000 since the suit was filed, and nothing to the firm of Wolf Rifkin Shapiro Schulman & Rabkin, her other counsel on the case.

“This is a bogus complaint," Stewart Boss, a spokesman for Rosen's campaign, said in a statement. "Federal law permits party committees to pay for legal expenses and these services have been paid for and appropriately reported to the Federal Election Commission since the 2016 election.”

A District Court judge declined to toss the suit in June 2017, a decision which Rosen’s legal representatives have appealed to the state’s Supreme Court.

Both of the state’s main political parties have filed numerous ethics complaints against the other party’s likely Senate candidate — the Nevada State Democratic Party has filed at least three ethics complaints and one FEC complaint against Republican Sen. Dean Heller.

— Riley Snyder

Cortez Masto, Rosen to fundraise in Hollywood later this month

Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Rep. Jacky Rosen, a Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful, will campaign later this month in Hollywood at what the Los Angeles Times described as a “star-studded fundraiser.”

The fundraiser, which will be held on April 20 at the home of Hollywood philanthropists Leslie and Cliff Gilbert-Lurie, will also be attended by Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein or California, Maria Cantwell of Washington, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, according to the Times. The hosts include actresses Jane Fonda and Connie Britton and television producer Marcy Carsey, among others.

Contributions from the event will benefit Women on the Road California 2018, a joint fundraising committee for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, as well as the campaigns of Rosen and other Democratic women running for election or re-election to the U.S. Senate this year, the Times reported.

— Megan Messerly

After dropping out of congressional race, former assemblywoman launches new PAC

Former Assemblywoman Victoria Seaman launched a new PAC this week to elect conservative women in Nevada to office in the wake of her decision to pull out of the crowded primary for Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District.

Battle Born Conservative Women, which was registered with the secretary of state’s office on Monday, will focus on raising money for Republican women candidates, as well as training and endorsing candidates who are running for office, Seaman said. The PAC is hosting a fashion show fundraiser on Saturday, an event that was originally planned to raise money for Seaman’s congressional campaign

The PAC’s board includes Las Vegas City Councilwoman Michele Fiore and restaurateur Irma Aguirre, who served on the Small Business Advisory Council for President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, among others.

Seaman said that while the group wants to concentrate on women, the members aren’t opposed to giving men money in certain races, depending on which candidates make it through the June primary election.

— Megan Messerly

Green Valley Ranch unionization election certified by National Labor Relations Board

The National Labor Relations Board certified this week the results of a unionization election at Green Valley Ranch in November.

The board had issued a report in February recommending that the objections of Green Valley Ranch’s parent company, Station Casinos’, objections be overruled, saying that the company had failed to establish that Culinary Union workers engaged in misconduct that interfered with the election. The regional director of the board officially certified the results of the election this week.

“Based on the above and having carefully reviewed the entire record, the Hearing Officer's report and recommendations, and the exceptions and arguments made by the Employer and Petitioner, I overrule the objections, and I shall certify the Petitioner as the representative of the appropriate bargaining unit,” Paula Sawyer, regional director for the National Labor Relations Director, wrote in the report.

Station Casinos has until April 6 to appeal the matter to the overall National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C.

— Megan Messerly

Justice Department audit finds state awarded $4 million in excess crime assistance grants

An audit by the U.S. Justice Department released last week found that the state Department of Health and Human Services did not comply with award conditions for federal crime assistance grants.

The Justice Department’s audit found that the state erred in its subaward process, causing $4 million in excess awards, and could not support a total of $1.87 million in subrecipient expenditures analyzed in the audit. The state also did not track priority funding areas as required by the grant guidelines and submitted inaccurate performance reports and federal financial reports, among other issues, according to the audit.

The audit examined $45.6 million in grants awarded to Nevada between 2012 and 2016 to distribute to rape treatment centers, domestic violence shelters, centers for missing children and other community-based coalitions and support organizations.

Division of Child and Family Services Administrator Kelly Wooldridge told the Associated Press that the state’s corrective plan is already underway and will include training and better monitoring of service providers. She also told the AP that the state didn’t actually distribute the $4 million in excess grants although it had made plans to do so based on a funding formula that is no longer in use.

— Megan Messerly

After Parkland, Sandoval appoints 25 people to task force focused on school safety

Gov. Brian Sandoval has announced a long list of members of his new task force focusing on improving school safety in Nevada, and former state Superintendent Dale Erquiaga — his former chief of staff — will take the lead.

Sandoval announced the membership list on Thursday, and the task force will hold its first meeting on May 3. The group is the culmination of an executive order he signed in March, in the wake of the school shooting in Parkland, FL, that killed 17 people.

“School safety is one of the highest priorities for my administration,” said Sandoval, who spearheaded an effort in 2015 to create an Office for a Safe and Respectful Learning Environment and hire a social worker at each campus to combat bullying. “I am very pleased by the caliber of individuals who have agreed to serve our state on this Task Force. Additionally, I am honored that Dale Erquiaga, National President and CEO of Communities In Schools has accepted our invitation to bring his national level perspective to our statewide discussion.”

Second in command will be co-vice chairs Jill Tolles, a Republican assemblywoman, and Margarita Gamboa, principal of Sunrise Acres Elementary School in Las Vegas. The group will have technical assistance from Anthony Petrosino, director of the WestEd Justice & Prevention Research Center and a national expert on the topic.

Other members include law enforcement personnel, psychiatrists, teachers, superintendents and parents. The full list:

  • Steve Canavero – State Superintendent of Public Instruction
  • Yvanna Cancela – Member of the Nevada State Senate
  • Jill Tolles – Member of the Nevada State Assembly
  • Mike Barton, Clark County School District Chief Academic Officer
  • Traci Davis, Washoe County School District Superintendent
  • Dave Jensen, Humboldt County School District Superintendent
  • Brianne M. Thoreson, Bishop Manogue Catholic High School Principal
  • Dr. Zachary Robbins, Cheyenne High School Principal
  • Margarita Gamboa, Sunrise Acres Elementary School Principal
  • Pat Hickey, Charter School Association of Nevada, Executive Director
  • Bridget Peterson, President, Lyon County School District Board of Trustees
  • Pilar Biller, Damonte Ranch High School Art Teacher
  • Derek Krallman, Jerome D. Mack Middle School Teacher
  • Katherine Loudon, Washoe County School District Counseling Coordinator
  • Katie A. Dockweiler, Clark County School District Nationally Certified School Psychologist
  • Leon Ravin, MD, Statewide Psychiatric Medical Director
  • James Ketsaa, Clark County School District Police Department Chief
  • Jason Trevino, Washoe County School District Police Department Chief
  • Laura Hernandez, Clark County parent
  • Caryn Swobe, Washoe County parent
  • William Voy, Eighth Judicial District Court Judge
  • Ashley Macias, Mojave High School – Student Representative to the State Board of Education
  • Della Frank, Clark County School District Indian Education Opportunities Program Project Facilitator
  • Jimmy Tarelo, Western High School JAG Student
  • Dale Erquiaga, Communities In Schools, National President and CEO

— Michelle Rindels

Disclosure: Station Casinos and the Culinary Union have donated to The Indy. You can view a full list of donors here.

Updated 4-9-18 at 10:48 a.m. to correct the fact that the Department of Justice audit examined awards between 2012 and 2016.

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