High-flying Gov. Joe Lombardo took one on the chin Tuesday when the Nevada Commission on Ethics censured and fined the former Clark County Sheriff for willfully violating state ethics laws when he repeatedly used his badge and uniform in advertisements during the 2022 gubernatorial campaign.

The commission’s vote was 4-2, with very recent Lombardo appointees Stan Olsen and John Moran III, who wear their law enforcement support on their sleeves, siding with their man in Carson City. 

In addition to the censure, Lombardo faces paying a $20,000 fine, a hefty assessment that now appears minuscule due to the elephantine and asinine $1.67 million penalty initially proposed.

Fallout from the decision so far has been pretty predictable, with Republicans reminding Nevadans of Lombardo’s front-page popularity and Democrats preparing their “Lombardo CENSURED!” yard signs.

The question now is whether Lombardo decides to cut the check, keep smiling, and move forward, or appeal despite the knowledge that the ethics bell has been rung. Politically speaking, it’s a more difficult dilemma than it may at first appear.

Lombardo’s close advocates, no doubt, have already rushed to tell him to fight like hell. Not only is his reputation at stake, they’ll tell him breathlessly, but his political future hangs in the balance!

Perhaps someone the governor trusts will remind him that it’s not their noses that will be bloodied. It’s not their term in office that promises to be tarred by a protracted appeal of a truly dumb ethics violation that easily could have been avoided.

Either way, Lombardo’s imagemakers can argue politics and point to Exhibit A in the form of the unprecedented $1.67 million fine that the ethics commission proposed in its 456-page decision. That fat figure ended up damaging the more serious matter of an experienced public official, a sheriff no less, continuing to flout state ethics laws after repeated warnings. Commission attorney Elizabeth Bassett called the violation “very significant,” and said the law clearly prohibits Nevada sheriffs from using their uniforms, badges and other government-owned equipment to support any campaign — including their own.

Given that clarity, you’d almost think Lombardo believed the rules didn’t apply to him.

In fairness, it also begs another question: Since when is Nevada politics so pristine that a politician caught wearing his badge and uniform deserves a $20,000 fine?

Appealing the issue and calling out the ethics commission for doing its job might play with the GOP base, which munches paranoid political conspiracies like movie popcorn, but doing so risks creating a protracted, messy, and public wrestling match that could end up defining him.

Will he take the chance?

It’s a question I asked Lombardo’s very capable counsel, J. Colby Williams of the Campbell & Williams firm, which has represented me in the past. Williams declined comment, referring me to Lombardo’s statement. In the hearing, which resulted in summary judgments that benefited both sides, Williams argued that Lombardo had committed a “willful act” but not a “willful violation” that didn’t add up to an appearance of impropriety. Sounds like his campaign continues to believe he did nothing wrong.

The commission’s decision, at some point, might lead Lombardo’s more reasoned insiders to accept the fact he doesn’t have much wiggle room: “The Commission’s holding is unequivocal — there are no circumstances under which it is appropriate for public officers, such as Lombardo, to use public resources to support their own campaign.”

It’s still early in Lombardo’s term, and despite this controversy he has provided a spark of possibility for the Nevada’s Republican Party not seen during the political plague years of the Trump era. He enjoyed a 57-percent approval rating, ranking him 20^th among the nation’s governors, according to Morning Consult. That slightly better-than-average popularity rated him a front-page headline in the state’s largest newspaper The admonitions of his loyalists aside, I think this will go down as another unforced error.

The Republican enjoys notable popularity in his first year in office, and more than survived his initial legislative session despite the Democrats’ control of both lawmaking houses. Given his law enforcement bonafides, it is very possible GOP kingmakers have even bigger plans for him.

I’m not sure whether the ethics commission decision has knocked the trademark smile from Lombardo’s face, but I’d like to think it’s at least given him pause. 

John L. Smith is an author and longtime columnist. He was born in Henderson and his family’s Nevada roots go back to 1881. His stories have appeared in Time, Readers Digest, The Daily Beast, Reuters, Ruralite and Desert Companion, among others. He also offers weekly commentary on Nevada Public Radio station KNPR.