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Complaint alleges Commissioner Ross Miller violated campaign finance law

Noel Sims
Noel Sims
Campaign FinanceElections
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Clark County Commissioners during a meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2021. (Jeff Scheid/The Nevada Independent)

Republican April Becker has filed an election integrity violation report alleging that Democratic Clark County Commissioner Ross Miller — her potential 2024 general election opponent — violated campaign finance law several times between 2020 and 2022.

The report, shared with The Nevada Independent, lists four separate violations from 2020, when Miller first ran for a seat on the Clark County Commission, to 2022 when he launched his re-election campaign. Becker filed the report with the secretary of state’s office on Wednesday, one day after announcing her candidacy to challenge Miller for a seat on the commission.

The first violation listed in the complaint is three separate donations from Clark County Firefighters IAFF Local 1908 for $5,000 each on June 2, Sept. 22 and Oct. 2, 2020. State law holds that candidates cannot accept more than $10,000 from a single donor in one election season ($5,000 during the primary and $5,000 during the general election).

The complaint also highlights campaign finance reports showing that Miller accepted two $10,000 donations from the AllAroundA political action committee (PAC) on May 5 and June 24, 2021. The PAC is affiliated with Democratic Clark County Commissioner Michael Naft.

Though a different address is listed on Miller’s reports, the address on the PAC’s registration form with the state is the same as the address listed for Miller’s election committee. AllAroundA PAC’s records are inconsistent with Miller’s — indicating only one $10,000 contribution on June 28, 2021.

The violation report also points out that Miller’s records show two donations totaling $12,500 from an anonymous donor in Las Vegas. Another state statute requires candidates to give any donations greater than $100 from an anonymous donor to the state treasurer to be added to Nevada’s general fund or donated to a nonprofit organization within 10 days. In the report, Becker alleges that no public records of such a donation exist.

The final violation listed in the report pertains to Miller’s campaign expenditures in 2021. Candidates are required to report any campaign expenses in excess of $100. Becker alleges that several charges made by Miller’s campaign in 2021 to credit card companies violate a state law adopted in 2017 that requires political candidates itemize credit card charges reported on their campaign finance forms.

On Thursday afternoon, Miller’s campaign issued a statement in response to The Nevada Independent’s reporting. 

“We've been [alerted] to several scrivener's errors in our reports. We have already communicated with the secretary of state and the campaign will amend the reports as necessary following a detailed review,” the statement said.

Becker, a Las Vegas real estate attorney, previously ran for the state Senate District 6 seat in 2020 and for the U.S. House Nevada District 3 seat in 2022. She narrowly lost both times to Democratic incumbents. 

Miller served as Nevada’s secretary of state from 2007 to 2015.

Updated at 5:15 p.m. on 5/25/23 to add comment from Miller’s campaign.

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