Feds say legislator breaking law

HENDERSON - The U.S. Office of Special Counsel believes Nevada Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins is breaking a federal law that bars public officials from running for partisan posts, according to a memo given to city council members.

As a Henderson deputy police chief, Perkins' oversight of department operations puts him at odds with the special counsel's view of the federal Hatch Act, the memo from the city's attorney states.

The act doesn't allow federal or certain state or local officials who oversee federal money to run for partisan political office.

Henderson Councilman Steve Kirk said the city will wait until the Merit Systems Protection Board rules on the case, if it goes that far.

"The bottom line for us is that right now the city is essentially going to want to see what the Office of Special Counsel does and give Richard Perkins the due process he deserves," Kirk said. "He needs to have a chance to have a hearing."

The special counsel's office has not formally notified the city of its position, and would bring any suspected violation to the Merit Systems Protection Board, which acts as the judge in such cases.

The memo says that an attorney from the special counsel office stated the office "did not envision any way that the position of Deputy Chief of Operations (Perkins' position) could be removed from Hatch Act coverage so long as that division remains funded, at least in part, by federal grants."

The memo said there were "serious arguments to the contrary," but if that view held, Perkins would not be allowed to hold his job while in political office.

Perkins, a Democrat, has said he might retire in February, before the start of the 2005 Legislature.

Knight Allen of Las Vegas asked the Office of Special Counsel to review whether Perkins violated the Hatch Act.

The office responded earlier by saying Perkins unknowingly violated the act when he ran for political office in the past and would knowingly violate the act if he ran again.

But Perkins asked the counsel's office to reconsider. He said he's confident the office will change its opinion after seeing that he's not in direct control of federal money used by the police department.

Since 2001, the city has been working with the Washington, D.C., law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld to address Hatch Act concerns regarding Perkins.

The Wednesday memo was from that law firm to City Attorney Shauna Hughes, and was distributed to the council members.