The Board of Examiners Tuesday approved a $415,000 contract to hire Las Vegas defense lawyer Dominic Gentile to prosecute the lieutenant governor.
Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto said the contract is necessary because her office was ordered removed from the Brian Krolicki case by a Clark County judge.
But the judge, Elissa Cadish, recused herself Tuesday from the case against Krolicki and his aide, citing a conflict of interest. The move leaves the status of the case in question.
Cadish disclosed last week that she is a former law partner of Scott Scherer, an attorney who assisted Krolicki during the early days of the investigation in 2007.
Cadish and Scherer worked at the same firm for two months before Cadish was appointed to the bench in 2007.
Krolicki has been charged with mishandling and illegally spending several million dollars belonging to the Nevada College Savings Program while he was state treasurer - a felony. His lawyers have said he relied on advice from the attorney general's office in spending that money, some of which went for commercials showing Krolicki and what were presented as his young children.
He has said the commercials were designed to encourage people to join the college savings program. Others have argued the commercials were campaign ads for Krolicki, who was facing a tough primary challenge in the lieutenant governor's race at the time.
No one has suggested any money is missing. Krolicki and his chief of staff, Kathryn Besser, are accused of spending $6 million outside the state budget process and without permission.
Masto is appealing the district court ruling removing her office from the case to the Nevada Supreme Court. A hearing is set Aug. 31 on the appeal.
Masto said that, if the Supreme Court overrules that decision, none of the $415,000 for Gentile will be spent.
Gov. Jim Gibbons voted against the contract, saying he believes the contract can wait until the appeal is resolved or the judge's order withdrawn because she is disqualified from the case.
The contract is one of 116 contracts approved Tuesday by the Board of Examiners agenda. The contract would pay for two years of Gentile's time at a rate of $345-$355 an hour.
As one of the premier defense lawyers in Southern Nevada, Masto said Gentile normally charges more than $600 an hour, which would make the $345 an hour in the contract a significant discount.
• The Associated Press contributed to this report.
