In A Recession Being a Politician Pays

Near the end of the 2007 Nevada Legislative Session, Richard Perkins, the City of Henderson’s Police Chief paid a lobbying visit to my office in the Assembly’s wing of the Nevada Legislature. When he left, I had a feeling I should take a shower to wash off the corruption. Yesterday an article appeared in the Las Vegas Review Journal that confirmed that feeling.

The Henderson Chamber of Commerce refused to support my reelection because I stood up to a corrupt casino owner. Terry Graves, on of the officers and a chief lobbyist for the chamber was particularly upset about that perceived betrayal of Republican values. To today’s GOP, there is little difference between Republican and Democrat. They both value campaign dollars above human life. As the Assembly Speaker, Mr. Perkins cost Henderson Businesses millions more by raising taxes that what I would have by forcing some honesty into the system. Perkins is the one they hired at a retainer of $10,000 a month.

Politics has developed an ingrained system of corrupt behavior and corrupt deals. All of these dealings and doings violate the law, and in some cases the ones doing the violation wrote the laws they break. If that sounds monumentally cynical, it is. It reminds me of a story of two politicians arguing. In the middle of the argument, one stands and shouts at the other, “You’re a liar!” The one accused nods and replies, “Of course I am, but hear me out!”

In the Nevada Revised Statutes there is a provision that forbids a public servant from acting as a lobbyist before a certain period of time has elapsed. This is a sort of “cooling off” period. During his time as Assembly Speaker, Mr. Perkins expressed concern over those who violated that rule. Apparently the rules do not apply where he is concerned. We have yet another case of a politician following the “do as I say, not as I do” doctrine.

As reported, Richard Perkins left the Henderson Police Force with a lifetime pension of $99,400 a year. The City of Henderson, paying that pension, seems to have money to burn because they granted their ex-police chief a one time separation payment of $242,132 and will be paying him $120,000 per year to lobby the legislature. The legislature only meets every other year, and only for 16 weeks, but Perkins will receive his salary every year. Not bad for part time work.

What is remarkable is that according to Nevada law, it is illegal part time work. Remember, according to the law, public servants cannot be hired as lobbyists right out of retirement. The City of Henderson and Mr. Perkins claim to have gotten around the law by hiring a corporation, not a person. The corporation? Richard Perkins, Inc.