The Nevada Legislature could launch a full blown investigation in Gary Perea affair when it convenes in January said Assemblyman John Ellison.
“I am going to call for it, if no one else does,” Ellison said Wednesday. “What happened to Mr. Perea is simply outrageous. And if there was something illegal about this someone should go to jail.”
With less than a month before the November election Perea was forced to resign from the White Pine County following a ruling from the Nevada Gaming Commission that the two term commissioner could not serve as a county commissioner and hold a gaming licensee.
“It took them eight years to notice,” Perea said. “The investigator assigned to my case I had to resign and I have to suspend my campaign. He also said that I could apply for a waiver that would cost $18,000 and that even if I left office immediately I would be liable for a fine. My name will still be one the ballot but along with it will be a note that I must decline to serve.”
Three weeks later and well after early voting had begun, Perea was given a clean bill of health by the Nevada Gaming commission not only to remain on the commission but to seek reelection.
The commission made its ruling after receiving a letter from White Pine District Attorney Kelly Brown that stated that Perea was in no way in violation of any Nevada revised statute or had a conflict of interest being a county commissioner and a gaming licensee.
According to that ruling of the Gaming commission Perea need not apply for a waiver and does not face the threat of fines.
Perea owns the Border Inn in Baker Nevada, a small tourist hotel that also sports a tiny casino and bar.
Perea revived his campaign but with less than two weeks before the election and with early voting all but completed the damage proved fatal. He lost his race by about five percentage points.
A series of e-mails and letters to and from the Gaming Commission appears to confirm Perea’s contention that he was given a choice by gaming investigators to either resign his office and withdraw from reelection or pay $18,000 for waiver to continue his political career.
click link for letters: Gaming Letters
The correspondence obtained by the Advocate begin in July and end in mid October shortly after Perea publicly announced that he was withdrawing from the race and resigning from the commission.
When interviewed earlier this month, Frank Streshley Chief of Gaming Tax and License insisted that Perea resignation and withdrawal were mostly of Perea own making and implied the white Pine Commissioner perhaps over reacted.
The correspondence however suggests that Perea was acting in accordance to and under the advice of gaming agent Jason Molitz rom Las Vegas.
One of the most active White Pine Commissioners Perea was one of a handful of reformers that brought the county out of bankruptcy eight years ago and back into solvency. He also led the fight against the Las Vegas water grab and several sources speculated that the sudden interest in his 40 slot machines was politically motivated by the Las Vegas dominated Gaming control Board.
While any direct links between the SNWA and the gaming investigation have yet to be found the nature and the timing of the investigation has certainly raised eye brows in White Pine County.
First elected in 2004 Perea has had to undergo yearly audits by gaming investigators who knew of his political position as a White Pine County Commissioner. With his name on the county letter head his employment on record with the state Perea made no attempt to hide either where he worked or what he owned.
Both Assemblymen John Ellison and state Senator Pete Goicoechea said they would call for and support a full scale investigation of the Gaming Control board and give special attention to any relationship official or unofficial of the SNWA.
“I think it stinks,” Ellison said. “And if there is SNWA involvement heads might role.”
The fact that a Republican Assemblyman and a Republican Senator are taking up the cause of a Democrat County commissioner also illustrates that the political division in Nevada is less about party lines than it is about county lines.
“Party don’t mean much out here,” Ellison said. “There is Las Vegas and the rest of us. We have to look out for each other in the rurals.”