Constable creates separate bank account to pay lawyers
John Bonaventura finally found a way to pay for two lawyers he briefly deputized last year.
Through creative accounting, the controversial Las Vegas Township constable in the past month has paid lawyers Spencer Judd and Robert Pool, against the wishes of Clark County commissioners, the Review-Journal has learned.
Now the county’s lawyers are looking into whether a separate bank account Bonaventura created to pay the attorneys falls under county oversight.
The move may be legal, but for at least two commissioners it’s yet another reason to look at doing away with the office. Bonaventura’s ability to create controversy has been a headache for the board since he took office in 2011.
“That just gives cause for anyone to question how the money’s being handled and accounted for,” Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani said of the separate bank account. “It flies in the face of just good judgment, in my mind.”
The board and county officials have repeatedly denied Bonaventura’s requests to pay Judd and Pool for work on a lawsuit Bonaventura filed against his counterparts in Laughlin and Henderson last year. He filed the complaint about other constables encroaching on his territory without county approval.
When the county first denied the lawsuit’s expenses, Bonaventura in November made the lawyers deputies, giving them law enforcement powers. The county balked again when he tried to pay them $5,300 as deputies.
But his latest effort has apparently been successful.
“It’s clear the constable is committed and intent on just doing whatever he wants to do against the will of the board,” commission Chairman Steve Sisolak said.
Constable spokesman Lou Toomin said the office is doing everything within state law, and the opinion of commissioners doesn’t matter.
“The county doesn’t run this office. The constable does,” he said.
TRANSPARENCY ‘WOEFULLY LACKING’
To pay for the lawyers, Bonaventura used creative accounting that is allowed under state law.
For years – well before Bonaventura was elected in 2010 – the county acted as a bank for the office, which does millions of dollars in business each year serving papers and carrying out evictions.
Although the constable is elected, the county has some oversight of his finances. By processing the office’s revenues and expenses at the end of each day, county authorities had the ability to watch what was coming in and going out in nearly real time. That is how they were able to see and block his previous attempts to pay for the lawyers.
But state law only requires the constable to report office revenues once a month. Last month, after commissioners refused to pay the deputized lawyers, Bonaventura stopped the daily accounting, shifting the money to a separate bank account the county cannot access.
When Bonaventura made his first monthly report, he filed paperwork indicating that Judd and Pool had been paid, Comptroller Jessica Colvin confirmed Thursday.
By then it was too late for the county to do anything about it.
Sisolak said there’s not much commissioners can do, and the county is investigating whether it can have access to the bank account.
“We don’t have the ability to provide the oversight that’s needed, and the transparency is woefully lacking,” he said.
The county could still audit the constable’s finances, but Giunchigliani said she plans to introduce the idea of just doing away with the office, perhaps in late February.
“Don’t give us reason as the county to say, ‘Something’s not right here, the office is being abused or misused or potentially could be,’ ” she said.
‘ONE PROBLEM AFTER ANOTHER’
Bonaventura’s two years in office have spawned a host of controversies, including a roundly criticized foray into reality television, allegations of sexual harassment, jurisdictional disputes and hiring of deputies with questionable histories.
Just this week, reports surfaced that he offered to provide security for embattled Assemblyman Steven Brooks, who was arrested over allegations that he threatened Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick, who has said that in light of Bonaventura’s antics she plans to introduce legislation that would curtail the power and independence of all 14 Nevada constables.
On Wednesday, Toomin denied the constables were acting as Brooks’ security during a short visit to Carson City, where one deputy was seen at the Capitol. He told the Review-Journal and other media that the deputy was there on other business, but the Las Vegas Sun reported Thursday that a reporter overheard Bonaventura, Toomin and others crafting a “cover story” for the media when Toomin accidentally “pocket dialed” her.
Toomin on Thursday denied the Sun report and again said his office didn’t offer protection to Brooks.
“I know that the papers make up a lot of stuff, so don’t tell me that nobody makes up stuff,” he told the Review-Journal.
Sisolak said the county needs to look at whether the constable’s office is needed anymore. In the 1990s it was abolished after the constable resigned and pleaded guilty to two criminal charges stemming from his conduct in office. But the change couldn’t be permanent without legislative approval, and it was reinstated a few years later.
Bonaventura’s term expires in two years. He makes about $100,000 annually.
“We don’t have any problem with the constables in the rural jurisdictions, but for some reason this (office) continues to be one problem after another,” Sisolak said. “It’s just, what’s going to come tomorrow?”
Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or 702-405-9781.
