Morse Arberry Jr. reaches plea deal; charges to be knocked down to misdemeanor

Six felony charges against former Assemblyman Morse Arberry Jr. will be knocked down to one misdemeanor at a hearing Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. before Las Vegas Justice Court Judge Diana Sullivan.

In June, Arberry, D-Las Vegas , was charged with six felonies for depositing campaign checks worth $121,545 into his personal account – three counts each of perjury and offering false instruments for filing. The sums involved just one campaign – 2008.

Arberry was first elected in 1984. After he became chairman of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, it was always strange that he took in such relatively small amounts of money when he held such a powerful position.

Under the plea agreement reached with his attorney George Kelesis, the Attorney General will recommend a $1,000 fine, a suspended sentence and restitution. Restitution may be a challenge for Arberry because he is currently unemployed.

Clark County officials have a pattern of settling campaign violations with civil actions. After Las Vegas City Councilwoman Janet Moncrief was charged in 2004, her felony was reduced to a civil violation. Former GOP Assemblyman Chad Christensen also paid a fine to settle the complaint against him. The late Controller Kathy Augustine, also a Republican, faced campaign violations, but they were handled through an ethics complaint Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rory Reid’s campaign violations were also resolved with no admission of guilt and a $25,000 civil fine with Secretary of State Ross Miller, one of the largest fines for campaign violations in Nevada.

But in Arberry’s case, Miller suggested a criminal investigation.

In 2010, Arberry was term-limited out from running again in November.

But while he was still a legislator, he opened his lobbying business in June and went trolling for contracts. He found a juicy one – a two-year $124,000 contract to represent Clark County district Judges and Las Vegas justices of the peace during the 2011 legislative session. He signed the contract in August before he resigned his legislative job.The money would have been paid from tax dollars and the Clark County Commission rightfully refused to approve the contract.

Arberry later settled a complaint with the Nevada Ethics Commission with a $750 fine over the lobbying contract.

I’ve always suspected, but never been able to prove since I have no access to bank records, that 2008 wasn’t the only campaign where Arberry diverted money from donors such as MGM Grand, Boyd Gaming, IGT, Republic Services and the Clark County Education Association, which were among the biggest contributors to him during the 2008 campaign.

Nevada has no system of checks and balances where donors are required to list the donations they give, even though, rest assured, they know where every penny goes. Such a list, if computerized, could be checked against individual campaign donations.

But lawmakers don’t want to do that, and donors don’t care if their checks are reported or not, as long as the candidate knows who gave them the dollars.