Ex-Henderson City Attorney Josh Reid accused of filing false complaints

An outside law firm hired by the city of Henderson accuses former City Attorney Josh Reid of anonymously submitting public records requests and false complaints that ran up city bills.

A letter sent Wednesday to Reid from the law firm outlines what it considers “substantial evidence” that he breached contractual and ethical duties during and after his employment with the city.

The firm, Bailey Kennedy, says Reid’s alleged actions cost Henderson more than $150,000, according to the letter obtained Thursday by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Reid said in a statement to the Review-Journal: “The allegations in the letter are unfounded and defamatory and I will respond to them through my legal counsel.”

Reid was hired as Henderson’s city attorney in 2011 and served until June 2018 before returning to private practice at Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie in Las Vegas. According to the letter, “it was becoming apparent” early last year that Reid’s contract with the city might not be extended.

His hiring as city attorney received pushback from critics who argued he received favorable treatment from council members because he is the son of former U.S. Sen. Harry Reid.

In the letter, Dennis Kennedy, a partner at the firm, wrote that Reid used an encrypted email service to submit a records request in February 2018 “for no legitimate purpose, and solely to harass the city and create expenses.”

Reid allegedly used the name htarwfosepargeht — “the grapes of wrath” spelled backward — to submit the request, according to the letter.

The letter claims that days later, Reid submitted an anonymous ethics complaint against Ward 3 Councilman John Marz.

“To compound matters, you then directed that the complaint (which you drafted) be sent to outside counsel for review,” Kennedy wrote in the letter.

After Reid left the city, he continued to submit complaints and records requests, according to the letter. The city confirmed many of the communications from Reid came from his current law firm’s system, Kennedy said in the letter.

Reid is also accused of sending an email to Regional Transportation Commission members in December about the RTC general counsel’s pay, according to the letter.

“It is well known that you commonly complained about being underpaid while you were the Henderson City Attorney,” the letter states.

Kennedy also accused Reid of submitting anonymous records requests for vulgar keywords and sending emails with derogatory comments about Henderson Mayor Debra March.

The firm claimed another encrypted email account was the source of an eight-page pamphlet describing the city as “racist, corrupt and sad” with the goal of creating sympathy for LaTesha Watson, the former police chief the city fired this year.

Kennedy called the substance of the email “a clear breach of the duty of loyalty” Reid owed to the city and said that it could lead to disbarment.

Henderson spokeswoman Kathleen Richards said in a statement that the city believes in government transparency, but the “breach of contractual obligations and ethical violations perpetrated in this instance resulted in a tremendous waste of taxpayer resources” that served no discernible public interest.

“The City will continue to maintain the spirit of transparency in government and devote its resources to fulfilling legitimate public records requests and focusing on the concerns that are most important to our residents,” she said.

The letter accuses Reid of submitting about 15 anonymous complaints about city management that he knew were false. The complaints contained accusations that the city manager, assistant city manager and city attorney treated Watson differently and created a hostile work environment for her and other women in management, according to the letter.

“As a result of your malicious and false complaints, the city spent in excess of $40,000.00 investigating the allegations,” the letter to Reid states.

Henderson has retained legal counsel to pursue the allegations but offered Reid the opportunity to avoid litigation by agreeing not to submit requests or complaints using disguised identities. Future communications must not be for the purpose of harassment or inconveniencing the city, and must comply with his contractual and ethical duties, according to the letter.

Contact Blake Apgar at bapgar@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5298. Follow @blakeapgar on Twitter.