Lawyer holds two jobs in Sandoval administration

He trudged into the federal court in Reno, submitted to an interview and quickly found a job under U.S. District Judge Brian Sandoval. Then, just before Sandoval became governor in January 2011, Sandoval hired Foletta, now 32, as his general counsel. When the governor’s director of policy Dale Erquiaga moved last summer to Arizona, Foletta took on his job, too, without any extra pay.

“I like the combination,” quipped Foletta about being general counsel and policy director. “It means I can advise myself if a policy we take is legal.”

It also means the little known lawyer has been thrust into the public eye as he and new Chief of Staff Gerald Gardner, a former deputy to Sandoval when the governor was attorney general, serve as the governor’s key lieutenants before the Legislature.

Sandoval lost not only Erquiaga, but Chief of Staff Heidi Gansert, who took a university system job last year. And longtime Budget Director Andrew Clinger took a job for the city of Reno after the 2011 session. He was replaced by Jeff Mohlenkamp, a veteran Corrections Department budget officer.

What it means is Sandoval goes into the legislative session with a whole new team of top advisers.

“I will be a more visible part of the office than I have been,” Foletta said. “Gerald will be very involved in the budget. If it is an area of policy that I know best, I can see myself as being the person (who testifies in the Legislature).”

He believes the governor headed off potential conflicts with Democrats by announcing his positions on key issues even before the session convened Feb. 4 — such as supporting an expanded Medicaid program and placing in his budget funds for increasing full-day kinder­garten programs and helping English as a second language students.

“There are going to be arguments in the Legislature; it’s the nature of politics,” Foletta said. “If the Democrats want higher spending they can take that position. But the governor has met them in middle.”

Sandoval is confident Foletta and other new staff members, despite their inexperience with legislators, will represent him well.

“A whip-smart, hardworking former prosecutor who loves Nevada, he’s passionate about the work we have the opportunity to do on a daily basis,” said Sandoval about Foletta. “I appreciate his insight and advice on a variety of issues and I’m proud to have him as a valued member of my staff.”

“I am the kind of guy who just likes to argue the merits of bills,” Foletta said. “I like talking about why this bill will work and why this bill won’t.”

While he passed the California Bar examination in 2006, Foletta did not pass the Nevada exam until last year.

That was not a problem for him as Sandoval’s law clerk, or during a two-year stint as a lawyer in the U.S. attorney’s office in Las Vegas under now-state Sen. Greg Brower, R-Reno.

But Sandoval faced criticism when he brought a non-Nevada licensed lawyer into his Capitol office two years ago.

“It’s all squared away now,” said Foletta, who is still paying off his law school debt.

Brower said Foletta “did well” when he worked in the U.S. attorney’s office and already has been testifying for the governor on bills in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“The governor has a very small office, but Lucas does a great job,” Brower said. “He has a session under his belt. He is very engaged.”

Foletta grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, the son of a University of California adjutant professor and a mother who also earned a Cal degree.

Instead of remaining in Berkeley, he decided to try the University of Southern California. There he made his first and only stab at politics, running un­successfully for student body president.

“I think every member of my fraternity voted for me, and nobody else,” he said.

As far as his future after state government, Foletta said he would like to remain in Nevada.

He has grown to love the state, particularly Lake Tahoe.

Foletta is confident that Sandoval has the support of most Nevadans for his major goals of improving education and “getting the state moving in the right direction.”

Democrats might not support everything Sandoval wants, but he said they have the same goals, and in the end bipartisan agreements are possible.

“Legislative sessions are un­predictable and I have no idea what will be controversial,” he said.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.