Voicemails show Nevada GOP activist’s alleged attempts to sway Assembly vote

Tony Dane

GOP activist Tony Dane wanted Assemblyman Chris Edwards to be his 13th swing vote needed to install a conservative speaker in the Republican-controlled Assembly in early 2015, according to public records and a voicemail Dane left for Edwards.

Edwards got an offer from Dane that included getting $40,000 of campaign debt paid off if he switched his vote for speaker, Edwards told the Review-Journal in an interview.

An urgent-sounding voicemail came later that same month. Dane told Edwards that if he were to become the 14th vote, “I can guarantee that the dogs would be called off, but I can’t guarantee the debt,” according to a voicemail Dane left for Edwards in January 2015.

The Review-Journal obtained a copy of the voicemail, which is also mentioned in search warrant records.

At the time, the GOP had just seized control of the Assembly in the November 2014 elections and the Assembly was in a power struggle between moderate lawmakers and the conservative faction. Edwards, R-Las Vegas, was supporting Assemblyman John Hambrick, a more moderate Las Vegas-area Republican who became speaker in February 2015 after a caucus fight.

The behind-the-scenes events that unfolded in the preceding months, much of it caught on wiretaps and recorded in voicemails, have since led to the May grand jury indictment of Dane, a political strategist who runs a robo-call business. Dane, who surrendered to authorities Thursday in Las Vegas and posted a $42,000 bond, faces 11 felony changes that include extortion, illegal wiretapping perjury and filing a false document. The charges are tied to an alleged plot to pressure Edwards to change his vote for speaker.

“Please give me a call back because if you’re serious, I need to know now because I need you to be number 13, not number 14,” Dane said in the voicemail.

By then, Edwards had already reported his concerns to Metro in December, which started its investigation. Conservatives instead wanted Elko Republican Assemblyman John Ellison to become speaker, not Hambrick.

With Metro’s involvement, Edwards had met with Dane at a Starbucks, where the offer of $40,000 to pay off his campaign debt was extended while he was wearing a wire, Edwards said in an interview.

“The police were there; I was there,” Edwards said in an interview. “Yes, I was wearing a wire.”

Several times, Edwards pressed him on the details, and Dane guaranteed the $40,000, Edwards said.

No one else has been indicted in the case, yet mysteries linger.

Edwards said he pressed Dane to find out who was bankrolling him, but the operative didn’t tell him.

“He said he was working for some mega-rich people who were tired of conservatives going RINO,” Edwards said, using an acronym for “Republican in name only.”

Edwards added that Dane told him he’d get fired if he disclosed his backers. Dane’s offer came with a warning: Edwards would face a recall effort and money spent against him if he didn’t change his vote, Edwards said. Dane also warned Edwards that someone was willing to sign an affidavit alleging he sought a $10,000 bribe to vote against Hambrick, according to the allegations.

“It’s do this and you’ll be taken care of and not do this and you will be harmed from every which way,” Edwards said.

After Edwards didn’t sign a proxy form agreeing to vote Dane’s way, Dane left another voice message later that month.

“I don’t know what the problem is but give me a call,” Dane said in the voicemail, asking for a call back. Dane later added: “Now, I think you’re just jacking me around.”

Edwards never did change his vote.

Dane’s attorney, David Otto, said his client’s the victim of a politically motivated attack.

“I think it’s political in nature to shut Tony Dane up because he makes robocalls to start recall efforts,” Otto said.

Dane is also accused of wiretapping phone conversations between Edwards and four other Republican assemblymen from the Las Vegas area — John Hambrick, Paul Anderson, Derek Armstrong and Stephen Silberkraus — with their constituents, according to the indictment.

The indictment alleges Dane submitted a falsified finance report to the Nevada secretary of state’s office that he had received $245,000 in contributions in 2014 for his CRC Political Action Committee.

Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@review-journal.com or 702-387-2904. Find @BenBotkin1 on Twitter.