KVIG Informative

Nevada’s lobbyist registry and its candidate filings are two separate public records. Cross-reference them, and the same names start showing up in both.

A review of the Nevada Legislature’s lobbyist registry alongside candidate filings maintained by the Nevada Secretary of State shows a number of individuals who are simultaneously registered to lobby state lawmakers and have run, or are currently running, for a seat in that same Legislature.

State Sen. Chris Brooks is registered as a paid lobbyist for the Nevada Preservation Foundation, according to the lobbyist registry, while also holding elected office in the body he is registered to lobby.

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Other individuals listed in both records include Justin Watkins, a non-paid lobbyist for the Nevada Conservation League who has run for a State Assembly seat; Jodi Stephens, a paid lobbyist for Spread the Word Nevada and the Nevada Veterans Memorial Plaza who has also run for Assembly; and Kristee Watson, a paid lobbyist for the Nevada Conservation League and its education fund who has run for State Senate, according to the same public records.

Nevada law does not prohibit a registered lobbyist from running for office, or an elected official from simultaneously registering as a lobbyist for an organization other than the one they were elected to serve, as long as the lobbying activity doesn’t involve compensation to influence the specific legislative body in violation of separate conflict-of-interest rules.

The overlap means the same person can, within a single election cycle, be advocating for a client’s interests before the Legislature while also asking voters to elect them to that Legislature — two roles that create very different incentives depending on which hat is on at a given moment.

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Nevada’s ethics laws generally require lawmakers to disclose conflicts of interest and abstain from voting on matters where they have a personal financial interest, but they do not require a sitting legislator to give up outside lobbying work for other organizations as a condition of holding office.

Nevada’s public records make it easy to find out who’s lobbying whom, and who’s running for what. What they don’t do is stop the same name from showing up in both columns at once — leaving voters to sort out, on their own, when a candidate on the ballot is also someone else’s hired advocate in the building they’re asking to join.