CARSON CITY -- Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons has urged the state Ethics Commission to ignore "wild hearsay" and dismiss a state Democratic Party complaint alleging that he abused his position to get a big tax break on 40 acres he owns in eastern Nevada.
Gibbons, in a letter released Thursday by the commission in line with the governor's request that it be made public, said Democrats didn't comply with a rule that requires an ethics complaint to be backed up by more than "a newspaper article or other media report."
The governor said the rule prevents "partisan ethics complaints, such as this one, that are based on nothing more than wild hearsay and unsupported accusations, and designed to do nothing more than grab cheap headlines and damage the reputations of public officials."
The Associated Press reported in July that Gibbons got the tax liability on the property in scenic Lamoille cut from about $5,000 to $39.71 by having it assessed as agricultural rather than residential property. He bought the property for $575,000 a year ago from former judge Jerry Carr Whitehead, who owns 3,000 adjacent acres.
Elko County Assessor Joe Aguirre has said he felt pressured to allow the agricultural designation after Gibbons visited him in his office last fall, and then attorney John Marvel, a member of the state Tax Commission, submitted an application and letters on Gibbons' behalf.
Aguirre said although the governor's property had been used for ranching, once it was sold as a separate parcel it didn't qualify for the tax break because the parcel was too small to be able to gross $5,000 in annual agricultural income.
Gibbons said in his letter to the Ethics Commission that there's no evidence that he acted "in any way differently than any other landowner would act: I bought a piece of property that had an agricultural use assessment, and I applied to continue that assessment, which it was entitled to receive."
"The complaint gives no evidence that the assessment was improperly requested or that it should not have been granted," he added. "It cites no examples of similar parcels with similar quality and similar use being denied the assessment."
Gibbons also said he had only one conversation with Aguirre and "I certainly did not make any threats nor did I even make any innuendoes concerning any repercussions concerning his decision."
The governor said he didn't get a clear answer from Aguirre on whether he qualified for the tax break, and so contacted Marvel for help. He defended Marvel's involvement, saying that his status as a Tax Commission member "does not preclude Mr. Marvel from also following his profession as an attorney, and I retained him for his legal expertise, much as many residents of Elko do."
Instead of approving the agricultural designation, Aguirre did nothing, letting it take effect by default for one year. The governor will have to reapply next year to receive it again.
Tax commission members are appointed by the governor. Marvel has served on the commission since 1990, and was last reappointed by former Gov. Kenny Guinn in 2005.
The commission oversees the Department of Taxation, setting regulations, enforcement and audit policies.