Sisolak received warning in meeting with Vermillion's reps

At a weekend meeting that County Commissioner Steve Sisolak has called a "shakedown," representatives of his ex-girlfriend told him accusations of an improper relationship with her teenage daughter was "the stuff that ends political careers," according to an account of the meeting.

In notes based on a secret recording of the Sunday meeting, Sisolak's lawyer, Laura Fitzsimmons, mentioned several instances of potential damage to the commissioner's political aspirations based on the accusations contained in Kathleen Vermillion's lawsuit against him.

Vermillion's lawyer, Robert Martin, and public relations representative Mark Fierro have called the meeting a legal settlement conference. Sisolak thinks it was an attempt to extort him of $3.9 million.

Las Vegas police were investigating.

The meeting was at Fierro's office three days after Vermillion filed her lawsuit in District Court.

Sisolak and lawyer Stan Hunterton met with Martin and Fierro.

Hunterton attended because Fitzsimmons, who is based in Carson City, could not make the weekend meeting. She listened to the recording later that day and took notes.

According to the notes, Fierro said that they were not accusing Sisolak of criminal conduct but that "this is the stuff that ends political careers." If Sisolak reached a settlement for $3.9 million, it would all "be erased," Fitzsimmons wrote.

Hunterton asked how they arrived at the $3.9 million figure and compared it to the $1.7 million the Metropolitan Police Department was about to pay the family of Trevon Cole, a small-time marijuana dealer who was killed in a botched drug raid.

"That was a nameless, faceless person," Sisolak recalled Martin saying.

The next day at the Police Department's Fiscal Affairs Committee meeting, Sisolak referenced that quote when the board approved the payment.

"Mr. Cole was not a nameless, faceless person. He was a son and a father and a fiancé," Sisolak said.

Vermillion's team told Sisolak they had a news conference scheduled for Monday to show a video of her 15-year-old daughter saying Sisolak had her model bathing suits for him, took her on a "movie date" and texted her late at night.

The teen also said that Sisolak was "obsessed with her looks and how she dressed" and that he tried to continue his relationship with her even after he and Vermillion ended their rocky five-year romance in October.

"I didn't want to think about him being attracted to me," the girl said in the video. "He's a liar. He's somebody you shouldn't trust. He's grimy."

The girl's father and Vermillion's ex-husband, Burt Boutin, released a statement earlier this week saying his daughter told him that her statements were false and that she had been coaxed into giving the videotaped interview. Boutin's statement also said Sisolak "acted as a gentleman to both of my children and to me."

In the girl's interview, however, she said her father had called Sisolak a "sketchy guy."

At the Sunday meeting, Martin said the goal was reaching a settlement, "but it needs to be done pretty quickly," according to Fitzsimmons' notes.

In the meeting, Martin said the lawsuit would take years, and "I am going to have a hard time convincing a jury that she is worth giving money to," according to the notes.

Martin did not return a call seeking comment.

Vermillion did not attend the meeting, but the former Henderson city councilwoman was mentioned.

"She is a (expletive) smart woman, and she is scary right now," Fierro said about her, according to the notes.

Fierro told Sisolak that Vermillion got "burned to the ground" and that allegations against her in the press reflected poorly on him, according to the notes.

Two days earlier Vermillion faced public allegations that she misused money from the charity she founded, the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth. The charity's interim director, Arash Ghafoori, filed a complaint Jan. 11 with the attorney general's office accusing her of malfeasance.

Vermillion also tested positive for methadone in a drug test ordered by the charity's board of directors.

Part of her lawsuit includes accusations that Sisolak and others leaked her drug test results.

On Friday, the charity said Vermillion, who had been on medical leave from her job as chief operating officer, was no longer employed there.

Board member John Simmons said the separation took effect Thursday afternoon.

"I wish the partnership the best," Vermillion said. "It was definitely in their best interest for us to part ways. I recognize that my lawsuit against Clark County, which gives (the partnership) grants, makes me more of a liability than an asset. I care enough about the agency to move forward in another direction."

The next step for Vermillion, who said she had been on medical leave from the partnership, is to "make sure my personal liabilities are eliminated."

That means removing her name from a $150,000 credit line for the nonprofit and all corporate paperwork that lists Vermillion as the group's registered agent, including with the secretary of state.

She is looking for a lawyer to "help officiate a separation agreement" with the nonprofit.

"What I'm not going to do is ask them for a refund of the tens of upon tens of thousands of dollars I've given them in the past couple of years," she said. "I know that money is well spent. ... I will continue to support them behind the scenes."

View staff writer Michael Lyle and Las Vegas Review-Journal writer Kristi Jourdan contributed to this report. Contact reporter Brian Haynes at bhaynes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0281.

Trending topics:

• Arash Ghafoori
• John Simmons
• Kathleen Vermillion
• Nevada Partnership for Homeless

Comments

Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.

1. MIKE VEGAS Jan. 30, 2012 | 11:21 a.m. Report Abuse

   @ HawkEye; NO MORE NANCY GRACE, TURN OFF YOUR COMPUTER AND GO OUTSIDE FOR A LEAST 1 HOUR. BREATHE IN SOME FRESH AIR, AND IF YOU FEEL THE NEED TO BE ON YOUR COMPUTER DURING THAT HOUR,---SEEK SOME PROFESSIONAL HELP.

2. HawkEye Jan. 29, 2012 | 9:08 p.m. Report Abuse

   Your right Alvinjh@6:05pm~As the stomach turns. We have been doing a lot of RulesOf3s analysis on our sites and how this relates to just about anything you want to analyze. So, it all starts with INTENTIONALITY in an action that is put out into the world. So, if Vermillion's INTENTIONALITY was such that she really wanted to have JUSTICE DANCE to UNEARTH THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER AT HAND then --> SHUT YOUR MOUTH AND HAVE YOUR ATTORNEY SERVE HIM WITH THE PROPER PAPERS THAT TELL HIM HE IS FACING PENDING CIVIL ACTION IN REGARDS TO YOUR CLAIMS. Easy, right? Well, not in Clark County cuz ya always got these PERSONO-professional-X dances goin. Notice the deliberate spelling of the hyphenated phrase. It's like ya all got a developmental disability in terms of determining WHERE IS THAT LINE THAT DIVIDES A PROFESSIONAL FROM A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP and this has been a historically grounded problem THROUGHOUT ALL YOUR POLITICAL AND JUDICIAL INSTITUTIONS IN CLARK COUNTY.

3. Winslow Boy Jan. 29, 2012 | 12:02 p.m. Report Abuse

   As Steve Sebelius said this week, paraphrased, it is clear that Kathleen Vermillion is not fit to administer the charity. But is she fit to continue to raise a child that she manipulated into making up a story about Sisolak in an attempt to shake him down for income she obviously knew was going to Lose? Vermillion had her daughter make up the story. Her dad bravely came forward and set the record straight. Let us, then, not lose slight of the fact that Steve Sisolak did nothing wrong. He is the victim of what every man fears: the lie told by a child to satisfy the revenge of an adult parent. Hang tough, Steve.

4. Summerlin_Slick Jan. 28, 2012 | 10:36 p.m. Report Abuse

   3.9mm. They've overestimated Steve's financial position.

5. Gas Passer Jan. 28, 2012 | 8:41 p.m. Report Abuse

   Sisolak should know better than hooking up with those trailer parker ho's.

6. Alvinjh Jan. 28, 2012 | 6:05 p.m. Report Abuse

   as the stomach turns...thus go the days of their lives.

7. Only in Vegas Jan. 28, 2012 | 5:50 p.m. Report Abuse

   All photos I have seen of this woman … she is always looking up with a smile? Now that Steve is out of the picture, maybe she can start some sort of mentoring aerobics class?

8. ROTFLMFAO Jan. 28, 2012 | 5:45 p.m. Report Abuse

   Not really sure why anyone would call this dingbat smart. She is not smart. She is incredibly stupid. If she were smart she wouldn't be in this mess. She is dumber than sack of lint.

9. FloyydR.Turrbo Jan. 28, 2012 | 5:25 p.m. Report Abuse

   Vermin (short for Vermillion,) had ulterior motive (smart conniving women always do,) to grant Sislolak, permission to continue to see her daughter. She found cash cow in Sisolak in the way of the County Grants which materialized to $214K, which translated to two year of her salary, as the CEO of the fake-charity (another cash cow) and spending full time as dysfunctional mother to her children.

10. ConcernCitizen Jan. 28, 2012 | 4:42 p.m. Report Abuse

    Kathleen needs help ! She is obviously sick and has some type of drug and /or mental illness .As for Mark Fierro and Martin no one should ever hire or employ these two low lifes. Poor Kathleen's daughter !!!! As an parent of two children you never involve them in such an high profile event yet coach them to say what you want. This poor little girl is a victim of greed !!! This is why peopkle are loosing trust in politicians and charities .BRAVO Commissioner Sisolak .Stay strong the voters are behind you .

Read All Comments