Trustee files ethics complaint against CCSD superintendent

Clark County School Board member Danielle Ford has filed an ethics complaint against district Superintendent Jesus Jara, charging that the schools chief used his position to influence the upcoming school board race by directing a district lobbyist to meet with a candidate.

The complaint filed Monday states Jara directed lobbyist Patrick McNaught to meet with District B candidate Jeff Proffitt on Feb. 11 in order to obtain information about the race — allegations denied by McNaught and Proffitt.

“The benefit for Dr. Jara doing this is to obtain information regarding Mr. Proffitt’s political motives, if he would support Dr. Jara’s contract renewal that happens in 2021, and potentially other upcoming (district) items of interest,” the complaint stated.

It charges that Jara violated various statutes of NRS 281A, including “requesting or otherwise causing a governmental entity to incur an expense or make an expenditure to support or oppose a ballot question or candidate during the relevant time frame” and “using governmental time, property, equipment or other facility to benefit his significant personal or financial interest.”

The complaint presents as evidence activity reports sent from McNaught to Maria Marinch, the Clark County School District’s chief communications and governmental relations officer, listing meetings the lobbyist had in January and February as well as “topics of interest” such as states of campaign races. Among the meetings is a Feb. 11 item titled “met with Jeff Proffitt about trustee race.”

No comment on meeting

The reports do not indicate that meeting was held at the request of Jara or other district officials. CCSD did not answer questions of whether anyone directed McNaught to meet with school board candidates, nor whether it’s typical for district lobbyists to do so.

CCSD representatives said they had not received the complaint, and if received, “It will be evaluated and responded to appropriately.”

Ford declined to comment. She represents District F, which is not up for re-election this year.

In an interview, McNaught denied that the superintendent asked him to meet with Proffitt and said he regularly met with the candidate when they both worked as lobbyists for the Sheet Metal Workers Union Local 88. He said the topics of discussion at those meetings included legislation and its possible effects on the union’s interests, but not the school board race.

Asked specifically about the activity log, McNaught said he keeps similar logs for each of his clients and that it’s possible that he submitted an item meant for another client to the school district and later corrected the error.

He said he did not meet with any other school board candidates, but did have a conversation with former Nevada Senate Majority Leader Mike Roberson, husband of District A candidate Liberty Leavitt. Leavitt said Wednesday she has never had a conversation with McNaught and that the lobbyist is a personal friend of her husband’s.

The ethics complaint further alleges that Jara used McNaught to secure an apprenticeship for his son through Proffitt at the sheet metal workers union. Proffitt has worked regularly with the school district as part of its apprenticeship program.

McNaught said Jara’s son briefly worked an apprenticeship at the organization in 2019, but that neither Jara nor Proffitt acted to secure that role.

Lobbyist later left CCSD role

McNaught worked for the school district from late 2018 to April 2020. He said he parted ways with the district in April after budget reductions.

Proffitt also said that he and McNaught met regularly as part of their work for the sheet metal workers union but that they did not discuss the election and that McNaught didn’t know Proffitt was planning to run for a school board seat when they met. He said he began exploring a run in early January and first secured the blessings of his family and organization before eventually filing on March 3, three weeks after the meeting with McNaught.

He said he believes he called McNaught for the mid-February meeting to inform him of his intention to run.

The Nevada Commission on Ethics did not reply to a request for comment on whether it was investigating the complaint.

Contact Aleksandra Appleton at 702-383-0218 or aappleton@reviewjournal.com. Follow @aleksappleton on Twitter.