Illegal mailer may have come from candidate’s brother

Half a whodunnit appears to have been solved. Not by me, but by Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske's office.

Cegavske believes Jared Smith, brother of Meghan Smith, is the person behind anonymous and illegal mailers against Assembly candidate Gary Fisher, the Democratic front-runner in 2014.

Last Friday, two days after I asked Cegavske what her office was doing to find the culprit, a letter went to Jared Smith in Fort Worth, Texas.

Cegavske's office was on the case, but she couldn't give up the name because the suspect hadn't been notified.

Efforts to reach both were unsuccessful.

Fisher has had 14 months to think about which of his opponents was behind the illegal calls and mailers that knocked him out of the Democratic primary in Assembly District 34. He said he is shocked because he never suspected Meghan Smith's campaign.

"After the primary, I contacted Meghan to offer my support and assistance. We met for lunch. She expressed her respect and appreciation and her disgust with the mailers/robocalls. Fooled me. I told everyone who asked that I didn't believe she had done it," Fisher wrote in an email.

One mailer told people to go to page 4 of Fisher's book "and see his confession with your own eyes. Gary was receiving federal grant money to prevent the abuse of drugs and alcohol while he himself was abusing drugs and alcohol."

Another mailer proclaimed, "Confessed drug and alcohol abuser Gary Fisher was awarded federal funding to prevent drug and alcohol abuse while he was getting high."

To find one sentence out of his seven books talking about his past drug use took some real research, Fisher said Monday.

A letter from Deputy Secretary for Elections Richard Hy told Jared Smith to provide a written response by Aug. 31 and stated the office is considering filing a civil action against him. "This office believes that you had involvement in the financing and dissemination of these mailers."

Meghan Smith is not named, but in April she was indicted for perjury for allegedly lying about living in Assembly District 34, a felony charge brought by Attorney General Adam Laxalt after Victoria Seaman, the Republican who won, mounted a successful challenge of Smith's residency eligibility.

in June 2014, just before the Democratic primary, attorney Bradley Schrager, representing the Assembly Democratic caucus, filed a complaint about the two mailers and robocalls slamming Fisher for past drug and alcohol use. Schrager called them "salacious accusations" and "brazen and illicit campaign activity."

To me, people who don't have the guts to follow the law and put their names to their words are slimy slugs.

Even worse, the perp took a racist approach with the robocalls, using an accent to throw suspicion on two other Democratic candidates, Sanje Sedera and Fayyaz Raja.

Neither the mailers or the robocalls had the necessary identification that would have made them legal.

Robocalls are supposed to include the names and telephone numbers of whoever paid for them. Mailers are supposed to provide the name of who paid for them if more than $100 is spent. Both should be reported on campaign and contribution reports, either by the candidate as an in-kind donation or as an independent expenditure.

Jared Smith is only connected to the mailers, not the anonymous robocalls. The investigation is ongoing, and Hy said his office is trying to discover who paid for the robocalls, although that's more of a challenge than the mailers.

Fisher is disappointed that former Democratic Secretary of State Ross Miller and his Elections Deputy Scott Gilles did so little to track the source of the mailers. "Scott told me he would have it resolved before he left, and obviously he didn't."

Gilles received the complaint in June and left the office in February, so he had nine months to resolve it, yet didn't.

Hy explained that the first mail company Vistaprint had been acquired by Cimpress, and so subpoenas sent by Gilles and later himself weren't going to the right people.

The subpoenas showed the mailings were paid for by Jared Smith, who allegedly spent in excess of $1,000 for 5,000 mailers.

I reviewed all Meghan Smith's contribution and expense reports but didn't see anything bearing her brother's name or any address out of Texas. Nor was there an independent expenditure report under Jared Smith's name.

Campaign and expense reports carry criminal and civil penalties as well since they are signed under penalty of perjury.

Smith's reports showed her with no contributions until after she won the primary.

Then the money flowed in as Democrats and lobbyists realized she was their only chance of keeping the seat Democratic. In the end, Meghan Smith lost to Republican Seaman after spending $98,931 and reporting contributions of $105,127.

That's a lot of money for Smith, who on her financial disclosure statement said her only income was $6,000 a year from Gold Star School of Gambling. She is being represented in her perjury case by the Clark County public defender's office with a trial set for next January.

Cegavske deserves credit for pursuing election violations and making them a priority.

Seaman deserves credit for pursuing the residency case and successfully challenging Meghan Smith's residency. Seaman also tried to toughen election laws.

However, the Legislature overall deserves zero credit. It wimped out when given the chance to strengthen election laws, and not for the first time.

Jane Ann Morrison's column runs Thursdays. Leave messages for her at 702-383-0275 or jmorrison@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @janeannmorrison