EDITORIAL: County ‘finds’ $80M to cover Jones fiasco
Have Southern Nevada taxpayers noticed that Clark County is sitting on so much tax revenue that it can cover an $80 million settlement with a local developer — call it Justin Jones’ jackassery — by simply rummaging around the couch cushions down at the Government Center?
Oh sure, $45 million worth of parks may never be built. A few capital projects worth another $35 million may be delayed. But who cares about amenities for local residents when you’re trying to cover your rears over a land grab fiasco pushed by a commissioner willing to sacrifice the Fifth Amendment for his own political gain?
But perhaps the clock is finally ticking on Mr. Jones.
The county last month announced it had reached a deal with Jim Rhodes in a 20-year dispute over his efforts to develop an old gypsum mine near Red Rock Canyon. County officials blocked the residential project for years. Mr. Jones, now on the County Commission, was one of the most vocal opponents of the plan dating to his time in the Legislature. He also served as an attorney representing opponents of the development.
Mr. Jones was elected to the commission in 2018, and the land use controversy eventually ended up in court. Since then, two judges have concluded that Mr. Jones offered misleading testimony and intentionally deleted text messages that might have been helpful to the Rhodes camp. In addition, the Nevada Supreme Court recently upheld a multimillion-dollar award against the city of Las Vegas for violating another developer’s right to use his own property.
Given Mr. Jones’s conduct, and facing down a similar “takings” judgment that threatened to hit $2 billion, county officials rushed to the table. Mr. Rhodes will receive $80 million in taxpayer funds for his troubles and will be allowed to move forward with his development on Blue Diamond Hill, although in a somewhat scaled-down fashion.
The $80 million, KLAS-TV, Channel 8, reported this month, will come from money set aside for local parks projects and from the county’s capital projects general fund. This will no doubt be on the minds of voters the next time county officials seek a tax increase.
Mr. Jones, meanwhile, has skated without so much as a slap on the wrist. That may soon change.
In February, the State Bar filed three counts against Mr. Jones for his behavior in the Rhodes lawsuit, charging him with violating rules that prohibit making false statements to a court, destroying evidence and engaging in unprofessional misconduct. The second count has since been dropped, but — barring a settlement — a hearing probably will take place this fall on the remaining two counts. Punishment will be up to the Bar’s Southern Nevada Discipline Board, but Dan Hooge of the State Bar believes that Mr. Jones’s behavior rises to the “suspension or possibly disbarment level.”
Mr. Jones deserves to face consequences for his unethical actions, but that doesn’t take residents off the hook for the $80 million. As county officials cancel or postpone parks and other public works to make up for the settlement costs, justice demands that they erect a large sign on the site of each delayed or scuttled project informing taxpayers that they have Justin Jones to blame. That and perhaps a monument in front of the Government Center featuring Mr. Jones shoveling taxpayer money into a blast furnace.