The Nevada Independent: Lombardo used work email to communicate strategy with top consultants, records show

On the roughly three days a week Sheriff Lombardo shows up to work, it turns out he’s actually campaigning. New reporting reveals Lombardo has been using government time and resources to benefit his political career – emailing his consultants while on the job and even directing Metro staff to pull together research that would later mirror his campaign talking points.

He’s currently under investigation for flooding his campaign materials with images of his badge and uniform, violating NRS for using government resources for political gain. Another complaint was recently filed against him for using taxpayer dollars to support anti-abortion efforts and advance his political agenda. 

Read more about Lombardo’s corruption below.

The Nevada Independent: Lombardo used work email to communicate strategy with top consultants, records show

Riley Snyder, Sean Golonka

October 5, 2022

Key Points:

  • Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, the Republican candidate for governor, used his official police department email to communicate with his campaign team and direct department employees to conduct research later used by his campaign, emails obtained by The Nevada Independent show.
  • Nevada’s state ethics law prohibits any public officer or employee from using “governmental time, property, equipment or other facility to benefit a significant personal or pecuniary interest,” though exceptions are carved out if the use “does not interfere with the performance of the public officer’s or employee’s public duties,” or if the cost or value is “nominal” or does not create the “appearance of impropriety.”
  • In August 2021, Lombardo, using his email address with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, asked a department lobbyist to work with other department staff on a “crime comparison of legislative changes and the effect on crime,” which Lombardo later forwarded to a campaign consultant.
  • The scope of the research coincides with materials released by Lombardo’s campaign, which has attacked Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak for “soft-on-crime” legislation he signed in 2019, blaming AB236, a major criminal justice reform measure, for increases in crime. 
  • In another instance, in July 2021, Lombardo used a personal email address to forward a department employee an article on immigration he was sent by Slanker. The article from the Center for Immigration Studies referenced the busing of thousands of migrants from border towns to cities across the country. In an email to Lombardo, Sasha Larkin, a deputy chief at Metro, wrote that the bus loads referenced in the article were not transporting migrants to Las Vegas or Southern Nevada. Slanker replied, “Helpful. Let us know if it changes.”
  • That order, which nonetheless stated that it is “undisputed that Sheriff Lombardo engaged in political activity using his government email account,” required the release of four of the 40 emails turned over and reviewed by the court.

Read the full story here.

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