Secretary of State Dean Heller on Monday sharply criticized former Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa for missing deadlines to sue candidates for not properly filing campaign contribution and expense reports.
Del Papa described Heller's comments as "out in left field."
"You know he has a reputation for exaggeration," she said.
Heller said that when all attempts to get more than 200 candidates to file the mandatory reports were completed following the 2000 election cycle, there were still 33 in violation of the law.
The attorney general's office sued 18 of them, but Heller said despite several requests from his office in 2001, Del Papa's office took no action against the remaining 15 candidates.
"In fact, I sent a personal letter to former Attorney General Del Papa on Jan. 16, 2002, further demanding action be taken in regards to these cases," he said. "But apparently, for some reason unbeknownst to me, these cases were allowed to languish."
Now, he said, the statute of limitations has expired and there is no way to go after the candidates.
Heller said candidates for public office have the responsibility to follow state election laws, including full financial disclosure.
"I am deeply concerned about the message it sends to candidates and the general public when the state's chief legal office fails to take appropriate legal action against candidates who violate the law," he said.
The list of 15 includes "influential lawyers, judges and former legislators," Heller said. The list included two justice of the peace candidates and a half-dozen Assembly candidates -- all from Southern Nevada.
That, Heller said, "creates the appearance of playing favorites for those who are politically connected."
Del Papa said the suggestion that somehow investigations were dropped for political purposes makes no sense.
"When you look at this list, I only recognize three names," she said.
Legal action was taken on a majority of the 60 cases originally forwarded to her office and that payments were made and cases closed, Del Papa said.
"To suggest there was political favoritism, that's ridiculous," she said. "The secretary of state is known for exaggeration. I can only think his press release is politically motivated. Maybe he thinks his candle is going to burn brighter by dimming somebody else's."
She said some of the fines on Heller's list are as low as $225.
"Sometimes it's going to take more to find and prosecute them than you're going to collect from them," she said.
Her successor, Brian Sandoval, said he has taken steps to ensure the problem won't occur again. He said the deputies handling election issues are being provided with letters of instruction and that the methods used to set critical deadlines have been changed.
"While we regret that errors occurred, we are confident that, due to the immediate actions above, such errors will not occur in the future," Sandoval said.