Impeached Nevada controller comatose following heart attack

Kathy Augustine, Nevada's embattled state Controller, suffered a massive heart attack at her home late Sunday and is in a coma at a Reno hospital.

Deputy Controller Bill Reinhart said a news conference was scheduled for 2 p.m.

Monday in Carson City to discuss Augustine's condition. He declined to provide additional details, saying he was with members of Augustine's family and "we're all in a state of exhaustion here."

Washoe Medical Center spokeswoman Alexia Bratiotis confirmed that Augustine, 50, who lives in Reno, was in the hospital. She said the hospital's definition of critical is that "vital signs are unstable and not within normal limits. The patient may be unconscious. Indicators are unfavorable."

Bratiotis and Reinhart wouldn't say whether Augustine was comatose, although several sources told The Associated Press that was the case.

Steve George, spokesman for Gov. Kenny Guinn, said Guinn was returning from Las Vegas to Carson City and was aware of Augustine's condition. He added that Reinhart was in charge of the office at this point and no decision had been made on whether the governor would have to declare the office vacant and name a replacement.

Augustine, the only constitutional officer in Nevada history to have been impeached and convicted, was term-limited and couldn't seek a third four-year term in her current post. She has been campaigning for the job of state treasurer.

The Republican controller had conceded she had "unfavorables" to overcome in her efforts to stay in public office, but added that she has been honored for her work as controller and polls show she has strong name recognition.

Augustine has been urged by state Republican Party Chairman Paul Adams to not embarrass the party by seeking another elective office next year.

Impeached by the Assembly for using state equipment for her 2002 campaign, Augustine was censured but not removed from office by the state Senate. She was acquitted of two other charges, including using a state computer and staff to help her win a second four-year term as controller.

In September 2004, she was fined $15,000 by the state Ethics Commission after admitting to three willful violations of state ethics law. Augustine had been making $500-a-month payments until last November, when she paid off the balance.

In discussing her political ambitions, Augustine had said she decided an admission to the ethics violations was better than the threatened alternative of criminal charges through a grand jury indictment sought by the attorney general's office.

Had she been indicted, Augustine would have had to leave office pending resolution of a criminal case. By admitting the ethics violations, she had to go through the impeachment proceedings but was able to stay in office.