The Nevada Commission on Ethics Thursday cleared former Nuclear Projects Director Bob Loux of charges he broke the rules by raising his own pay.
They did so on a 3-2 vote with the majority pointing out that the charges levied against him were wrong because they said he raised his own pay "above the legislatively approved" amount.
Commissioners George Keele, Don Classic and James Shaw all agreed the legislature doesn't approve specific salaries for non-classified state employees in the governor's office.
"It should have said, did he give himself a pay raise above the governor's approved salary," said Klassic.
Chairman Mark Hutchinson said he believes the charge should have simply said Loux raised his own pay without authorization.
Keele made the motion, saying, "I don't believe the Legislature ever approved or confined Mr. Loux to a specific salary."
Since there was no legislatively approved salary, he said the charge can't stand.
Two members disagreed, arguing that while the charge was flawed, Loux clearly paid himself more than he was approved to receive without permission to do so.
"The record's clear that the budget was exceeded, both the line item and the total," said Bob Weise, sitting on the case for John Marvel, who recused himself. "I'm not comfortable with the fact there is absolutely no evidence that Mr. Loux was authorized to do this other than his testimony."
Loux said the decision wasn't a technicality, that all along he has argued he had permission to manage his own salary within the governor's office and the claim that the Legislature set his pay rate was wrong.
The governor's office and budget office both testified Loux was never given authority to raise his own pay. But Loux argued one staff member signed off on that policy.
Hutchinson had a different take, arguing he believes when the governor's office submitted salary figures to the Legislature, and those became the legislatively approved salary levels even though the law allows the governor to adjust salaries in his office without legislative approval.
Loux was accused of raising his pay and the pay of his staff members in 2008 by using the salary budgeted for a vacant position. He was fired from his job after it was discovered his actual pay received was above what had been approved for the position in 2006-2008. The budget office issued charts indicating he received over $60,000 more than he should have.
Loux said the amount wasn't that high and that a good share of it was due to a mistake in his hourly rate when he switched from employer-employee paid retirement to employer paid. That is supposed to result in a pay cut of about 10 percent since the state picks up the entire premium instead of half, but Loux's pay was not reduced. The result was he was getting more than $400 a month more in take-home pay than he should have.
He said he has agreed to pay back that amount " an estimated $12,000.
Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.