Ex-Assemblyman files complaint about successor

Former Assemblyman and Douglas County Commissioner Kelly Kite has filed a complaint against his successor, Assemblyman Jim Wheeler, R-Gardnerville, questioning his financial reporting and whether he lives in Douglas County.

Kite said filing the complaints, dated Monday, with the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office and state Assembly wasn’t something he did lightly.

“I took no pleasure in it, but it was something I felt somebody had to do, and I didn’t want somebody else to do something I was afraid to do myself,” Kite said.

In documentation submitted by Wheeler to the Secretary of State’s Office, he listed three lengths of time he has lived in Nevada that don’t jibe.

In a form filed in March 2010, Wheeler said he’d lived in the state and district for four years. In a form filed in March 2012, he said he’d lived in the district and state for nine years.

Eight months later, in January 2013, Wheeler listed 10 years as the length of his residency.

Kite also pointed out that Wheeler’s disclosure forms do not list where he gets his income or whether he has any debts.

According to the accusation, Wheeler didn’t disclose a $6,168.66 tax lien filed against him in Michigan. A firm Wheeler lists in his disclosure, WheelerCo Products, shows two judgments totaling $99,585 listed in public records in Los Angeles.

Kite says under Nevada law, that debt should have been reported on his Nevada election disclosure forms.

Wheeler said, bluntly, “I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about.”

“I’ve never owned a company in Michigan,” he told the Nevada Appeal. “I’ve never had employees in Michigan.”

Kite raised issues with Wheeler’s claim to be living in the Gardnerville Ranchos at the home of Republican State Vice Chairman Jim DeGraffenreid.

“I was given a report by a private investigator,” Kite said.

That report detailed three days when Wheeler’s vehicle, with his Assembly plates, was spotted at the Washoe County home of his girlfriend.

On Monday, Wheeler said he was going to pick up a check to put money down on a lease of a home in Ruhenstroth.

“It’s kind of the same old stuff,” Wheeler said. “I’m living here in a very conservative community and I’m a very, very conservative Assemblyman. I was looking forward to a spirited debate. Eileen and I have decided to move in together. I finally got her out of Washoe Valley.”

Wheeler said he thinks the complaints were Kite’s opening salvo in a campaign to unseat him. Kite said he wasn’t ready to announce his intentions.

“That’s five months from now,” he said. Wheeler beat Kite by 192 votes in the 2012 primary.