The attorney general’s office is losing key people just as an ethics case heats up and Ford chases the governor’s office
Aaron Ford is running for governor. His chief of staff is running for Congress. And nobody seems to be running the Nevada Attorney General’s office.
That’s the situation in Carson City right now. Ford has one eye on the governor’s mansion and the other on his campaign fundraising. His top staffer walked out the door earlier this month to launch her own race. Multiple deputy attorney general positions sit open and are publicly advertised.
We’re hiring! The Nevada Attorney General’s Office has 2 open Deputy Attorney General positions:
▪️ Government & Natural Resources
▪️ Boards & Open GovernmentMake an impact in public service. Learn more & apply: https://t.co/N3Gwyos1aR pic.twitter.com/e3HtWIluA2
— NV Attorney General (@NevadaAG) March 19, 2026
And all the while, an ethics complaint against Ford is working its way through the state system. Something is happening over there, and Nevadans deserve to know about it.
The Chief of Staff Is Gone
The most obvious sign of trouble is the departure of Teresa Benitez-Thompson. She served as Ford’s chief of staff – the person who keeps the lights on and the trains running inside any executive office. She left her job in mid-March, citing her commitment to running for Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District. She filed her congressional campaign papers the very next day.
She explained the situation plainly. “There were just not enough hours in the day to do both things,” she said.
That’s a remarkably candid admission. The person running day-to-day operations for Nevada’s top law enforcement office decided that managing Ford’s office and launching her own congressional campaign was just too much. So she chose her campaign.
The AG’s office is now without a chief of staff, during an election year, while Ford himself is personally consumed with his own run for governor.
Open Seats at the Top
Beyond the chief of staff vacancy, the AG’s office has been publicly advertising for legal talent. The office’s own social media accounts list two open Deputy Attorney General positions – one in Government and Natural Resources and one in Boards and Open Government.
A separate post is also recruiting for the Public Safety Division. These are not entry-level roles. They handle serious state legal work every day. When those chairs are empty, Nevada’s legal business doesn’t run as well.
Take your legal career to the next level while making a real impact. Join the Public Safety Division at the Nevada Attorney General’s Office to build your litigation skills, handle meaningful cases, and help protect communities across Nevada. To apply: https://t.co/5Mw2WigEtO pic.twitter.com/217B1yRGC5
— NV Attorney General (@NevadaAG) March 24, 2026
The Ethics Cloud Hanging Over Ford
The staff walkout is only part of the story. Ford is also navigating an active ethics complaint. The complaint advanced past the initial review stage in February after a review panel unanimously concluded that enough evidence existed to bring it to the full commission.
The complaint focuses on two things: Ford using his official AG social media accounts to boost his personal campaign, and acceptance of international trips valued at over $35,000 in 2023 and 2024 from the Attorney General Alliance.
This is the same travel habit that earned Ford the nickname “Airfare Aaron.” Between 2017 and 2025, Ford accepted trips to destinations including Israel, Ghana, Qatar, Spain, South Africa, Poland, and South Korea, with a total reported value exceeding $140,000.
A recent analysis found that when accounting for hotel payments not linked to known known trips, the number of out-of-state days jumps to about 420 across his entire time in office. To put that in plain terms, that’s more than a full year of workdays away from Nevada since he took office in 2019.
For comparison, Governor Lombardo traveled out of state about 30 days in 2024. Ford was gone 137 days that same year alone.
The AGA is funded largely by corporations that are themselves subject to state regulation and potential legal action from the very office Ford runs. That is a conflict of interest worth taking seriously.
What This Means Going Forward
Ford’s term runs through January 2027. Between now and then, the AG’s office has real legal work to do for Nevada families and businesses. An understaffed office with distracted leadership is not the same thing as a fully functioning one.
Conservatives who care about good government and accountability should be watching this closely. When a public official uses his office’s profile and resources to advance his own political career at the expense of the job he was elected to do, that’s precisely the kind of behavior limited-government conservatives have always pushed back against.
It’s about doing the job you were hired to do.
The office Ford was elected to lead deserves full-time leadership. Right now, it isn’t getting it.
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views. This article was written with the assistance of AI. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
