• About Us
  • Activity
  • Advertising
  • Books
  • Business
  • Contact
  • Dashboard
  • EB5
  • Entertainment
  • feedback
  • Forgot Your Password?
  • Government
  • Home
  • Home 20723
  • Interviews
  • Login
  • Members
  • Meme generator
  • National
  • Nevada
  • Nevada News and Views
  • Newsmax
  • NN&V Ads
  • Opinion
  • Pick a New Password
  • Politics
  • Polls
  • Privacy Policy
  • Profile
  • Recent comments by me
  • Recent comments on my posts
  • Register
  • Submit post
  • Subscribe
  • Subscription Confirmation
  • Survey
  • Survey
  • Terms of Service
  • Today’s Top 10
  • Travel
  • Travel
  • Travel
  • Welcome!
  • Yop Poll Archive
Nevada News and Views
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • More
    • Opinion
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Pinterest

  • RSS

Opinion

Was Speaker Oceguera Double-Dipping In Carson City?

Was Speaker Oceguera Double-Dipping In Carson City?
Chuck Muth
June 30, 2011

(Michael Chamberlain/Nevada Business Coalition) – NPRI’s Nevada Journal released a report [yesterday] that appears to indicate Assembly Speaker John Oceguera (D-Las Vegas) may have been “double-dipping”, or collecting pay from two taxpayer-paid positions for the same time.

Records obtained by Nevada Journal show Oceguera being paid for his North Las Vegas Fire Department position during the time he was serving in the Legislature. At the very least, Oceguera and the NLVFD are guilty of sloppy bookkeeping.

While leading Assembly Democrats in Carson City the last four years as majority leader and then speaker, John Oceguera was also drawing full-time pay as a City of North Las Vegas fireman, according to city fire department records.

Oceguera and Fire Chief Al Gillespie, however, say the records are inaccurate.

One of the documents Oceguera supplied to the Nevada Journal clearly shows him being credited for Regular Hours by NLVFD for time he was in Carson City.

Oceguera’s and Gillespie’s explanation amounts to claiming the NLVFD is (at best) guilty of sloppy bookkeeping, purposely assigning hours to incorrect accounts for “ease of coding.” Even assuming this defense is true, this reflects extremely poorly on both NLVFD and Oceguera.

As a long-time member of the Nevada Legislature, Oceguera is certainly aware of the necessity of accurate and complete reporting. In fact, Oceguera was the primary sponsor of two bills this session (AB280 and AB309) that created penalties for companies that failed to comply with document requirements.

Looks as though he’s perfectly willing to bring down the hammer on Nevada businesses who fail to submit accurate and complete documents but seems ready to shrug off the same when it involves himself or his taxpayer-funded employer. It’s hard to imagine a private company being allowed to skirt reporting requirements by claiming it was just easier to do it another way.

One reason such coding systems are created is to prevent precisely the types of abuses that some Clark County Firefighters engaged in and that Oceguera is accused of in this report. At a minimum it appears that Oceguera was an active participant in violating one of the controls designed to prevent double-dipping or that such necessary controls are non-existent or ignored.

It is not as though this is not a very real problem that should have been addressed by NLVFD. During the last decade several legislators were fired by local governments for double-dipping while serving in the Legislature.

Nevada Journal‘s study reveals that, earlier in his career, Oceguera had traded hours with other NLVFD employees to cover his time in Carson City. However, it also suggests there may have been a significant deficit in the number of hours Oceguera paid back compared to the number he received.

Double-dipping is a very serious offense, amounting to the theft of taxpayer money. The documentation provided by Nevada Journal is credible enough that it deserves far more than to be shrugged off. The taxpayers of the State of Nevada and the City of North Las Vegas deserve an accurate and complete accounting of exactly how their money is spent. The explanation provided by Speaker Oceguera in this case provides neither.

(Michael Chamberlain is Executive Director of Nevada Business Coalition.)

Prev postNext post

Related Items
Opinion
June 30, 2011
Chuck Muth

Related Items

More in Opinion

Amodei Statement on Debt Ceiling Bill

Chuck MuthJune 1, 2023
Read More

Tark: Trans “Rights” … and Wrongs

Chuck MuthMay 26, 2023
Read More

Stone: The Truth About AB 250: Will Patients Really Benefit?

NN&V StaffMay 26, 2023
Read More

“Ungrateful Miscreants”: Miller, Segerblom Insult Local Small Business Owners

NN&V StaffMay 24, 2023
Read More

Quarter-Million Dollar Ad Campaign Targets Nevada Legislators for Trapping Hispanic Families in Unsafe Schools

NN&V StaffMay 22, 2023
Read More

Nevada News & Views: May 20, 2023

NN&V StaffMay 20, 2023
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Subscribe Free By Email

Looking for the best in breaking news and conservative views? Let Chuck do all the work for you! Subscribe to his FREE "Muth's Truths" e-newsletter.

* indicates required
Nevada News and Views
Nevada News & Views is an educational project of Citizen Outreach Foundation, a non-partisan IRS-approved 501(c)(3) organization. It is not associated or affiliated with any political party or group. Nevada News & Views is accessible by the public at no cost. It funds its operations through tax-deductible contributions from donors and supporters and does not accept government money or grants.

TAGS

Featured Article Muths truth

Copyright © 2023 Citizen Outreach | Maintained by VirtualAlly

$4,200: Cost To Each Nevada Taxpayer To Fund Public Employee Benefits
City Of North Las Vegas: Oceguera Double-Dipped