Bonnie Weber and the Nevada Commission on Ethics
The race for Reno City Council, Ward 4 is heating up. As an open primary, two out of the three candidates will be moving on to the general election. Bonnie Weber is the incumbent candidate running against political newcomers Meghan Ebert and Dennis Owens. As it stands, Ebert and Owens have taken a more grassroots approach, walking door to door, and hosting small events. To our knowledge, Ebert’s and Owens’ campaigns have not utilized paid mailers or adverts.
Weber, despite being the incumbent, has sent out two mailers over the last two weeks to residents in Ward 4. Based on polling, we don’t believe it to be a targeted mailer, and we estimate it was sent to approximately 17,000 Ward 4 voters. With postage costs and estimated printing costs, we believe Weber has spent approximately $40-50,000 on these two mailings, which could potentially represent Owens’ and Ebert’s combined campaign war chests.
You might be familiar with Bonnie Weber for the trouble she has gotten into during her time serving the residents of Ward 4. The RGJ covered it extensively. Specifically, Weber was investigated for allegedly accepting, “a gift which would tend to improperly influence” her job representing Ward 4’s residents. This allegation came to light after she had multiple private meetings with land developers and donors associated with land developers that were working on projects in her Ward.
Ultimately the State of Nevada’s Commission on Ethics found that Weber didn’t break the law as the developers in attendance paid for the lunches at the meetings, despite Weber originally intending to.