Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, a Republican, unseated the incumbent governor of Nevada, Democrat Steve Sisolak.

CARSON CITY, Nev. β€” While Nevada Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo still faces a $20,000 fine and a censure for wearing his sheriff’s uniform and badge in campaign materials β€” which a state board said violates a law prohibiting candidates from using government resources for their personal campaigns β€” he avoided nearly $1.67 million in fines initially recommended.

Joe Lombardo, then-Clark County sheriff and Republican candidate for Nevada governor, speaks Nov. 3, 2022, in Las Vegas.Β 

Ross Armstrong, executive director of the Nevada Commission on Ethics, originally asserted Lombardo wracked up 68 ethics law violations stemming from 34 social media posts. Each contained at least one of four images of Lombardo wearing his sheriff's badge or uniform. Armstrong argued each post violated two state statutes.

But the commission ruled there was just one violation per image, not one for each time an image was used in campaign materials.

Attorney Elizabeth Bassett argued in the 3Β½-hour hearing Tuesday that Lombardo's sheriff's badge was an example of government-owned property that gave him an unwarranted advantage on the campaign trail. Wearing the uniform and badge insinuated Lombardo had the endorsement of his public office in what she called a β€œwillful” and repeated violation of state law.

β€œThe civil penalties of this amount, or even near this amount, would in fact be unprecedented," Bassett said. "However, the subject’s conduct in these matters were unprecedented and therefore requires and equivalent penalty.”

The commission ruled Lombardo violated a statute that bars the use of government resources to secure a private interest without warrant for each image or video. But he did not violate a statute that bars public officers from using their position to their advantage without warrant, the commission said.

In legal responses to the Ethics Commission complaint, Lombardo's attorneys called the proposed penalty β€œeye-watering” and unprecedented. Attorney Colby Williams, who represented Lombardo, said in the hearing that county sheriff is a 24/7 job, that it was already common knowledge that Lombardo was sheriff and that he had a right to advise the public of his elected position under the First Amendment. Lombardo was not willful in breaking the two state statutes, Williams said, which he called vague.

β€œThere is no evidence in the record that Gov. Lombardo’s limited use of these same four images secured him any advantage, let alone an unwarranted advantage,” Williams said. β€œThere’s no stipulated facts that said by posting these four images, so-and-so voted for him.”

In a statement, Nevada Democratic Party executive director Hilary Barrett said Lombardo β€œhas never acted as if the law applied to him.”

Lombardo served two elected terms as nonpartisan sheriff in Clark County β€” the administrative head of the largest police agency in the state, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. He resigned in January 2023 when he became governor, defeating Democratic incumbent Steve Sisolak.

Lombardo had appointed two members of the commission in the past week: Stanley Olsen, a former LVMPD employee and Republican state Senator, and Democrat John Moran III, the grandson of former Clark County Sheriff John Moran.

At the beginning of the meeting, Olsen acknowledged his ties to the Police Department and that he knew of Lombardo during his employment, but did not directly work with him. The two described Lombardo as a β€œprofessional acquaintance” and said their relationship to Lombardo did not require disclosure and would not interfere with their actions on the board.

The board includes four governor-appointed members and four members appointed by a commission of state lawmakers.

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