Touring Rurals, Cortez Masto talks fraud protection, health and safety in Pahrump

PAHRUMP-Three days into a four-day trip through rural Nevada, Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto was in Pahrump Wednesday, taking questions and educating people about the services her office provides.

"I love getting out in the rural communities," said Masto.  "It helps me get an understanding of the areas that I should be focusing on if I'm not.  I think a big component of what my office should be doing is outreach and education to prevent things from happening in the community."

After an afternoon stop at the Pahrump Senior Citizens Center, Masto and a number of key deputies attended a "Kitchen Table Meeting" at the Bob Ruud Community Center on Highway 160, where they discussed topics as diverse as mortgage, insurance, workers' compensation and e-mail fraud, identity theft and domestic abuse prevention, the dangers of methamphetamine abuse and the health crisis caused by unsafe medical practices at a number of Southern Nevada clinics. 

"How about prosecuting some of these mortgage lenders?" Pahrump resident Louis DeCanio, 59, asked Masto.  "They got people into these homes that they knew they couldn't afford just so they could get a commission.  These people hurt the entire community and nobody's going after them."

"We are, I can tell you that" said Masto.  "We have a case right now where some of these financial companies/mortgage lenders were falsifying documents and falsifying tax returns, so that's something we're definitely working on."

Responding to another question, Masto described the health crisis affecting Southern Nevada as "the most egregious type of medical issue that I have ever seen."

"With respect to my office, what I have is criminal jurisdiction over any type of insurance fraud or Medicaid fraud.  We are already investigating and aggressively going after, looking for the evidence to hold those doctors and nurses accountable."

The community center forum was free-wheeling, leading to a number of awkward or apolitical questions far outside of the Attorney General's purview.  Masto expressed concern over each issue, however, either directing the residents to the proper state agency or just giving them a chance to voice their complaints.

In conjunction with a domestic abuse question, Pahrump Town Board member Laurayne Murray expressed discontent with the lack of state services for Nevadans living in the Rurals.

"Let's talk Pahrump as a whole," said Murray.  "We have a Social Security representative that comes here once a month.  We do not have an unemployment specialist at all.  We have a representative from DETR [The Department of Employment Training and Rehabilitation] that comes to our office once a week.  We have a rehab person that comes once a week.  We don't have access to legal aid unless people can make the trip to Las Vegas.  There's a lot of services that we need to look at more creative ways to deliver them to people out here."

Taking reporters' questions after the forum, Masto discussed Gov. Jim Gibbons' effort to remove three state medical board members for their connections with the Dr. Dipak Desai, majority owner of the Endoscopy Clinic of Southern Nevada.

"I do represent the governor and, unfortunately, cannot talk about any kind of representation because of privilege attachments," said Masto.  "But I will say in general about the whole situation, with respect to the law, that there are mechanisms in place to handle when a board member has a conflict.

"The Ethics Commission defines what a conflict is.  If a board member has concerns about an ethical conflict, they can go to the ethics commission.  Our concern more is on the law when we realize there is some sort of, a board member has a concern about voting on a particular issue, that they may have some sort of concern that they know the person on the other end or they're involved somehow with that person and they want to recuse themselves from a particular matter, not from the whole board, but just involved in that particular matter."

Masto also related concerns she had heard in other venues about the spiraling cost of gasoline in the state.

"We don't have price-gouging laws in our state," said Masto.  "We've tried to pass them, but we're not there yet.  It definitely is a concern.  There are a couple of Assembly people who will, no doubt, try it again and I will be there to support them in that."

Asked about her superdelegate vote at the August Democratic National Convention in Denver, Masto maintained neutrality, saying "we've got two great candidates.  Can't lose with either one."

She expressed a desire to wait until after the Nevada Democratic Convention before she picks a favorite, adding that "I want to make sure that we do put the right person in that can win, ultimately, and hopefully be in the White House."

As for her own political future, Masto said that she hopes to serve two terms as Attorney General, but wouldn't preclude the possibility of running for higher office.

"After I'm done as AG, I don't know and haven't decided what I'm going to do.  Right now, my time and energy is focused on the office," she said.