IT SEEMS THAT LANCE GILMAN HAS COME OUT AS THE ONE BEHIND THE RECALL OF THE SHERIFF. AFTER 3 LONG YEARS OF TRYING TO GET HIM OUT OF OFFICE GILMAN HAS MOUNTED A WELL FINANCED EFFORT TO OUST SHERIFF ANTINORO. MONEY IS A POWERFUL MOTIVATOR.

 

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By Nicole Barde

I am one for reading labels to see what’s in a food, where the food comes from, where an item is made. I like to know if people who are endorsing products and services are being paid to do so or are doing it because they really love the product and I always look to see who is behind political ads.

The recent recall effort against Sheriff Antinoro has me looking to see who and what is behind it. As I mentioned in a prior blog post, many people think that Lance Gilman has been behind a lot of the efforts to discredit the Sheriff either directly or indirectly. In that blog post I asked him to either come out and admit it or to get those doing it to stop since it looks like it’s him doing it. Recent comments by several others in the Comstock Chronicle and the VCH Message Board share the view that Gilman is behind these efforts.

Well, I am happy that Storey County Commissioner, TRI principal and Brothel owner Lance Gilman has finally decided to come forward and take responsibility for the recall efforts against Sheriff Gerald Antinoro. By “come forward” I mean that his role in this is now obvious and he isn’t hiding it. Naked aggression. I like that better than hidden agenda.

I want to be CLEAR……….I’m not here to defend Sheriff Antinoro or his actions. Antinoro will have to defend himself against the allegations in the recall.  I am here to question the motives of the person behind the recall and all the other efforts to unseat the Sheriff. Given the recent press around “fake news” I would be just as concerned about accuracy and motive if this were happening to any other official.

 I’m tired of politicians, advertisers, the media and anyone else with a hidden agenda trying to manipulate me. I’m tired of being lied to and thought of as stupid enough to swallow whatever gets shoveled out.  I am going to do my own research and get a complete picture of the facts for myself then decide for myself if what I find rises to the level of a recall.

Only you can decide if the Sheriff is fit to keep his position and doing a good job or not. I suggest, however,  that you may want to consider the motivation behind the recall as well as doing your own research to decide for yourself if all is what it seems….or not.

Rich Crombie, employed by Lance Gilman at Lance Gilman Real Estate, sent out the first Recall press release on paper with the Lance Gilman Real Estate logo on it which was published in the Comstock Chronicle. You can find it HERE.  Rich is one of two Lance Gilman employees who are out in front of this effort. The other is Kris Thompson who is also a Gilman TRI employee and a Storey County Planning Commissioner. Kris has been a vociferous critic of the Sheriff on the Virginia City Highlands message board for quite some time and is now giving interviews about the Recall to the media.

Among other places Kris was quoted in a November 16th KOLO news article as saying “This has nothing to do with Lance or the Mustang Ranch. TRI is supporting this and we are totally up front. We’re public about it. We’re proud to be supporting this recall effort.”  If that’s true then why is Lance Gilman Realty also supporting it? TRI supporting it is ostensibly Roger Norman, but Lance Gilman Realty is………….. Lance Gilman.

Gilman’s visible role in this effort will finally put to rest what so many people have thought all along which is that right or wrong  Gilman has been behind a lot of the activities to unseat the Sheriff over the last several years. It does make me wonder, however,  why someone with his obvious talents and riches, who is riding high on the success of TRI, and who already has tremendous influence in the county would do this. What is the motivation?

Lance Gilman has been generous with his resources to help the Storey County communities in a number of ways both personally and thru his companies. Corporate good will is always the right thing to do and he does it very well. He’s brought good financial planning discipline to the County’s budget process and TRI’s contribution to the County grows each day. So why is someone who has outwardly tried to build up the communities trying to drag them thru a divisive , expensive and bitter process? Doing it for the good of the community just doesn’t ring true for me. Sorry.

I’d like to refresh some history and lay out some additional facts to consider as you decide whether to sign the petition to recall the Sheriff.

The first thing I’d like to remind people of is that the efforts to unseat the Sheriff began before he was even re-elected in 2014, before the Judy Black case, before the recent sexual harassment charge, before the settlements, and before the ethics commission findings. This community has been living with these accusations for over 3 years. It has been a continual barrage of “stuff” that has been regurgitated over and over again in an attempt to remove the Sheriff from office. To no avail. He was elected a second time. Every time it resurfaces it chews thru the community pitting neighbor against neighbor, causing discord and for what? To keep the community angry and off balance? Why?

One recent example is that just prior to this recall effort there was the “anonymous” letter sent out to Storey County citizens making some of the same charges currently on the recall. You can find it HERE. One of the documents posted on the “Antinorodocs.com” website was the investigation into the recent sexual harassment charge brought against the Sheriff by a subordinate. A lot of people wondered how a confidential report could become public in such a manner and how “anonymous” got it. Who is “anonymous” anyway? People viewed this letter as a cowardly and disingenuous tactic.

 There were questions asked of the County by the Comstock Chronicle to see if they had leaked the report. The County said no. I asked the subordinate directly how the report got out and she replied “I was asked by a lawyer for the report and I gave it to him, after that I don’t know what happened”. I asked her who that lawyer was and she told me…..I have since found that he is one of the lawyers representing Lance Gilman in one of his legal actions. What a coincidence. Is he the one who gave it to “anonymous” to post on the “Antinorodocs” website?

The “Antinorodocs” website has since been taken down. I wonder why since the anonymous letter directed you to the web site. Was the web site and the documents contained on it a legal liability to “anonymous” if his/her identity were discovered?

 Both Rich Crombie and Kris Thompson have already laid out the case for the recall of the Sheriff. You can find it HERE. Please read it.  I would suggest that you read the ORIGINAL documents that they reference and not just the excerpts and summaries that are provided in flyers or websites. The excerpts may be out of context in an effort to garner support for the recall bid.

 If you do not read the ORIGINAL documents you are not arming yourself with all of the facts.  I suggest that you do the same for anything I summarize…read the original document in its entirety. I try to  provide the entire source document for you to read thru active links in the articles I post. Lastly, I also suggest that you get the other side of the story as opposed to relying on the Recall committee’s version of the facts.

Additionally, some of the things being referenced in the recall literature are personnel or legal matters and the original documents are not public. The details cannot be discussed by the involved parties due to legal liability. That means that anyone can say anything about it and the involved parties can’t confirm or deny what is being said. This is fertile ground for rumor generation. Rumor is not fact.

While there has been a lot of information and misinformation about the Sheriff disseminated in the form of media articles, message board postings and direct mailings published by Sheriff Antinoro’s accusers very little if anything has been published about Lance Gilman’s activities or his possible motives for wanting a successful Recall. These are also things I’m going to consider as part of this recall effort.

Ostensibly during all this time the Sheriff has been doing his job which has irritated some people who feel that he may have overstepped his role. Some people also felt that way about his predecessor Jim Miller as well.  

Unfortunately for Lance Gilman, Sheriff Antinoro doing his job meant the closing of the Mustang Ranch because Antinoro’s background check found that Gilman had failed to disclose a “partner” on his brothel license application. Tom Gonzales was that partner. Gilman lost money while the brothel was closed. Around the time that the brothel was reopened Tom Gonzales sued Lance Gilman for breach of contract and won for a settlement of $1.9 million. Gilman appealed that ruling to the Nevada Supreme Court and lost a second time.

 The Nevada Supreme Court decided against Lance Gilman’s (Cash Asset Management-CAM) appeal to overturn a prior Courts ruling in favor of Tom Gonzales (TG Investments-TGI). In losing that case Lance was ordered to sell the Wild Horse brothel (now part of Mustang) and pay Tom Gonzales $1.9 million for breach of contract and a lack of good faith and fair dealing.  Lance appealed and the Supreme Court ruled against him. What was interesting to me was the following statement in the document:

“Further, the jury could draw reasonable inferences from the evidence offered that CAM failed to fight

The revocation of the license and CAM influenced the amendment of the brothel ordinance and sought the revocation of the license in an effort to void its obligations to TGI. Thus, there was sufficient evidence supporting the jury’s verdict that CAM breached the contract and the covenant of good faith and fair dealing.”

 This makes it sound as if Lance Gilman, et al, were manipulating the system for their own benefit.  I feel that this is the same tactic being used for the recall. But that’s just me.

You can find the 2016 ruling HERE. Lance Gilman lost even more money thru this action. Does he blame the Sheriff for these losses?

Throughout his tenure as Sheriff, Antinoro has been sticking to the letter of the law as it applies to brothel workers filling out applications correctly in order to get work cards. Does Gilman consider this an overstepping of his authority?

Antinoro has denied work cards on the basis of incomplete or false information. I have reported many many of these appeals, which happen during Commission meetings, in my blog. Gilman loses money when these workers aren’t working because they can’t seem to fill out an application properly. The brothel’s manager was warned by Storey County Chair Marshall McBride to make sure that the applications are checked thoroughly by the brothel prior to being submitted to the Sheriff to ensure that they are filled out correctly or they would not get approved. Does Gilman blame the Sheriff for the inability of his brothel employees to fill out an application correctly?

During the last couple of years there have been ethics complaints filed against both Antinoro and Gilman. You can read the 2015 filing against Antinoro HERE. I think that only excerpts are provided in the recall documents so here is the whole document….and you can read the 2016 filing against Lance Gilman HERE.

The Nevada Commission on Ethics found that there was no violation of ethics on the part of Commissioner Lance Gilman as asserted in Sheriff Antinoro’s complaint against Lance on ethics violations.  Although they cleared Gilman of wrongdoing they also chided him and reminded all public officials about crossing the public/private line. A small portion of the Ethics Committee “reminder” reads:

“Although the Commission finds no violation of the Ethics Law in this matter, the

Commission takes this opportunity for outreach and education to advise Gilman

and other similarly situated public officers regarding the implications of the

Ethics Law in the context of public statements made at public meetings. Public

officers should not make statements during the “Board Comment” or similar

agenda item reserved for official business to secure or grant unwarranted

privileges, preferences, exemptions or advantages for themselves, their

business interests, or persons to whom they have a commitment in a private

capacity. Such conduct violates NRS 281A.400(2). The clear intent of this

statute is to prohibit a public officer from acting in a manner which creates

unwarranted privileges, preferences or advantages for a personal interest. (In

re Public Officer, Comm’n Opinion No. 12-15A (2012))”

It seems that Lance Gilman has lost a great deal of money over the last several years as the result of the Sheriff doing his job.  If a more pliable, more accommodating and brothel friendly Sheriff were in place then Gilman might not be losing money. To me the main motivation behind the efforts against the Sheriff now and in the past, has been and is MONEY. Making it and not losing it. Moral outrage at the Sheriffs behavior and the good of the community still doesn’t ring true for me as Gilman’s motivation. 

I have to wonder if Lance Gilman’s visible support of the recall and his employment relationship to the players furthering this effort is a crossing of the public/private line. I have to wonder if this relationship isn’t a violation of the Hatch Act which limits certain political activities of government officials for personal gain.

I DO have some questions that need answering on this issue but I’m going to do my own research and not rely on or blindly believe the campaign materials pumped out by the recall effort which so far looks to be driven by 3 people.