Local government critic and television show host Harley Kulkin has filed a request for an ethics opinion against Nye County Commissioner Peter Liakopoulos over the same incident for which the latter was recently absolved of wrongdoing: approving the chip-sealing of Higley Road to television station KPVM-TV.

Kulkin, who attended the ethics commission hearing June 13 in which Liakopoulos was exonerated of a complaint filed by Steve Johnson, filed his request for an opinion June 22.

The June hearing involved a complaint that Liakopoulos didn't properly disclose the business programs he sponsors on KPVM-TV, from which he receives 60 percent of his income. He was cleared of ethics violations by a 6-1 vote of the commission.

Liakopoulos could not be reached for comment by press time.

Kulkin said Liakopoulos didn't follow proper procedures for chip-sealing the street to the TV station.

"Fact is, that there is a road commission that meets once a year and residents must appear and present paperwork including a signed petition to that commission to be considered for paving. The road must also be a county-accepted road. Higley was not," Kulkin wrote in his complaint.

The complaint charges, "Liakopoulos used his position to bypass a process that every other resident must follow to further the interests of a person that Liakopoulos derives most of his income through."

A statement made at the ethics commission hearing that the road crews were already chip-sealing E. Charleston Park Avenue, 600 feet away, isn't applicable, Kulkin wrote -- that could be said about any street in the Pahrump Valley. Kulkin said there were actually more property owners that would have been served by chip-sealing north from Charleston Park Avenue along Higley Road.

"Specifically, my complaint is that Liakopoulos used his position to bypass the proper procedure for paving for the benefit of himself and (Channel) 41, not the benefit of Pahrump," he concluded.

Kulkin's complaint refers to Nevada Revised Statute 281.481, which bans a public officer from using the position to secure privileges for a business in which he or she has a significant pecuniary interest.

Kulkin specifically identified Nye County Public Works Director Samson Yao as a witness, as well as suggesting the commission hear testimony from others who testified at the original ethics hearing.

The local television gadfly on Channel 30 accused Liakopoulos of lying in front of the ethics commission during his appearance last month.

"He was asked directly, 'Is there a process for paving the roads in Nye County?' And he said, 'We just try to do the best we can basically.' He never mentioned the road commission in the process that everybody has to follow," Kulkin said in an interview this week.

Nye County commissioners occasionally bypass the annual chip-sealing list to pave a road if there is a need. For example, a contract was let in a separate commission agenda item this year to chip-seal Rainbow Drive from Highway 160 to the Winery subdivision.

Adriana Fralick, legal counsel for the Nevada Commission on Ethics, said the last session of the Nevada Legislature extended the period of time for an ethics commission investigation from 45 days to 60 days. She said Kulkin could file a complaint over the same charge, but noted that confidentiality provisions in state law prohibit identifying the people filing the complaint.

Fralick refered to Nevada Revised Statute 281.511 section 6 which states, "Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, each document in the possession of the Commission or its staff that is related to a request for an opinion regarding a public officer or employee submitted to or initiated by the Commission pursuant to subsection 2, including, without limitation, the Commission's copy of the request and all materials and information gathered in an investigation of the request, is confidential until the panel determines whether there is just and sufficient cause to render an opinion in the matter."

Under the statute, Liakopoulos could, if he chooses, make the ethics complaint public before the hearing.

"Double jeopardy really doesn't apply to the ethics commission. So if there are new facts that weren't considered it goes through the whole same process again," Fralick said.

She added, "We can't confirm or deny whether an ethics complaint was filed on Mr. Liakopoulos and if there was, everything would become public at the panel proceedings."