TONOPAH -- Nye County Commissioners Tuesday voted to pay the Nevada Attorney General's office for investigating bribery charges against Commissioner Peter Liakopoulos.

The action is required under Nevada Revised Statutes, when the district attorney's office refers a case to the state attorney's general office.

Liakopoulos took the opportunity to blast his accusers in a prepared statement.

"This agenda item is very personal to me as it involves my good name and reputation and it pertains to gossip and accusations lodged against me by our Pahrump town board chairman (sic) Laurayne Murray and our Nye County Sheriff, Tony DeMeo," Liakopoulos' statement begins.

His rambling statement continued, "Accusations made by these individuals that I am convinced are politically motivated in retaliation for my vote against the new tax proposed to be imposed on all of the taxpayers of this county, accusations that will ultimately be proven in the future to be an abuse of power by these elected officials."

Liakopoulos cast the swing vote as Nye County Commissioners voted 3-2 last December not to enact a half-cent sales tax increase that would go to fund the Nye County Sheriff's Department and county fire departments. Liakopoulos was arrested two days later for allegedly offering to support the half-cent sales tax if Pahrump town board members would support his veteran's museum project, for which his wife Jenny was hoping to be curator. The Pahrump town board voted against the veteran's museum.

Liakopoulos said confidently, "I enthusiastically welcome the opportunity for the Nevada attorney general to objectively and independently review these politically motivated accusations and I have every confidence that I will be completely exonerated of any wrongdoing whatsoever."

Asked for a comment afterwards, DeMeo said half jokingly, if this was retaliation for Liakopoulos' vote against the half-cent sales tax increase he would've arrested Commissioners Joni Eastley and Roberta "Midge" Carver who also voted against the measure.

"We do not make an arrest without probable cause. That was the basis," DeMeo said. "We don't arrest somebody just because they made a statement or they vote against us."

The county commissioners vote against the sheriff's department on numerous requests, DeMeo said, in particular he cited his request for a new county jail that was turned down.

"We allege that he used his position in office to corrupt a vote," the sheriff said of Liakopoulos. Turning the tables, DeMeo added, "What he said in his statement is a direct assault against my name and my reputation."

DeMeo said the sheriff's investigation of Liakopoulos has already been forwarded to the attorney general's office. DeMeo said he wasn't even personally involved in the investigation, detectives found they had probable cause to arrest Liakopoulos an hour after the vote.

Murray was contacted on her way to the Nevada Commission on Tourism's Rural Roundup in Elko.

"The sheriff's office clearly instructed me I shouldn't speak with anybody regarding the case. So I would follow their advice. All I did was make a statement. They're the ones that actually determined from their investigation that there should be charges filed," Murray said.