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In Las Vegas, the Convention and Visitors Authority approved a raise and bonus for its president, amounting to about $648,000 a year, prompting the Las Vegas Review-Journal to ask how the precise figures and amounts were arrived at by a subcommittee, since there was no discussion at the meeting.
The vague answers — or, in most cases, no answers — drew criticism and appeared to indicate the decision had been made in advance out of the sight of taxpayers.
Earlier this month, the Nevada Supreme Court upheld a statute and regulation that had been used by the city of Sparks to deny access to the names of marijuana-business owners.
Other local governments around the state had been releasing the information, including Reno and Las Vegas, where city officials simply require people operating marijuana-related businesses to sign a waiver allowing the release of their names.
The regulation came about because of a vague statute that was originally intended to protect the names of people who had been issued medical-marijuana cards and their doctors. But it was interpreted to include all marijuana establishments in the regulation.
And in an odd move, the state Department of Taxation required people attending a marijuana workshop to show ID before being admitted. No one was turned away, according to the Review-Journal’s story, and the excuse was for safety reasons.
Obviously, though, such a practice easily could be abused. It’s not the government’s business who or why anyone attends one of its meetings.