state law. However, citing other laws, he refused to say
who had authorized the plates.
Called "cold" plates by law
enforcement agencies, the license plates look like those
issued to private citizens and normally can't be traced
to a public agency except by other law enforcement
personnel.
"We're having a hard time trying to
understand why school district administrators need cold
plates. The only conclusion we've been able to draw is
that they are using these vehicles for personal use and
don't want anyone to know about it," said James
Clark, chairman of a group critical of the Washoe County
school district.
Then, early this month, Morse Arberry, D-North
Las Vegas, chairman of the state assembly's Ways and
Means Committee, raised similar questions regarding
undercover plates the DMV turns out to have issued for 38
vehicles used by Nevada Highway Patrol administrators.
Arberry asked NHP officials to explain why
they were using the unmarked state vehicles. He asked DMV
officials to explain what legal authority they'd had for
issuing the plates.
Agencies allowed to use cars for such purposes
are outlined in state law, he said, and the Highway
Patrol is not on that list.
Arberry also questioned whether the vehicles
were being used for personal use.
|
"That's
out of line," he said. "We don't tolerate
that."
If some people have appeared to be receiving
special favors of dubious legality from the state motor
vehicle department, the agency has seemed, to other
observers, essentially indifferent to ill-treatment it
was dealing out to average Nevadans.
The Las Vegas Sun, in an editorial
entitled "Stop DMV from abusing the public"
wrote December 27 that "The state Department of
Motor Vehicles' continuing outrage against law-abiding
motorists deserves more than apologies and soothing
excuses.
"The situation demands strong action by
the governor and possibly the Legislature... It's obvious
that the DMV, which in the past has been plagued with
computer errors and onerous paper delays, is not doing
its job in insurance verification. Promises by DMV
Director Jim Weller to assign a committee to reform the
process aren't good enough."
January 19, three weeks later, no changes had
been done. A Sparks Tribune columnist wrote,
"The problem has been known for a year or so,"
and suggested the indifference came right from Governor
Miller.
Wrote columnist Ralph Heller: "What are
we to make of a governor whose administration wrongly
punishes 6,212 people and who still has offered no plan
to remedy the situation? He's in Washington for the
inaugural monkey shines.
|