Neil Grad has the experience and the backbone to do just that. He won’t roll over just because a developer threatens a million dollar lawsuit. He knows that threats are easy to make but judgments of one hundred million dollars are hard to get.
Grad will bring honesty, integrity and accountability to the office. Unlike the incumbent, Grad won’t have improper relationships with his subordinates that end up in litigation nor cause the council to investigate him for unprofessional conduct. Grad will not shy away from pointing out conflicts of interest in the city’s decision making and will give the council comprehensive legal advice. Grad also will review how litigation is handled and how settlement decisions will be made.
Grad will be a breath of fresh air for the city of Sparks. He is not one of the “good old boys” and the city attorney shouldn’t be. As an elected official, Grad will have the independence to do what is right and to properly advise his client. The purpose of city attorney’s office is to inform the city of the legal parameters within which they can act.
The Sparks city attorney’s office should not be the focus of attention it has been in the past several years. If the city attorney wasn’t an elected position, the incumbent would have been fired years ago. If a supervisor admitted to having improper relations with one of his subordinates that resulted in a lawsuit they would be terminated. But as we saw with President Clinton, improper sexual conduct by elected officials is not grounds to be removed from office, at least not until the next election.
Sparks doesn’t need more of the same legal problems that it has had for the past several years. We are facing water shortages, traffic jams and rampant development. Our elected officials need to know what the law is and how to make decisions in compliance with the law. The incumbent has shown that he can’t do the job. We need to do what Lee Iacocca said about most of the politicians running our country: “Throw the bums out”. Elect Neil Grad as the next Sparks City Attorney.
Jeff Blanck is an attorney in private practice in Reno. He can be reached at: jblanck@jeffreyblancklaw.com.
He lied about his convictions and jail time. Should he put that on his resume'? The city manager is not going to get his contract renewed because he did not tell the Council about all of the money being spent on Chet's sexual misconduct. When a man can't take responsibility for his misconduct and keeps repeating it, he is certainly not the person for the job. You are one deluded lady if you are romantically involved with someone as sick as Adams.
And, as for Chocomom's comments, I as a taxpayer am terribly sorry for the loss of your son, and VERY embarassed by the treatment you received from Adams. NO ONE should be treated with such indifference and disrespect.
You still haven't explained why you lied to the state bar about your criminal convictions and all of the time you spent in jail. The only Sparks City Attorney who was a jailbird. And your maturity: "Neil the big fat liar." Tsk, tsk. The City's records will show the payouts in your behalf. The fact that you continue to lie demonstrates that you will continue to do so. When the state bar takes your license away, you are not going to get it back this time. And, there are 2 ladies who won money from the city for what you did to them will show their copies. One of those ladies lives in so. Nevada and one here in Sparks. Quit while you are ahead.
Chet has been fired from a lot of jobs. He was fired at least once from the DA's office. Chet lied to the state bar and the Nevada Supreme Court about his criminal convictions and the amount of time he spent in jail. He was too stupid to think that the state bar would not do background checks. Well they did, by the FBI. While he passed the bar in 1979, he could not get admitted until 1987.
As to his sexual harassment, hostile work environment suits, I think all of the women he hurt would disagree. And the fact that the taxpayers had to pay out all that money for his misconduct should have caused the city council to have him indicted. His incompetence as a liar (oopps, I mean lawyer) has cost the city at least a million dollars. He drafted an invalid ordinance which a street artist got $250,000 for. Can we say STUPID! And as to your accusation that Grad sexually harassed anyone, where is your proof? What proof do you have that he was fired from every job? If you mean the interview in the Tribune, she changed his words around and admitted that she had been fed information from Chet. She never asked Chet one hard question in his interview. The job that Neil got fired from was in the Sparks City Attorney's Office, because Neil got too close to Chet's relationship with his last girlfriend which cost the taxpayers $25,000 plus her attorney's fees. He lied about that one too until shown the cruise photo with the two of them in it. How you could cover up for a convicted, lying criminal is pathetic. Neil has no arrests or convictions. He is not going to treat the people of Sparks like crap or lie to them or the council. Further, he is not going to threaten councilmen with physcial violence like he did in the parking lot with Schmitt and Smith. Adams is probably the most corrupt public official in Nevada government today. Ladies, breath a sigh of relief. The pervert will be out of office in 3 months. He has never been in private practice where he could not get away with what he has been. And who cares if Grad had been fired? If that is important to you, don't vote for him next term after he turns the city attorney's office into a competent, capable one.