Of Reporters, Lobbyists

The Unpardonable Sin of Doing Both

The esteemed members of the Nevada press corps, those tireless scribes who keep a watchful eye on the machinations of the Legislature, awoke on the morning of February 4 to a most curious communication from the Legislative Counsel Bureau (LCB). With the solemnity of a royal decree, the email informed them that, owing to the recent passage of Assembly Concurrent Resolution 1, they must now register themselves with the LCB if they wished to enjoy the “privilege” of wandering the sacred floors and chambers of the Senate and Assembly

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The notion of registration itself was no novelty, but the idea of codifying such a thing raised the inevitable question: Why now?

Why had the great minds of the Legislature taken it upon themselves to inscribe into law what had previously been a mere matter of custom? The answer lay in the actions of one Drew Ribar, an unsuccessful Assembly candidate, businessman, and, by all accounts, a man who does not take rejection lightly.

It appears that Mr. Ribar, undeterred by his failure at the ballot box, had set his sights on another means of influence. Having been denied the honor of serving as a legislator, he now wished to assume the twin mantles of journalist and lobbyist—one to report the news and the other to shape it.

When the rules of ACR1 informed him that he could not be both the fox and the hound in the political hunt, he took his grievance to the courts, seeking a federal order that would force the Legislature to grant him both credentials.

To understand the full measure of this man’s indignation, one must know a little of his past. A self-proclaimed “staunch conservative,” Ribar had previously found himself in the news for an unsuccessful primary challenge against Assemblyman P.K. O’Neill of Carson City.

When not campaigning, he had also made headlines for his opposition to drag queen story hours, a pastime that ultimately led to his temporary expulsion from the Washoe County libraries—an exile one imagines he bore with the stoic dignity of an Old Testament prophet cast out by a wicked king.

Finding himself barred from claiming both a lobbyist’s influence and a journalist’s access, Ribar has cried foul, claiming this denial of credentials tramples upon his right to free speech.

“Historical precedent is obviously there,” he declared, reasoning that if a man should wish to push a bill while simultaneously documenting his efforts, then surely no reasonable person could object.

The press is generally expected to observe the doings of government rather than participate in them, in his estimation, a distinction too trivial to merit concern.

The LCB’s general counsel, Kevin Powers, had a different interpretation. In an email exchange shared by Ribar, Powers explained that under Nevada’s Lobbying Act, a man could not be an unpaid lobbyist and the press.

The Legislature, it seemed, held the quaint belief that journalism and lobbying, much like fire and gunpowder, were best kept separate. Powers, perhaps wisely, declined to comment further on the matter, as the letter from the LCB’s legal division made its position clear: allowing a man to claim both exemptions would be “unreasonable and absurd.”

And so, the matter stands. Whether the courts shall grant Mr. Ribar the dual role he so ardently desires remains to be seen. For now, the Legislature appears set in its ways, unwilling to let a man both whisper into the ears of lawmakers and then report on his persuasions as though he were a neutral observer.

There are rules to these things even in Nevada, where the wild Mustang roams free, and the line between a lobbyist and a reporter is not to be crossed.