Nevada Secretary of State election, 2010

2011 →
2010 State Executive Elections
Secretary of State 2010 elections
Alabama • Arizona • Arkansas • California Colorado • Connecticut • Georgia • Idaho Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota Nebraska • Nevada • New Mexico • North Dakota Ohio • Rhode Island • South Carolina South Dakota • Vermont • Wisconsin • Wyoming Candidates for Secretary of State, 2010 Polls, 2010 Secretary of State elections
2010 Election information
Primary election dates Statewide elections, 2010 November 2nd General Election results National Association of Secretaries of State Secretary of State Project
State Executive Official news headlines

In the Nevada Secretary of State election of 2010, held on November 2, 2010, Democratic incumbent Ross Miller defeated Republican challenger Rob Lauer and Independent American Party candidate John Wagner. Miller won with 53.17% of the overall vote.

None of the three candidates were opposed in the June 8 primary election.

General election

Results

2010 Race for Secretary of State - General Election
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Democratic Party	a Ross Miller	53.2%
	Republican Party	Rob Lauer	37.3%
	American Independent Party	John Wagner	6.0%
	None of these candidates		3.6%
Total Votes			703,513

Finances

According to Follow the Money, the breakdown of campaign finances for each of the candidates is as follows:

Nevada Secretary of State Campaign Finance
Candidate		Total Contributions
Ross Miller		$640,898
Rob Lauer		$190,845
John Wagner		$0

According to the Nevada Secretary of State, as of October 28, 2010, the following was the breakdown of campaign finances for each of the candidates:

Robert Lauer Campaign Finance Reports
Report		Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Contributions	In-Kind	Other Sources	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
May 28 - October 21, 2010		June 1, 2010	$36,224.70	$73,313.00	$0.00	$0.00	$20,808.64	$88,729.06

Ross Miller Campaign Finance Reports
Report		Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Contributions	In-Kind	Other Sources	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
May 28 - October 21, 2010		October 25, 2010	$83,249.29	$128,463.57	$1,672.43	$0.00	$269,915.11	($58,202.25)

Endorsements

Rob Lauer

• Can-Do Conservatives of America

Ross Miller

• Communications Workers of America (CWA)
• Las Vegas Police Protective Association (LVPPA)
• Nevada State AFL-CIO
• Nevada State Education Association (NSEA)
• North Las Vegas Police Officers Association (NLVPOA)
• Reno Sparks Chamber of Commerce PAC
• Southern Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs (SNCOPS)

June 8, 2010 primaries

See also: Nevada gubernatorial election, 2010; Nevada Attorney General election, 2010

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Incumbent Ross Miller was unopposed in this contest, and the race did not appear on the primary ballot.

Finances

According to the Nevada Secretary of State, as of July 13, 2010, the following was the breakdown of campaign finances for Miller:

Ross Miller Campaign Finance Reports
Report		Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Contributions	In-Kind	Other Sources	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
January 1 - May 27, 2010		June 1, 2010	$0.00	$192,275.00	$20,178.80	$0.00	$109,025.71	$83,249.29

Republican primary

Candidates

• Small Business Owner and American soldier Robert "Rob" Lauer was unopposed in this contest, and the race did not appear on the primary ballot.

Finances

According to the Nevada Secretary of State, as of July 13, 2010, the following was the breakdown of campaign finances for Lauer:

Robert Lauer Campaign Finance Reports
Report		Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Contributions	In-Kind	Other Sources	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
January 1 - May 27, 2010		June 1, 2010	$0.00	$41,591.96	$75,000.00	$0.00	$5,367.26	$36,224.70

Polling

Mason-Dixon poll

Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc. surveyed 625 registered voters from across Nevada between August 23 and 25, 2010.

Mason-Dixon Poll - August 23 – 25, 2010
Candidates		Percentage
Ross Miller (D)		41%
Rob Lauer (R)		27%
Another party candidate		3%
None of these candidates		11%
Undecided		18%
Total voters		625

Suffolk University Poll

Suffolk University Poll - October 8 – 11, 2010
Candidates		Percentage
Ross Miller (D)		40%
Rob Lauer (R)		24%
John Wagner (IAP)		9%
None of these candidates		3%
Undecided		24%
Total voters		500

Noteworthy events

Assault charge

In early June 2010, an incident occurred at Stoney’s Rockin’ Country bar on South Las Vegas Boulevard in which Lauer was accused of battery by Jennifer Von Tobel, a professional fundraiser for nonprofit organizations and political campaigns. Von Tobel stated that the incident began late in the evening when Lauer placed his hands on her shoulders and offered to demonstrate a self-defense move he had learned in the military, which she declined. According to her report to the Las Vegas Metro Police Department that evening, he then grabbed her wrists, resulting in injuries to both her wrists and right shoulder.

Lauer denied the allegation, stating that Von Tobel had been drinking heavily that night. He added that the only time he touched her was to remove her hands after she had "put [them] on his shoulders, close to his neck, and then in a second instance attempted to put him in a headlock." Von Tobel, however, maintained that this would have been impossible because she had been living with multiple sclerosis (MS) for nearly ten years at the time.

A court summons was issued in late July that "ordered [Lauer] to appear in court on August 24 to face the misdemeanor battery charge." The charges against Lauer were dismissed in October 2011.

Ethics complaint

The Republican Party of Nevada filed a complaint against Secretary of State Ross Miller and State Treasurer Kate Marshall, alleging that the officials improperly used "publicly funded web pages, phone lines and state employees for their respective re-election campaigns."

The chairman of the State GOP stated that both candidates violated Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) Chapter 281A, which provides that a public officer or employee is “prohibited from requesting or otherwise causing [a] governmental entity to incur expense or make expenditure to support or oppose [a] ballot question or candidate in certain circumstances.”

The complaint alleged that both Miller and Marshall included their state government phone numbers and email addresses on their campaign websites and financial disclosure reports. About a month later, the Nevada Commission on Ethics dismissed the matter, stating that there was no just or sufficient cause to proceed to a full commission hearing.

Lawsuits

Rob Lauer faced legal issues in Las Vegas, Southern California, and Florida as he began his campaign for secretary of state. Many of Lauer's issues arose from a lawsuit filed in San Bernardino County, California, by Florida resident John Gruber, which alleged that Lauer defrauded him in a 2006 eBay transaction involving an aircraft. Gruber stated that the 1979 Piper Archer II he purchased from Lauer was described as "completely refurbished," but that the aircraft had "missing parts, damage from a possible hard landing, and more usage of the plane than was disclosed in the logbooks."

Lauer dismissed the complaint, stating that he had “probably bought and sold dozens and dozens of aircraft and trucks and engines and all sorts of stuff. Probably 100 and if we have a dispute over one aircraft or two, I don’t think that is unrealistic in business nowadays.”

The case, which had been scheduled for a San Bernardino County Superior Court hearing on June 21, was reportedly dismissed after it was discovered that Gruber had allegedly provided false information on his police report regarding his knowledge of the airplane’s condition. Lauer stated at a debate in mid-October 2010 that he had taken legal action against Gruber for perjury.

A second lawsuit filed in late December 2009 alleged that T. Graham Capital LLC purchased a 1971 Hawker Siddeley from Lauer in July 2009 for $65,000. After spending hundreds of thousands of dollars refurbishing the aircraft, they discovered that it had never been owned by Lauer's company, Aero Network of French Valley, Inc. Lauer stated, however, that "the dispute is over old liens against the aircraft that he is close to clearing, which he said would resolve the dispute."

The Nevada Secretary of State candidate was also involved in a third lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. David L. Degeer claimed that Lauer owed him back rent for storing a truck in New Mexico. Lauer stated that he attempted to terminate the lease under the Servicemembers' Civil Relief Act, which allows active-duty military members to modify debts, terminate leases, and delay legal proceedings. Court documents indicated that Lauer did not properly notify Degeer of his activation, as required by the law. Lauer asserted that he sent the notification via certified mail but did not retain the receipt.

External links

• List of candidates qualified for Nevada's June 8 Secretary of State primary
• Green Paper's list of candidates for Nevada Secretary of State, 2010

General Election candidates

• Ross Miller 2010 Campaign website
• Rob Lauer for Nevada Campaign website