I am beyond disturbed when I read this newspaper, especially lately. Numerous falsehoods that we have publicly disputed time and time again are presented as facts.

At the City Council meeting on Wednesday, June 13, Barbara Ellstad used public comment time to present “questions,” one of which concerned the validity of Mesquite Citizens’ Initiative for Clean Indoor Air, due to a recent filing with the state. At that time, I provided correct information about our local and state filings. The next day, a story written by her, appeared in the MLN, perpetuating the false, partial, and misleading information I had corrected the evening before at the council meeting.

So, let me clarify again:

The petition committee who filed the initiative is not the PAC. When the petition committee called the city clerk for guidance in April, we were referred to the Nevada Secretary of State’s office. The state referred us back to the clerk. We followed each instruction we received, even redoing specific steps multiple times to ensure each requirement was fulfilled. Many of our questions and the instructions we received were submitted by email, and copied to the city attorney.

The PAC is a separate entity that was filed with the Secretary of State’s office, on June 1, 2018. The purpose of a PAC is to report contributions and expenses of a campaign. It is not necessary to report until either the contributions or expenses exceed $1,000. At this point, there has been no money to report, but we wanted to be prepared. I’ve been guided through this process by the Nevada Secretary of State’s office personally, ensuring I was following each requirement.

So, we are in perfect compliance and timely with both local and state laws. Otherwise, we would have been notified by the city clerk or city attorney if we were out of compliance with the city. Also, we would not have received a stamped registration from the Secretary of State’s office, as we have.

Please stop printing falsehoods and misinformation as news. I would suggest that Mesquite Gaming and any other contributor to the paper verify their information carefully. Otherwise, their submissions must be considered a willful attempt to mislead our community.

Marlys Harper