The Complaint: State of Nevada Attorney General
(Click here to read the Nevada Open Meeting Law!)

Dear Nevada Attorney General,

A. The Reno Gazette (RGJ) has been in violation of the Nevada Open Meeting Law (OML) since its inception. The RGJ is clearly and poignantly defined as a "public body" in your well-written Open Meeting Law Manual. And, as such, has NOT been conducting its operations according to the dictates and the spirit of those laws.
B. The RGJ is EXACTLY the type of organization that the OML was created for. [OML preamble: ".. the crucible of democracy is that govt cannot be by the people and for the people unless it exercises its powers under the scrutiny of the people."] If ever there was a body that needed scrutiny it is the RGJ!

1. The RGJ is a "public body" as clearly evidenced by many criteria depicted in the Nevada Open Meeting Law Manual. Including especially the fact that it is funded by Publicly-Mandated tax revenue. [NRS 241.015(4)]

"The OML governs meetings of public bodies. A public body is any administrative, advisory, executive, or legislative body of the state or local government which expends or disburses or is supported in whole or in part by tax revenue, or which advises or makes recommendations to any entity which expends or disburses or is supported in whole or in part by tax revenue, including any board, commission, committee, subcommittee, or other subsidiary."

The millions of dollars that HAVE to be paid by citizens and businesses by Law to the RGJ is, by every definition of the word, a tax.  It is arguably the RGJ's largest single revenue generator. It is a fact that huge amounts of citizens' money are used to pay the RGJ monopoly to print myriad expensive and MANDATORY BY LAW legal documents.  Here are a few examples of hundreds of expensive documents that can be found in RGJ almost every day:
* LEGALS, NOTICES OF PUBLIC SALES, ANNUAL STATEMENTS, NOTICES OF CREDITORS,
* NOTICES OF HEARINGS, WATER APPLICATIONS, SHERIFF'S SALES, NOTICES OF ESTATE SALES,
* NOTICES OF BANKRUPTCIES, ETC, ETC, AD INFINITUM.

(See attachment at bottom for a typical RGJ "LEGALS" page)
 
2. All public bodies must abide by the orders of the Open Meeting Law (NRS 241.010)
They must have open public meetings, proper agendization, publication, allowing of citizens to attend, period of Public Comment, etc, etc. The RGJ Public body refuses to abide by these critical rules. And thus, the citizens who are paying for its operations (directly and indirectly), have no way to monitor this public body; to make sure it is behaving in the citizenry’s best interests. Which it almost never is.

3. The unilateral monopolistic power of RGJ makes it critical beyond comprehension for citizens to be able to monitor its often deceptive, insidious, and shameless activities.
As one of myriad examples of perfidiousness, the RGJ used its illegally gotten treasure of tax funds to manipulate the 2014 mayoral election in Reno, Nevada. It used hideous, underhanded, and perverted techniques, such as:
a. printing hundreds of thousands of counterfeit ballots, 
b. making sure that the previous Challenger for mayor was for all practical purposes ignored in its perfidious articles.

4. As your excellent Manual states very clearly on page 21, it is important for "public bodies" to abide by the Open Meeting Law; "The distinction is important because any action taken in violation of the Open Meeting Law is void and can give rise to great complications".

5. If ever there was an entity that fits the Open Meeting Law’s description of a public body that requires "scrutiny" by the citizens, it is the RGJ.

6. We hereby request that the Nevada Attorney General’s office conduct an investigation and take action necessary to bring RGJ into compliance and to void all actions as appropriate.

7. As this investigation proceeds, additional instances of RGJ Open Meeting Law violations will be provided.

8. RGJ’s secret machinations are exactly why the Open Meeting Law was created in the first place!

Please feel free to call me, personally, with any questions.
Your prompt attention to this dire matter is requested. 
Sincerely, Sam Dehne
Reno, Nevada  

attachment (example of taxpayer-funded LEGALS):
(The RGJ would not exist without state, county, and city - mandated taxpayer-funded Advertising/Legal Notices like this.)