Editor’s note: This story has been updated since its original publication include a comment from the Attorney General Alliance.
(The Center Square) – The Nevada Commission on Ethics decided it will issue an opinion on alleged ethics violations by state Attorney General Aaron Ford over what critics say are social media misuses and benefits he allegedly received from private interests.
The panel is required to conduct an adjudicatory hearing within 60 days of its determination. The commission is scheduled to meet March 18.
Two complaints against Ford were lodged in September and November. One alleged the Democrat wrongfully accepted over $35,000 in funds by the privately-funded Attorney General Alliance. The other says he used public social media accounts to promote his campaign for governor.
The complaints are being reviewed as Ford heads into what an Emerson College poll shows is a neck-to-neck election race with Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo. Both received support from 41% of those surveyed, with 18% undecided, according to the poll.
“The Attorney General respects the Ethics Commission and is confident that it will find that he acted in accordance with all ethical rules,” said Alcinia Whiters, deputy communications director of the attorney general’s office, in an email to The Center Square.
The $35,000 figure comes from flights to international AGA meetings Ford self-reported. As state Senate minority leader, he voted in favor of disclosing gifts such as flights by donors in 2015’s Senate Bill 307.
“Attorney General Ford led a bipartisan national organization, the Attorney General Alliance, that brings Democratic and Republican attorneys general together to combat issues transcending our state’s borders, including human and drug trafficking, cybercrime, and many other threats to public safety,” Whiters told The Center Square.
All but two state attorneys general are members or associate members of the AGA, according to its website. A 2022 Axios report found internal AGA reports that showed donors paid up to $50,000 for access to the attorneys general.
“We fully intend to comply with the Nevada State Ethics Commission,” said Tania Maestas, general counsel for the Attorney General Alliance.
“We are a bipartisan organization that works on bringing state AGs together, and we had a wonderful experience with our Chairman Aaron Ford,” Maestas told The Center Square, answering a question by email late Thursday afternoon. “He did an amazing job of bringing statesmanship to our organization, and we feel confident that everything was done ethically and in compliance with the law.”
The complaint against Ford was filed by ethics commission Executive Director Ross Armstrong. “Accepting luxury international trips valued at more than $35,000 in 2023–2024 from the Attorney General Alliance, a nonprofit funded largely by corporations, some of which are subject to regulation or litigation before his office,” was listed as part of the potential violation in the complaint.
Alleged misuse by Ford of the official attorney general account on the social media site X to promote his governor’s campaign was included in the joint-complaint.
The social media complaint against Ford was first filed by Bernard Zadrowski, a former Clark County Republican Party chairman and former chief deputy district attorney in the county. Zadrowski said he counted 154 posts by the official Nevada attorney general account that are linked to Ford’s personal, campaign-heavy account. He alleged those links violated campaign law.
“As a prosecutor, your job is to uphold the law and prosecute cases in an ethical fashion,” Zadrowski told The Center Square in November. “ So when I saw that he [Ford] was violating the ethical laws, I tracked it to make sure that it wasn’t something that was just inadvertent or accidentally done … And it became clear to me that this unethical activity was willful.”
The attorney general’s office admitted fault with the social media posts, but argued the reaction was purposefully overblown.
“This complaint was filed by a former Clark County GOP Chair who was campaigning to be President Trump’s U.S. Attorney in Nevada, a campaign that was reportedly supported by Gov. Lombardo,” Whiters told The Center Square. “The governor’s official Southern Nevada Outreach Account has repeatedly tagged his campaign account and has retweeted his PAC. Once our office was made aware of the concern, we immediately stopped tagging Attorney General Ford’s personal account.”
Lombardo has had his own issues with campaign ethics violations, having been ordered to pay $5,000 in September 2025 for use of his sheriff badge and uniform in self-promotion during his 2022 governor’s campaign. Before he was elected governor, Lombardo was the Clark County sheriff.
Lombardo’s ethics violation was deemed as “not willful,” but the commission told The Center Square that the distinction between “willful” and “not willful” was a difference of severity, not purpose.
