LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — For months, PACs affiliated with Gov. Joe Lombardo have been targeting the Democratic nominee for governor over his out-of-state travel.
Destinations include Napa, Calif., Singapore, Taiwan, France, Macau, Mexico Qatar, Israel South Korea, South Africa and Geneva.
He even went to South Dakota.
Those trips aren't made up.
But some of the accusations that appear in some of the PAC's ads aren't true.
WATCH | Big knock on Ford: travel
Workers versus Ford
One of the newest ads — paid for by the Better Nevada PAC and airing on Channel 13 along with other local stations — has a series of workers in what appears to be an auto repair shop, touting a big number.
"Aaron Ford missed 420 days of work, and he wants a promotion? No way," one says.
"I can't imagine missing that much work, How could he be governor?" another says.
"If he worked for my boss, he'd be fired," a worker adds.
"You know what they'd do if I missed 420 days? They'd laugh at me while they fired me," another worker says.
The ad is devastating, inasmuch as it pits working people against Ford, who grew up in poverty but later earned five degrees, became a lawyer, was elected to the state Senate and then became attorney general.
And it's relatable: Few regular people can travel to some of the places Ford has been, let alone have that travel underwritten by campaign donors or groups such as the Attorney General Alliance, the Democratic Attorneys General Association or the National Association of Attorneys General.
No state funds were used.
The numbers
The 420-day figure comes from reporting, first in the Las Vegas Review-Journal and then in the Nevada Independent, that reviewed Ford's official calendars as well as campaign disclosure reports.
The Review-Journal put the number at 137 days out of state in 2024. A more comprehensive look by the Independent dating to 2019 put the number at 332, but allowed that it could be as high as 420, based on incomplete calendar entries.
That's where the Better Nevada PAC got its high number.
Ford's campaign disputes that figure But politically, arguing over 420 versus 332 can only serve to reinforce the point — Ford travels a lot — rather than rebut it.
That brings us to the other charge, that Ford "missed" 420 days of work or that he was "absent" for that period of time. And that, according to records and Ford's campaign, is not true.
Ford spent at least 172 days at conferences sponsored by attorneys general groups of which he's a member. (In 2024, he was chairman of the Attorney General Alliance, which accounted for many of his travel days that year.)
Another 53 days were spent at conferences and three days were at federal court arguments.
In an interview with Channel 13 in March, Ford said the travel benefited Nevada.
"My job as the top law-enforcement officer in the state is to keep Nevadans safe, and as attorney general, it's incumbent that I understand that doesn't stop at state borders," he said."Cyber crimes, sex trafficking, fentanyl trafficking, opioid issues, social media — these are all things that we have to contend with."
Added Ford: "And we brought back legislation, we brought back litigation, we brought back prosecutions that are keeping Nevadans safe."
As an example, Ford's campaign cited trips to Spain and South Africa that featured discussions that led to an historic settlement with the game platform Roblox, where children were being exploited. Roblox agreed to age-verification and behavior monitoring as part of that settlement.
Protecting children from online predators was also the subject of a conference held in South Dakota in 2024, and one in South Africa 2023, both sponsored by the Attorney General Alliance.
Ford also traveled out of state for non-work events, including fundraisers, campaign events, a town hall and to attend the Democratic National Convention. He also took 16 days of vacation.
Channel 13 asked Ford — in light of the criticism of his record that's been relentless from PACs and from Lombardo's campaign — whether he regrets taking so many out of state trips, or trips to places such as the Yucatan Penninsula or Normandy, France.
"Absolutely not," Ford replied. "And let's be clear: I disclosed every single one of those trips pursuant to a law that I advocated for when I was in the state Legislature. Every single one has been detailed, and the reason for taking those convenings was detailed: human trafficking, sex trafficking, wildlife trafficking, opioid issues, social media issues — all of that is detailed, and it's not something that we are at all concerned about."
To be sure, Ford — and every other member of the 2015 Legislature — joined to support a bill by former state Sen. Michael Roberson to impose greater ethics rules on lawmakers.
Travel fallout
The attacks on Ford have gone on for months, with nicknames like "High-Flyin' Ford," and "frequent flyer Ford." There's even a website styled as "Ford's Travel Agency" with a picture of the attorney general apparently dressed for the Kentucky Derby.
But there are serious repercussions, too.
Former Clark County Republican Party Chairman Bernie Zadrowski — a former chief deputy district attorney in Clark County — filed a complaint with the the state Ethics Commission over the travel. Zadrowski says accepting travel from a group such as the Attorney General Alliance — which is funded partly by interests that come before state AGs — is a conflict under Nevada ethics laws.
In February, an Ethics Commission panel voted to refer the matter to the full commission for a hearing. The commission could render a judgment later this year, in the run-up to the November election.
But there has been pushback against the charges, too. Current and former attorneys general wrote an op-ed in the Las Vegas Sun in May, defending Ford and the conferences he attended as important to law enforcement.
"But in the 21st century, the job increasingly does not stop at the state's borders or even America's borders," they wrote. "The truth is, without these collaborative information-sharing and learning events, the people of Nevada and every other state would be put in harm's way. The more we're able to collaborate, the better we're able to deliver results and keep our people safe."
And this isn't the first time an attorney general has been hit with travel-related charges. Former Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto was accused of excessive travel by the National Republican Senatorial Committee when she first ran for office in 2016. That group exaggerated the number of trips she took, and she was elected to the U.S, Senate that year and re-elected in 2024.
But with more than $1 million already spent on the attack, it's unlikely you'll see an end to the attacks on Ford over travel anytime soon. Those attacks may even persuade lawmakers to avoid conferences and meetings out of fear of being targeted in future campaigns. 0
