Former 'Vegas' coroner seeks county administrator job after journalist's murder

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(The Center Square) - Retired Clark County Coroner P. Michael Murphy, who was brought in to fix the county's public administrator's office right before the then-administrator murdered a newspaper reporter, is running for the administrator's job.

Murphy, a Republican, was the Clark County coroner for 13 years before retiring in 2015. In 2022, he was brought in to address alleged misconduct by then-Clark County Administrator Robert Telles that was exposed by Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German. Staff in the office told German that Telles was abusive to subordinates and was carrying on an affair with an employee.

German was murdered on Sept. 2, 2022 in front of his Las Vegas home. Telles was convicted of his slaying in 2024 and sentenced to at least 28 years in prison. Murphy tipped off police about Telles being a suspect after office staff recognized the suspect's vehicle was one that Telles' wife owned.

"I was called into the position when it was in chaos and as the summer progressed and the homicide happened, it turned into total chaos," Murphy told The Center Square in a phone interview, adding he worked hard to fix the problems. "I want to finish what I started."

Though the filing period isn't until March so others could jump into the race, M.J. Ivy, who worked as an estate investigator in the office when it was in conflict, has announced he will run for the Democratic nomination. 

Ivy said his main focus is to help people in their time of need.

"I want to help poor people who don’t have any voice," he told The Center Square in phone interview. "People who don’t have family members, we want to do this the right way."

Murphy, who served as police chief in Mesquite, Nevada, and as a police officer in other departments, has never run for elected office. He is currently a program manager for The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The county hired his company to address problems in the administrator's office and with his successor in the coroner's job. Using a company allowed him to continue to collect his pension when doing the contract work. Nevada law prevents most government employees from collecting a paycheck and pension unless they are elected officials or run the work through a corporation or LLC.

Ivy, an U.S. Air Force veteran, worked as communications director for a library district in Colorado, formed his own communications company, ran for a seat as regent and is a pastor. He knew Telles through the Democratic Party when they both were running for office and worked in the public administrator's office for about four months before he said he was let go by current Public Administrator Rita Reid. He said she told him she couldn't trust him because of his political connections to Telles.

Reid could not be reached for comment.

The public administrator handles estates of people who die without wills or trusts and do not have family able or willing to deal with the estate.

Republican in blue county 

Murphy said he understands that running as a Republican in a Democratic county is an uphill battle because no Republican has held the office.  

Murphy said he wants to streamline the office to speed up the cases as well as conduct community outreach to inform people of the importance of estate planning to avoid having their property go into probate or be handled by the public administrator's office after they die. 

"No offense to government, but it is not most efficient way to handle this," he said.

Telles handling of the office was mired in rumors and investigations of corruption, and Murphy said he wants to increase the auditing process to make sure the office is transparent and above reproach.

Ivy said he respects Murphy and agrees that transparency and accountability are key to gaining the public's trust after the conflicts in the office.

"There was a lack of communication and true strong leadership," he said.

One-term pledge

Murphy said he only wants one term, and he will fight to make the office an appointed position instead of an elected one.

"I’m sure we don’t need this to be an elected position," he said. "Ultimately I would go to the Legislature so the county could have a choice on whether or not it is an elected or appointed position."

Ivy said he would like to see the PA remain an elected position because there is already a public guardian, but he isn't sure it needs to be a partisan one. 

In 2022, Reid reluctantly ran for the office because of her and other staff's clashes with Telles. The staff members went to German to expose the problems and affair, providing him a video of Telles in the back seat of a vehicle with a subordinate. Murphy said Reid is retiring after one term.

Murphy has name recognition as the county's long-time coroner, as the person selected to address problems with the Telles' administration and for his appearances on various television shows that highlighted the work of coroner in Las Vegas.

He hopes to reform the public administrator's office and make it more like the coroner, which is appointed by the county manager.

"I plan to work myself out of a job," he said.