They did it to me. They could do it to you. But not if I have anything to say about it. My name is Mark Lawson. And I’m running for Washoe County Commission, District 4, covering Sparks, Spanish Springs, and the northeastern parts of the county.
I’m running to improve government openness, transparency, and accountability so corrupt government officials — like the ones who defamed me, tried to ruin me professionally and schemed to deprive me of my freedom — don’t do that to someone else. Someone who opposes them. Someone they don’t like.
You might have heard of me. On Nov. 28, 2022, the Sparks City Council hired me as the new Fire Chief for the City of Sparks. A week later, Sparks City Manager Neil Krutz terminated me because he said there were serious criminal charges pending against me. There were not. I proclaimed my innocence.
Investigations, a wrongful termination lawsuit and a court victory for me followed.
What has emerged is that Krutz (himself terminated for cause in September 2023) and other government officials targeted me to hand the Fire Chief job to a less-qualified political ally, to damage the Sparks Firefighters Union that supported me, and to exact retribution because I had dared to challenge the Sparks Deep State.
This sounds like a scary conspiracy theory. It’s even scarier because it’s true.
My background.
I am 55 years old. I was born and raised in Sparks, and all my family still lives there. My wife Melissa and I have 2 children. For 32 years, I worked as an executive firefighter with CalFire and Mariposa in California. In 2019, I retired and returned home to Sparks.
But the quiet of retirement began to chafe a bit. I wanted to return to firefighting, and when the Fire Chief job was posted, I applied and then was hired. I was elated at the opportunity to serve my hometown with my 32 years of fire experience.
Unbeknownst to me, a man named Walt White, an ally of City Manager Neil Krutz, had first been offered the Fire Chief position but had declined it for vague “family reasons.” In November 2022, just before the Sparks City Council confirmed me as the new Fire Chief, White informed Krutz he could now take the job. His mysterious “family reasons” had suddenly disappeared.
Krutz wanted to help his friend, but how could he get rid of me? The application process had long closed, and I was only waiting for official ratification by the City Council. That’s when things quickly turned ugly.
How I was illegally targeted.
The application for Fire Chief did not include a section about any previous contact with law enforcement (which, when you think about it, could be anything from a traffic stop to a SWAT takedown). So, I did not lie on the application.
Somehow, City Manager Krutz learned of the Attorney General’s investigation from more than a year earlier in 2021. It’s no accident, I think, that Assistant City Manager Alyson McCormack, who was appointed by Krutz, used to work at the AG’s office. She could easily have disclosed the information, something unethical and arguably illegal.
And now, Krutz had a pretext for terminating me, which he did on Monday, Dec. 5, 2022, a week after I was hired. He told me I was being terminated because of pending charges from the investigation. I proclaimed my innocence.
To firm up the plot, that same day, Krutz posted a video to YouTube saying I had resigned (a lie: I was terminated), saying there were pending charges against me (another lie: there were no charges at the time), and neglecting to include I had stressed my innocence.
Uh oh. The Sparks City Attorney told Krutz to take down the video because it lied about and defamed me. Some serious ass covering was needed — stat! And so on Friday, Dec. 9, 2022, the Attorney General’s office mysteriously resurrected the 2021 witch hunt and filed four charges against me.
Coincidence? Sure, anything is possible.
It’s also possible Sparks officials made panicked telephone calls to the AG’s office to file the charges in a retroactive attempt to paper over the illegal targeting. These charges had to be downgraded when it was discovered someone had “mistakenly” entered more serious charges in the criminal information database.
Another coincidence? Fighting back — for you!
In March 2023, I sued the City of Sparks for, among other things, the City Manager defaming me and casting me in a false light before the public.
Since then, a court found that Krutz indeed defamed me in the video. In September 2023, he was terminated for cause, ending a disastrous tenure that included not just my illegal treatment, but also a vote of no confidence from the Sparks Firefighters Union and a $2 million payout from a police shooting.
What happened to me wasn’t just a horrific instance of Sparks and AG officials gone rogue. It’s also evidence of a pervasive bureaucratic attitude that can be summed up in six words: DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU.
No matter who gets harmed or what institutions get corrupted.
This attitude has broadly infected the conduct of some top officials in Northern Nevada government, from taxes to business permitting, from land use to water resources, from salaries to who receives the money to run affordable housing and homeless assistance programs.
(I am not impugning the many government employees who serve honorably and diligently.)
DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU, means if they want to do it to you, they think nothing will stop them.
Until now. I’m standing in the way. I’d be honored to receive your vote on Election Day.
