Who's ruining our credit?

To Diners' Club, the name Nevada must be synonymous with deadbeat.

The credit card company wrote off $71,038 in credit card debts from state employees and lawmakers.

Some of those debts were more than 4 years old.

This is in addition to the $55,000 in debts more than 60 days past due.

According to the State Treasurer's Office, the top single debt on the list of written off charges was $16,369.

That means someone in the Nevada Rehabilitation Division, who was on the state payroll in April 1997, rang up enough debt to pay for a car.

While the state is not liable for the credit card debt, the cards are issued to state employees for official use only.

That means the debts incurred are in the name of the state of Nevada, or in all our names.

In addition, Diners' Club will no longer waive the $10 per year charge on state cards, which will cost taxpayers $30,000 a year.

Another concern is that a state legislator is out there with a credit card in the name of the state of Nevada with a four-month late charge for $1,055.

Because the Diners' Club Cards are issued to the individual instead of the state, the cardholders are apparently protected from disclosure.

While state employees could claim some privacy protection, legislators work for and are hired by the voters.

If a lawmaker or state employee wants to run up their own credit cards, then that is their business.

If someone representing the state is running up credit card charges in our name, then the people should know about it.