SAN FRANCISCO — Nevada Controller Kathy Augustine, who was seeking office as the state’s treasurer, died Tuesday afternoon at Washoe Medical Center from complications following a massive heart attack suffered on Saturday.
“We are all deeply saddened by the distressing news of someone so young and vibrant as Kathy Augustine passing away so unexpectedly,” said Gov. Kenny Guinn in a prepared statement.
Augustine, 50, became the state’s first female controller in 1999. Prior to her election, she served four years in the state Senate and before that, two years in the Assembly.
As controller, the Republican withstood impeachment proceedings in 2004, which started when John Lee, her Democratic opponent for re-election, accused her of using state funding for her campaign.
The Assembly accused Augustine of requiring her staff to aid in re-election efforts on state-paid time. The Assembly voted to impeach her on three counts, but the Senate trial yielded only one conviction, and senators voted to reprimand Augustine rather than remove her from office.
Stress from the impeachment proceedings as well as her current campaign efforts may have been a contributing cause of Augustine’s heart attack, according to her husband, Chaz Higgs, a critical care nurse at Carson-Tahoe Regional Medical Center, speaking in interviews with local television stations.
Like Nevada’s five other elected state constitutional officers, Augustine was set to leave office at the end of this year. The current treasurer, Brian K. Krolicki is running in the Republican primary for lieutenant governor.
Remaining candidates in the treasurer primary include Republicans Joseph Pitts of Henderson and Las Vegas financial consultant Mark DeStefano, along with Democrats Geoffrey VanderPal, also Las Vegas financial consultant, and Reno’s Kate Marshall, a former Nevada deputy attorney general.
Both the Republican and Democratic primaries are scheduled for August 15.
