Power, Passion And Poison

An Ambitious Politician Meets A Suspicious Death

(CBS)  Depending on your point of view, Kathy was either a brilliant politician or a cold-blooded opportunist. "If she was a guy, she would've been the brightest thing that ever walked the face of the earth. But since she was a woman, she was a bitch," says Republican operative George Harris, one of Kathy's closest allies.

Political analyst Jon Ralston says that beneath Kathy's smiling demeanor was a ruthless politician. "I think people really, really despised Kathy Augustine because of the tactics she used," he says. "She really hit people below the belt. And she really used the most divisive wedge, personal, emotional, inflammatory issues to get ahead."

Case in point was her campaign against Dora Harris. Harris said she had been leading Kathy in a 1992 race for state assembly. "I was about 53 to 47 per cent ahead in the polls and that Saturday Kathy came out with a hit piece," Harris remembers.

"She ran a picture of Dora Harris, an African-American woman, next to her picture, clearly just saying, 'I'm the white women running. She's the black woman. Vote for me. It was seen by many, many people as very, very racist," Ralston explains.

"That was Kathy's style. She would do whatever she needed to do to get what she wanted," Harris says.

Kathy went on to beat Dora Harris by 700 votes. She rode her "take no prisoners" style to the statewide office of controller in 1998. When she was re-elected, word spread that her star was on the rise at the national GOP.

"She was being looked at for a position in the U.S. Treasury," Vinnick remembers. "And I think there were some good ole' boys that didn't like that. That's when all the troubles in her life really, really started to happen. Politically."

She was hit by a political lightning bolt. "Some of her employees, two or three of them, went to the ethics commission and said, 'Our boss, Kathy Augustine, is making us do campaign work,'" Ralston explains.

Kathy became the first person in the history of Nevada politics to face impeachment for using her staff and state-owned office equipment in her re-election campaign; Nevada's Republican leadership told Kathy that her political career was over.

Her impeachment ordeal went on for weeks. In the end, Kathy was found guilty only of using state-owned equipment in her campaign, but she was censured by the state legislature.

She refused to quit, and showed up on Ralston's television program to defend herself. Asked if she ever considered resigning, Kathy told Ralston, "When you know that what you did did not rise to level of impeachment, then it was a matter of staying there and fighting for something you truly believed in."

Kathy launched a politically explosive investigation into financial misdeeds within her own party, and then announced she would run for the powerful job of state treasurer; Republican party leaders were stunned by what they felt was her betrayal.

"I think they were flabbergasted. I think they were upset," Ralston says.

Some people wanted to frighten Kathy out of running, according to her brother Phil. "She did tell me that several people had warned her to be careful," he tells Roberts. "There were threats made to her."

48 Hours wanted to ask Chaz Higgs about all of this, but lead defense attorney Alan Baum told his client to watch what he said.

But Barbara Woollen had plenty to say. She was running for lieutenant governor in the Republican primary, when Kathy confided in her. "She told me that she had information that she thought I needed to know about. Involving political corruption," Woollen recalls. "Misappropriation of funds, slush funds."

She says Kathy knew that her investigation into corruption had put her in danger. "She said that a prominent Republican figure had thrown her against a wall. And said the following to her: 'What are you doing? You're going to f--- it all up. If you know what's good for you, you'll drop out of this race and go away. Otherwise, you better watch your back,'" Woollen says.

Defense attorney David Houston says Woollen's story was not the only one that police ignored. "They had a number of different threats that were reported to them," he says. "Serious threats against Kathy Augustine, and to her health and safety. And, they didn't even bother to pursue it."

But Reno detective Dave Jenkins makes no apologies for his investigation. He acknowledges Kathy had political enemies, but says he doesn't believe anyone else is responsible for her death but Chaz Higgs.

[sn1955]

Oh, please. This guy was guilty from the get-go. There is no one else who could have put the drug in Augustine's system but Chaz Higgs. Besides, his body language is a dead giveaway of his guilt. He's not only sorry he got caught, but he's sorry he did it. Trying to kill himself twice, the second time right in the middle of his trial, proved he was guilty. An innocent man would not do that. I have lived in Reno for 25 years, and this was a huge story, perhaps the biggest murder case in Nevada history thanks to Augustine's prominence.

[avellinomm]

I am disturbed that this episode continues to air with an innocent man in prison. How can a test, done on urine collected at 735 am reveal the presence of Succinylcholine, if the patient was dead at or about 7am. But at about 715 am, undisputedly had no succs. administered to her between 715 & 735am? Did the FBI explain that? The test that Ms. Morgan of the FBI conducted was defective. There was a power outage at the FBI lab. The urine was not refridgerated for 5 day's prior to the test. Those factors make a difference in the reliability of the results. Succs. has an extremely short half life, less than a minute, yet she supposedly found both succinycholine & succinylmonocholine in the urine? The other tests that were conducted of the tissue, blood, & organs reveal neither. Those were refridgerated. Strange.

[carolcape]

I believe that her husband killed her. She was a very domineering woman in the professional world and
I would say she had some of that tenacity in the marriage. She was just not suited to this man. She was too intelligent for him. She certainly did not wait a very long time before marrying this man. I mean just looking at them as her mom said, they just didn''t fit at all. I feel that she was intelligent, but when she got a little bit of power it went to her head. She thought she could get away with anything, which usually sinks most politicians. But she may have gone unnoticed if she was a man, but they wanted to get rid of her in office and they were going to do anything. Yes, she was threatened from someone, but also her husband had knowledge of that and he took advantage of it. He wanted to get rid of her too quickly and that didn''t work in his favor. He might have gotten away with it, but the fact that he was the only one in the area she was in was just too obvious. He even looks guilty. The coworkers were also good witnesses. He is just where he should be, behind bars.

[thefan08-2009]

its sad she had to die, but politicians like her are the reason why people dont trust politicians any more. i would have setteled for her been impeached instead of dead. but sometimes when you dedicate everything in your power to one trade(politics) you sometimes forget how to handle other things, like finding a good man.

[roscoezzz]

You know what? I thought this guy was innocent until the end when he tried to commit suicide. He was winning in that courtroom I thought. But, the suicide attempt was a sign of guilt before he was to be questioned by the prosecution.
It is sad how this politician woman used and abused the people around her. Look at the way it all ended for her. The wrong men, the wrong political ambition and the wrong way to lead a public life. Sad.