Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Sagebrush Rebel targets Del Papa

CARSON CITY -- A petition has been filed with the Nevada Supreme Court by a self-styled "Sagebrush Rebel" who says Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa is failing to represent the state's position in gaining control of federal lands.

Edward Presley, a Republican state Senate candidate from Elko, is asking the high court to force Del Papa to represent those who are battling the federal government for control of public lands.

Presley said the court should remove Del Papa from the case in which Nye County has challenged the U.S. Forest Service's right to manage the lands in central Nevada and the suit by Elko County ranchers Cliff and Bertha Gardner, who are fighting for the right to graze their cattle on Forest Service lands.

The federal agency has won both suits in federal courts.

Presley said the attorney general has been a "sell-out" to government interests and is not representing the sovereignty of the state or the citizens who pay her.

"Rural Nevadans are suffering economically and have the potential exposure to environmental and health hazards due to Del Papa's betrayals as their attorney," Presley said as he filed the suits. "She (Del Papa) has sided with the federal government openly in deference to a personal interest at the price of her client."

Presley said he will also file a complaint with the Nevada Bar to have Del Papa's license suspended because she has sold out her clients.

Misty Young, executive assistant to Del Papa, said the federal court in Las Vegas ruled for the position taken by the attorney general's office in the Nye County case.

State laws call for the federal government to turn over public lands to the state. But Del Papa has not defended those laws, basically considering them unenforceable.

Young said, "There is overwhelming case precedent" to back the position of the court and the attorney general. "Mr. Presley would better serve Nevada by finding a positive way to expend his energies," Young said.

Presley challenged Sen. Dean Rhoads of Tuscarora and Colin Perry of Mountain City in the Republican primary election. He came in second, gathering 931 votes compared with 3,877 for Rhoads, considered one of the fathers of the Sagebrush Rebellion.

Since no Democrat filed, Presley and Rhoads will face each other in the Nov. 5 general election in the district that includes all or parts of Elko, Eureka, Humboldt, Lander and Pershing counties.

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