Deputy AG rapped over legal services

Tuesday, Dec. 7, 1999 | 11:09 a.m.

A senior deputy attorney general sanctioned for "abusive" court tactics may be performing 10 hours of community service at taxpayer expense in violation of a judge's order, a Phoenix lawyer charged today.

The deputy, Bridget Branigan, has been using office resources, including her secretary to complete the free legal services, attorney Christine Manno alleged in court papers.

But Chief Deputy Attorney General Richard Linstrom this morning defended Branigan's work, saying she has been following office guidelines and directions from District Judge James Mahan.

"Ms. Branigan's pro bono work, as ordered by Judge Mahan, is being completed in compliance with the pro bono policy of the attorney general's office and Judge Mahan's order," Linstrom said in a prepared statement.

"The policy was last amended on Oct. 6, 1998, and provides that 'clerical-secretarial support will not be provided' by the attorney general's office."

Last month, Mahan ordered Branigan and Solicitor General Mark Ghan, the attorney general's top litigator, to pay $1,500 a piece out of their own pockets or perform 10 hours of community service for stonewalling Manno's efforts to uncover a reported intelligence investigation of top gaming regulators.

Mahan also instructed the attorney general's office to give Manno and her client, Mike Anzalone, some 900 pages of documents that refer to the attorney general's intelligence gathering activities.

Anzalone, a former investigator for Del Papa, is suing the attorney for forcing him to resign in February 1996 because he wouldn't participate in the intelligence probe, which targeted former Gaming Control Board Chairman Bill Bible and others. Bible was a political adversary of Del Papa's at the time of the inquiry.

In her papers, Manno said she was told that Branigan's secretary, Fran Owens, was overheard in a cafeteria complaining about being asked by Branigan to work on a community service project.

"Undersigned counsel cannot verify this information with Mrs. Owens because she is an employee of the attorney general and as such cannot be questioned by the undersigned," Manno wrote. "This court made it very clear that a monetary sanction to be paid by public funds is an illusionary punishment and that the citizens of the state of Nevada should not be required to pay for the discovery abuse, which occurred in this case.

"If Ms. Branigan is performing her community service ... to a client by using the resources of the office of the attorney general, including her time and her secretary's time, as well as office equipment and other resources, the citizens of the state of Nevada are still paying this sanction."

Manno has asked Mahan to reconsider his order giving Branigan and Ghan the option of community service instead of the monetary sanctions.

She also wants the judge to reconsider giving her eight hours of tapes the attorney general made with Ron Harris, a former Control Board electronics expert who pleaded guilty to slot cheating in August 1996 and cooperated in the intelligence probe. Mahan is allowing Manno to view the tapes, but he doesn't want to let her take possession of them.

A hearing on Manno's requests has been set for 1:30 p.m. on Monday.