Press group, ACLU join suit on ethics law

Jace Radke

Friday, Sept. 13, 2002 | 9:44 a.m.

The Nevada Press Association has joined several legislators and the American Civil Liberties Union in a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a state law empowering the Nevada Ethics Commission's ability to level fines and make findings of fact on political speech.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court Thursday with state legislators Bob Beers, Chris Giunchigliani, Wendell Williams and the Nevada Republican Liberty Caucus.

The lawsuit makes the charge that the ethics commission is not the venue for decisions on defamation claims, ACLU of Nevada Executive Director Gary Peck says.

"The idea that a group of political appointees can act as a truth squad is clearly an affront to the Constitution," Peck said.

The Nevada Republican Liberty Caucus was scheduled to appear before the ethics commission today after being named a week ago in a complaint filed by Earlene Forsythe, a Republican candidate for Assembly District 37, who lost in last week's primary by nine votes to Francis Allen.

Forsythe alleges that the liberty caucus, a group of political activists, sent malicious mailings and left libelous phone messages to voters. The mailings and messages state that Forsythe, a registered nurse, is a quack, and that her husband, Dr. James Forsythe, overcharged cancer patients.

The lawsuit alleges violations of the First Amendment, due process and equal protection, ACLU attorney Allen Lichtenstein said.

The due process argument relates to the accused in complaints having a minimal amount of time to build their case, while the equal protection refers to the tendency for politicians to be treated differently by the commission than other citizens, Lichtenstein said.

The alleged First Amendment violation occurs when the commission decides if statements are defamatory or not in place of a court, Lichtenstein said.