Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Tax issue may go to high court

A coalition of anti-tax organizations and political parties rallied amid oppressive late afternoon heat Thursday to launch what they hope will be fiery recalls of the state Supreme Court and initiative petitions to reform politics.

Nevadans for Sound Government is a coalition born out of Republican activist George Harris' distaste for Gov. Kenny Guinn's $1 billion tax package. But the groups now linking arms with Harris are angered more by the state Legislature and Supreme Court.

About 65 sign-toting protesters vowed to recall the six justices of the Supreme Court who supported shelving the constitutional requirement for a two-thirds majority vote on taxes in favor of the requirement to fund public schools.

"They've forgotten that judges are bound by laws," Independent American Party Chairman Joel Hansen said.

The court ruling stated that the two-thirds majority requirement was a procedural matter and could be outweighed during the current special session by the constitutional right to a public education.

Hansen, an unsuccessful candidate for district attorney last year, questioned how Chief Justice Deborah Agosti will rule next, and mentioned constitutional bans against search and seizure and the right to a trial by jury.

"She may say that's not very important because it's only procedural," Hansen charged.

Harris announced two citizen initiative petitions that he will launch to amend the state's constitution. The first would prohibit gaming companies from contributing to elections and the second would bar public employees from holding office.

"If they want to serve in government, they have to resign their public employment," Harris said to cheers.

Harris read the list of state legislators who are employed by the public sector, including Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, a deputy police chief and even a fiscal conservative, and Sen. Dennis Nolan, R-Las Vegas, who works for the Clark County coroner's office.

With each name came jeers from the crowd: "Leeches" and "parasites."

In an interview after the rally, Assembly Assistant Majority Leader John Oceguera, D-North Las Vegas, said one of the benefits of a citizen's legislature is having representatives from all walks of life.

"You have all of these diverse opinions and you learn more about each issue," said Oceguera, a captain in the North Las Vegas Fire Department. "We should be finding more qualified people to run, and if this passes, who's next? Do we take out senior citizens because they don't want to pay taxes?

"Everybody has some kind of conflict," Oceguera added. "Bankers, grocers, insurance people, ranchers. It's ironic to me that we want people on bank boards that are conflicted with what we're trying to do but not public employees."

Harris' other initiative, which would prohibit gaming from contributing to elections, has already been successfully crafted into law in Illinois, New Jersey and Louisiana, and tested in Louisiana's courts.

"Our state has got to be saved," Harris said.

Protesters toted Save our State signs, using the same SOS popularized by school parents and teachers.

One teacher showed up at the Sawyer State Office Building with her Save Our Schools sign.

"I saw it on the news and said, 'I'm not going to sit here with a sick stomach and not do anything,' " said Elizabeth Marcos, a teacher at Lincoln-Edison Elementary School, who has three young children, one in public school.

Marcos was immediately spotted by anti-tax protester Dawn Hansen, the sister-in-law of Joel Hansen. She demanded to know why Marcos was not lobbying the Legislature from day one, and why she waited until the crisis to get involved.

The two jawed with Hansen saying: "I'm no fan of public schools," and Marcos replying "I just can't believe this could shut down the schools."

Steve Saul, who runs a carpet cleaning business, said he attended the rally because he was furious with the court's decision and opposed to new taxes to fund education.

"We all want our students to succeed," Saul said. "But you could throw billions and billions and billions at it and it won't change the fact that the parents are not making their kids go to school and the students are undisciplined."

Joe Davis, a semi-retired 77-year-old, said he attended the rally because "the people have got to be heard."

"Anyone that violates the Constitution should be thrown out," said Davis, wearing a T-shirt that said: "Everyone is entitled to my opinion."

Political parties took center stage, with Hansen and his brother, Chris Hansen, hyping the Independent American Party.

"People have come up to me and said, 'You told us the Republicans were going to betray us, and they have,' " Chris Hansen said, wearing a T-shirt that showed the outline of the state with the words Jail for Judges.

"Republicans don't care and Democrats don't care," Chris Hansen said. "If you're going to fight the taxes, fight the taxes. Don't compromise and say $760 million is OK."

Harris, who is chairman of the Nevada Republican Liberty Caucus, denounced the current government leadership and declared: "Bureaucratic dictatorships will end in Nevada today."

James Dan, a Libertarian who ran unsuccessfully for the Assembly last year, said he considered the entire budget impasse and the Supreme Court decision "a setup from the beginning."

"Taxation is theft," Dan said, to applause.

Harris said he did not have a time in mind to begin the recall effort. A recall petition of Justices Agosti, Bob Rose, Miriam Shearing, Nancy Becker, Mark Gibbons and Myron Leavitt would require the signatures of 25 percent of the number of voters who voted in the last election the justice won.

The petition to recall Agosti, for example, would require 110,011 voter signatures, according to the secretary of state's office.

If the petitions are validated, a recall election would be set. Guinn would be tapped to pick a replacement for any justice who is recalled.

Justice William Maupin is not being targeted for recall because he dissented in the July 10 opinion.

The initiative petition drives for the two constitutional amendments can begin Sept. 1. Petitioners would have until June 15 to get the necessary signatures and put the measures on next fall's ballot.com

A group seeking to force the Nevada Legislature to approve any new taxes by a two-thirds vote has notified the federal district court in Las Vegas that it is considering an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court or state Supreme Court.

Jeffrey Dickerson, attorney for 24 Republican legislators and other groups, faxed a letter to U.S. District Judge Philip Pro asking that the court keep its temporary restraining order in effect at least until Monday to give them time to decide on the next challenge.

Attorney General Brian Sandoval Thursday objected in writing to the Dickerson letter, saying it was an "irregular request" and that Dickerson had not followed proper court procedures.

The state continued to wait this morning for a ruling from the judges on the Nevada Supreme Court's opinion that set aside a constitutional amendment requiring the Legislature to have a two-thirds majority to pass a tax plan.

Nevada's seven active federal judges heard the case Wednesday during a nearly two-hour hearing, but this morning had yet to file a written decision with the federal clerk's office.

Court officials have said that the judges are being careful and fully evaluating the case, and others speculated that the judges' busy schedules could force them to finish their deliberations over the weekend.

During Wednesday's hearing the judges peppered both sides with questions and consistently asked if the the case was under their jurisdiction.

John Eastman, a California-based attorney representing nine GOP senators and 15 GOP assemblyman, repeatedly attacked the July 10 opinion of the state Supreme Court.

Ruling on Gov. Kenny Guinn's lawsuit to force the Legislature to break the budget impasse, the state court ruled that lawmakers could pass a tax plan with a simple majority to fund the state's K-12 education system.

"To give credence to such a decision would itself create problems," Eastman said, arguing the opinion violated due process for voters who in 1996 authorized the two-thirds majority vote on taxes.

Throughout the hearing judges said that a rehearing before the Nevada Supreme Court or a direct appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court could be ways to address the concerns Eastman raised.

A temporary restraining order has remained in effect until the court ruling.

In the letter to Pro, who presided over the hearing, Dickerson said his group has given "serious consideration" to either filing a writ in the U.S. Supreme Court or asking the Nevada Supreme Court for a rehearing on its ruling.

"We will therefore provide to the court by next Monday, July 21, 2003, at the latest either a notification that such action has been taken or a memorandum outlining what we believe to be the legal reasons why such action was not taken," Dickerson wrote.

"In the interim, we respectfully request that the TRO (temporary restraining order) be continued at least until we have had the opportunity to provide the court with thorough briefing on these often highly technical jurisdictional issues," the letter said.

Sandoval opposed the Dickerson plan, saying the state was facing "educational and fiscal emergencies." He said the attorney general's office is unable to respond because Dickerson didn't file motions for a continuance, extension of time or shortening of time, which would give Sandoval's office the opportunity for a formal reply.

During the oral arguments Wednesday, some of the judges questioned why the tax opponents did not take these steps previously. Federal District Judge Howard McKibben suggested that the 24 Republican legislators could have asked the Nevada Supreme Court to reconsider and clarify its order that allows a majority vote on taxes.

archive