Columnist Jeff German: Property rights take center stage

Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2005 | 11:09 a.m.

The national debate over the abuse of eminent domain laws is coming to Nevada.

Former District Judge Don Chairez is kicking off a ballot initiative today for a constitutional amendment to create a property owners' bill of rights in the state.

Chairez planned to file the petition, which he believes is the first of its kind in the nation, with the Nevada secretary of state's office.

The campaign, first reported here last month, seeks to prohibit what Chairez and others see as the most abusive form of eminent domain -- the ability of local governments to seize property from one private entity and give it to another in the name of redevelopment.

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote, sanctioned the practice in a June ruling related to a Connecticut redevelopment case, setting off a political backlash across the country.

Chairez and his supporters, who have tapped into that growing opposition, hope to persuade Nevadans to join the cause during the 2006 campaign season. They've formed a committee to gather signatures to qualify the petition for the 2006 ballot.

The bipartisan committee has come up with an appropriate acronym for the grass-roots campaign -- PISTOL, the People's Initiative to Stop the Taking of Our Land.

Besides Chairez, a Republican, PISTOL committee members include utra-conservative politico Richard Ziser and two Democrats, longtime property rights attorney Kermitt Waters and former Nevada Supreme Court Justice Charles Springer.

Also on the committee are former Sen. Chic Hecht, R-Nev., and businessman Harry Pappas, two downtown property owners who had unpleasant eminent domain experiences with Las Vegas.

More than a decade ago, land owned by both men on Fremont Street was seized from them to make room for the Fremont Street Experience.

Chairez, who has run for Congress and the Nevada Supreme Court in the past, says he expects to have no trouble collecting signatures in the petition drive.

This is, after all, a "populist movement," he said.

"I think people essentially feel that their elected officials aren't accountable to them," Chairez said. "When they see the U.S. Supreme Court saying it's OK for a local government to take somebody's land and give it to a developer who can create a larger tax base, people get alarmed."

The petition also seeks to level the playing field for the little guy in all eminent domain cases. It would put the burden on local governments to prove that land being taken is for public use.

And it would require "just compensation" to the property owner.

But to Chairez, there's an even bigger picture here.

"People have always felt that property rights are sacred," he said. "But if that's no longer the case in the eyes of the nation's highest court, what rights are they going to whittle away next? First Amendment rights? Fourth Amendment rights? Sixth Amendment rights?

"At some point people have to take a stand."