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Court: Law ‘tends to chill the exercise of First Amendment rights…’
Thursday, July 29, 2010 | 4:26 p.m.
CARSON CITY – A key portion of Nevada’s ethics law prohibiting public officials from voting certain cases has been declared a violation of the constitutional right of free speech, the state Supreme Court has ruled.
The court, in a 5-1 decision Thursday, ruled the law as applied to Sparks City Councilman Michael Carrigan was overbroad and “tends to chill the exercise of First Amendment rights…”
A section of the ethics law says a public official shall not vote on issues involving a member of his household, a relation, an employer or one with whom he has a business relationship.
The section that was declared invalid said the public official shall not vote where there is “Any other commitment or relationship that is substantially similar to a commitment or relationship described in this subsection.”
The court, in the majority opinion written by Justice Michael Douglas, said the language in that section of the law does not inform or guide the public officer as to what relationships require him to abstain.
“Thus, the statute has a chilling effect on the exercise of protected speech, for it threatens punishment for noncompliance which ‘deters people from engaging in constitutionally protected speech,’” wrote Douglas.
Justice Kristina Pickering dissented saying the decision of the majority is a mistake “that I fear opens the door to much litigation and little good.”
She said the law regulates when an official may or may not vote, not how he or she should vote.
“Its justification lies in avoiding corruption or the appearance of corruption and in promoting the public’s faith in the integrity of its local government,” she wrote.
Councilman Carrigan had a longtime personal and professional friend Carlos Vasquez who served as his campaign manager. Vasquez worked as a consultant for the Red Hawk Land Company that wanted to build a hotel-casino called the Lazy 8.
The application came before the Sparks City Council. Carrigan asked the Sparks City attorney for guidance and was advised to disclose on the record the relationship with Vasquez before voting.
Carrigan read his disclosure and then voted. He was in the minority for approval. After the voting, the state Commission on Ethics received several complaints about Carrigan’s vote.
The ethics commission censured him. Carrigan filed suit but former Carson City District Judge Bill Maddox upheld the action of the ethics commission. The Supreme Court however overturned the finding of the ethics commission, finding the law was too broad.
Chief Justice Ron Parraguirre did not participate in the decision.
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Ethics and Nevada politics are two mutually exclusive subjects, and will continue as such.
So conflict of intrest is now legal?
WTF!
That portion of the law is indeed terribly written (sad what makes it past people who don't actually read the legislation they pass), so I agree with J. Douglas's majority opinion. However, I agree with the principle behind the law, so it needs to be rewritten without such broad generalization and reinstituted. A friendship, past and/or present, certainly constitutes a conflict of interest (to second the minority opinion and nez212's rhetorical question).