Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

From racism controversy to court: Hansen faces animal-trapping charge

Tesla Special Session Sept. 11, 2014

Cathleen Allison / AP

Nevada Assemblyman Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, speaks on the Assembly floor during the second day of a special session at the Nevada Legislature on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2014, in Carson City.

Facing a misdemeanor charge for illegally setting animal traps, embattled Nevada Assemblyman Ira Hansen will appear today in a Churchill County court.

Hansen, who’s had conflicts over trapping during the past three decades, said he’s innocent and is the target of a vendetta spurred by the Nevada Department of Wildlife. Hansen said he expects the judge to dismiss the case.

“I know the law inside and out,” he said. “These guys tried to set me up.”

Hansen’s court appearance is the latest development in a “heavily contested” dispute between the Sparks lawmaker and the wildlife department, said Chelsea Sanford, a Churchill County deputy district attorney.

Wildlife officials said Hansen violated state law in November 2013 by setting four animal traps known as snares within 200 feet of public roadways. But Hansen, a professional trapper, contends the snares he used were not subject to the 200-foot rule. At issue is a technical discrepancy over the design of the snares.

The wildlife department assembled a case and handed it over to the Churchill County district attorney, which reviewed the evidence and charged Hansen.

Hansen said he could have paid the wildlife department $100 to end the dispute. But he wanted to fight it in court “on principle.”

The case tops what’s been a roller coaster month for Hansen.

On Friday, Gov. Brian Sandoval asked him to step down as the Assembly speaker-elect amid a controversy that arose when newspaper columns written several years ago by Hansen resurfaced. National groups and state lawmakers condemned him last week for producing commentary that was insensitive to minorities, women and members of the LGBT community. The columns were written between 1994 and 2010. Hansen, who was chosen as speaker by Assembly Republicans after the GOP won back both chambers of the Legislature on Nov. 4, officially resigned his speaker seat on Sunday but will remain an assemblyman.

Hansen said he was sorry if his remarks offended people but claimed the controversy was a political attack orchestrated by proponents of a tax increase that he would have fought against as speaker.

Outside of politics, Hansen is a well-known trapper in Nevada’s sporting community.

Since 1980, six different game wardens in four different counties have cited Hansen. The wildlife department has flagged him for using nonregistered traps, unlawfully possessing a mountain lion, transporting wildlife without a permit and shooting a meadowlark.

At $300, the total cost of all the violations was less than a major speeding ticket.

He was last cited in 2004 but was found not guilty in trial.

Hansen has been an outspoken critic of department policies since the 1990s. Before he was a lawmaker, he objected to department budget increases. He panned the department’s method of calculating the number of big-game animals illegally killed each year.

In October 2013, Hansen filed criminal complaints with the attorney general and the Reno Police Department, alleging the wildlife department denied him timely access to public records after filing a request. But the complaints were thrown out several months later.

In his complaints, Hansen blamed the chief game warden, Rob Buonamici, for the delays. Hansen wrote that Buonamici, who’s since departed as game warden, should be charged with a felony and removed from his position “for having so blatantly violated the public trust and abused the power of his position.”

A month later, the department began its investigation against Hansen regarding the trapping violations.

“That was clearly retaliation for going after going Buonamici,” Hansen said.

The state wildlife department has never held a grudge against Hansen, said Chris Healy, a spokesman for the department.

“And there will not be no matter what happens in this case,” Healy said.

If he’s found guilty, Hansen will attempt to reform the wildlife department with legislation.

He’s sponsoring a bill to “clarify” and “revise” regulations regarding “the trapping of fur-bearing animals.”

If he’s found not guilty, the bill will die because a precedent will be set, he said.

“If I am found guilty, we need to make the law clear so nobody else has to go through this phony baloney process,” he said.

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