Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023 | 2 a.m.
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Editor’s note: As he traditionally does around this time every year, Brian Greenspun is turning over his Where I Stand column to others. Today’s guest is Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford.
When I was a candidate for attorney general in 2018, I met with now-Vice President Kamala Harris at a restaurant in the MGM Grand. The vice president, then a senator, had recently ended her term as attorney general of California.
As someone who was seeking that position in Nevada, we spoke about the responsibilities it entailed. She told me that as attorney general, she took to heart that her agency’s name was the California Department of Justice. Justice was at the core of the job.
Although the agency I head now, the Office of the Nevada Attorney General, may not have justice in its name, it certainly has justice at its heart. I remembered the conversation when I was sworn in and adopted the motto “Our Job is Justice.”
There are five guiding principles to ensure this motto is at the forefront of the work we do in the office of the attorney general — I call them the “Five C’s.” They are constitutional rights, criminal justice reform, consumer protection, client service and community engagement.
These five principles are the lodestar for the work our office does and the basis for how I make my decisions as attorney general. I chose these principles based on the concerns that Nevadans have expressed to me over my years in public service.
The “Five Cs” have been a successful standard for the office of the attorney general. I am exceedingly proud of what I and my office did in my first term, and as my second term continues, I see no reason to step away from the “Five Cs” and the success that focusing on their implementation has brought.
The “Five Cs” interact in various ways. Rarely do legal situations or considerations fit nicely into a box. For example, consumer protection and constitutional rights are distinct and important concepts, but they also work together as key elements to healthy and honest trade in our state and our society.
Justice in people’s day-to-day lives requires dignity, fairness and equity. It requires that a person not be turned away from services because of who they are. In a time of acute attacks on the LGBTQ+ community’s very right to exist, my office will stand as a legal bulwark against those who try to take away their rights. We have supported the right of the trans community to access necessary reproductive health care, and we have urged retailers like Target not to give in to potentially criminal anti-LGBTQ+ intimidation.
In addition, day-to-day justice cannot exist in the absence of honest transactions between people in the marketplace, at work or in caring for the most vulnerable among us.We live in a time in which scam tactics are increasing in both frequency and sophistication.
Due to the very nature of these crimes, they can be difficult to prosecute, as scammers tend to disappear skillfully. That is why we work diligently to educate the public, and why we rely on the public’s help in reporting the scams to which they may have fallen victim.
My Bureau of Consumer Protection is hard at work highlighting new scam tactics so Nevada consumers have the information they need to protect themselves. They do an excellent job of both protecting consumers and keeping them informed about potential scams and schemes that can impact their bank accounts or personal information.
We’ve made it a point to prioritize community engagement and to use what the public shares with us to better serve Nevadans. One of the most impactful examples was when we had virtual talks with members of our community to discuss the concerns they had in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd. The result of those listening sessions was the passage of two criminal justice reform bills in the 2021 legislative session that severely curtailed no-knock warrants and allowed our office to undertake “pattern-or-practice” investigations.
In this year’s legislative session, we used the “Five C’s” to ensure that we were addressing the needs of Nevadans in many different ways. We urged and won passage of criminal justice reform bills that allowed my office to investigate organized retail crime; that made it easier for law enforcement to respond to domestic violence incidents; that made it easier to go after those trafficking in fentanyl; and that requires a psychosexual evaluation for anyone convicted of soliciting a child for prostitution.
We saw passage of consumer protection bills that imposed civil penalties on tobacco retailers that sell tobacco products to those under 21 and that increased financial protections for older, vulnerable adults. We amended the Nevada Whistleblower Protection Act; made changes to the state open meeting law; and gave government attorneys the ability to participate in pro bono mediation, all in the spirit of community engagement and client services.
It is my job to uphold justice for everyone throughout Nevada, regardless of their socioeconomic status, gender, race, age, sexual orientation or creed. If you are in our state, I consider you part of our Nevada family, and we work to protect you. Please, reach out to our office if you need our help. If we cannot provide the service you need, we’ll point you to someone who can.
We want to hear from you, even if it’s to help come up with the sixth “C.” Our Job is Justice, yes, but our employer is you.
