Friday, July 18, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

RECALL CAMPAIGN: Activists to target six justices

Groups also plan initiatives on fund raising, Legislature

George Harris, chairman of the Nevada Republican Liberty Caucus, on Thursday announces a statewide bid to recall six Nevada Supreme Court justices, ban public employees from serving in the Legislature and prohibit the gaming industry from making political campaign contributions. Photo by Craig L. Moran.

A coalition of political activists, appalled with last week's Nevada Supreme Court decision to temporarily set aside a voter-approved constitutional amendment, on Thursday began a campaign to recall six of the high court's seven justices.

Nevadans for Sound Government also will launch initiative petitions to ban public employees from serving as legislators and prohibit gaming companies from making campaign contributions.

And Gov. Kenny Guinn's decision to involve the judiciary in legislative matters could prompt supporters to launch a recall effort against him as soon as next week, said George Harris, chairman of the Nevada Republican Liberty Caucus.

The caucus is one of about 40 conservative groups uniting as one statewide coalition. Harris announced the efforts in front of the Sawyer Building to a crowd of about 60 anti-tax supporters.

"Nothing has ever been done like this before. We've never had the Supreme Court of the state of Nevada be so blatant about disregarding the will of the people," Harris said.

Last week's Supreme Court ruling held that the state's constitutional obligation to fund public education was more important than the constitutional requirement for the Legislature to pass tax increases with at least a two-thirds supermajority. Voters approved the supermajority requirement in 1996.

The high court ruled that for the current special legislative session, tax increases could be passed with a simple majority vote of the Assembly and Senate.

But Harris and his conservative allies hold other parties responsible for the Supreme Court's decision and the Legislature's impasse over proposed record tax increases: the gaming industry and public employees in the Legislature.

"The people of Nevada do not take kindly to their constitution being trampled on by special interest groups."

Harris did not say when the group would file the recall effort with the secretary of state, a step that would start a 90-day countdown to collect more than 110,000 voter signatures for each justice.

If successful, a special election would be scheduled. Should a justice be recalled, Guinn would pick a replacement from among three names chosen by a judicial selection commission.

To get the initiatives on the ballot, the coalition has six months to collect an amount of signatures equal to 10 percent of the number of voters in the 2002 general election in 13 of Nevada's 17 counties.

No state official has ever been recalled from office, and no petition has ever been circulated to do so, state Archivist Guy Rocha said.

"This is really confrontational politics," Rocha said. "They're bringing in ideas that are even more conservative than some of the conservative Republicans here in Nevada. They're almost libertarian."

"We're in uncharted waters, and we're seeing things where we can't look at the past for guidance," he said.

Guinn asked the court intervene in the legislative impasse after lawmakers failed to pass the $1.65 billion, two-year public schools budget by the start of the current fiscal year.

Most of the activists who attended the announcement criticized Chief Justice Deborah Agosti for authoring the decision to set aside the supermajority requirement. The recall effort also targets the five justices who sided with Agosti: Bob Rose, Mark Gibbons, Miriam Shearing, Nancy Becker and Myron Leavitt.

Only Justice Bill Maupin dissented from the majority opinion.

"Where did Justice Agosti get the power to take away our rights with the stroke of a pen?" said Joel Hansen of the Independent American Party, who spoke at the rally.

The possibility the justices' decision could end up in the U.S. Supreme Court prohibited Agosti from commenting about the recall effort, she said.

"It's frustrating for me because I'm not in a position where I can defend myself," she said. "I wish I could."

Justice Myron Leavitt said the threat of recall was not yet viable.

"They're just talking at this point. ... If they file a petition, then I'll have plenty to say," Leavitt said. "It will be unsuccessful; that's my opinion."

Other justices targeted by the campaign did not return calls from the Review-Journal.

Harris said the coalition has 6,817 volunteers lined up statewide to collect the necessary signatures.

Gary Peck, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, warned that a recall effort could politicize the court. The ACLU has bemoaned the high court's ruling.

"The idea that when judges make a ruling that the people don't like, they ought to seek their immediate removal from the bench, is itself a threat to the rule of the law," Peck said.

But recall supporters said they want a judicial body more sensitive to public opinion.

"We don't want activist judges legislating from the bench," said Paul Willis, chairman of the Nevada Republican Rural Caucus. "When they overstep their bounds, who is the last defense? The citizens."

Other activists blamed lawmakers who collect government paychecks outside of the Legislature for the acceleration of government spending over the past 20 years.

The Nevada Families Eagle Forum, which will join the new coalition, said 23 legislators serve in other governmental capacities when not in session.

But Assemblyman Jason Geddes, R-Reno, environmental affairs manager for the University of Nevada, Reno, said he does not think a conflict of interest exists for him to vote on funding bills concerning higher education.

"There are people from all walks of life in our state Legislature," Geddes said. "We don't have full-time politicians. Frankly, the bills we deal with every day affect everybody."

Geddes said that if the state prohibited gaming corporations from contributing to political funds, they should not allow other businesses to lobby.

"They are the largest employer and the largest industry, so naturally they would have the largest influence," he said. "It's unfair to single out any industry, regardless of what they do."

The gaming industry in 2002 spent more than $14.4 million on political campaigns: $8.2 million on campaigns for federal offices and $6.2 million on campaigns for state offices across the country, according to campaign finance reports.

Harris said Louisiana, Illinois and New Jersey have campaign finance laws in place that restrict gaming contributions.