Gadfly with video camera stalls PUC hearings

Angel DeFazio was cited for trespassing at a public meeting on Monday — something she did not know was possible.

The start of a three-day spate of planned Nevada Public Utilities Commission fact-finding hearings was held up for more than four hours after DeFazio, a longtime PUC gadfly, tried to film the start of the public meeting against the wishes of presiding Commissioner David Noble.

Those in attendance at the start of the hearing said Noble stopped proceedings and personally confronted DeFazio over the camera equipment, before calling Metro to have the camera removed.

Hours later, Noble apologized for the delay and resumed the hearing while police escorted DeFazio out of the building and issued her a trespassing citation in the parking lot.

Her crime, according to police and the PUC, was refusing to leave the meeting after "disrupting" a quasi-judicial proceeding by recording the hearing without first securing Noble's permission.

DeFazio — who said she works as a volunteer reporter with the Vegas Voice, a monthly newspaper aimed at retirees — said she's filmed hundreds of similar hearings in the past and never once been told to leave.

She said Monday's move was simply meant to stop her from publicizing the meeting.

"For the last four years I have videotaped every time that I can," said the 62-year-old, self-described "environmental activist."

"They don't want me to have a record or to be able to inform the public," she said.

Noble could not be reached for comment.

PUC general counsel Carolyn Tanner said the hearing — meant to gather information on why and how NV Energy plans to spend its money over the next two decades — was a quasi-judicial proceeding not covered under Nevada's open meeting law.

She likened the meeting to hearings in front of the Nevada Supreme Court and said Noble was well within his rights to delay proceedings pending removal of the offending video equipment.

Tanner, who warned DeFazio not to film the meeting in a Thursday email, said she could continue to videotape commission meetings "to the extent that they are not disruptive."

Moments after DeFazio was escorted from the building, a Review-Journal reporter managed to capture several minutes of video on an iPhone without disrupting the hearing.

That's one of many reasons Nevada Assemblywoman Shelly Shelton — who attended the hearing and filmed much of DeFazio's interaction with police — said the incident warrants additional scrutiny, perhaps even a legal opinion from Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt.

"It doesn't seem like there's been a problem (with DeFazio) in the past," Shelton said. "It seems like maybe an opinion would be in order."

Laxalt did not return a phone call seeking comment late Monday.

A statement issued by a PUC spokeswoman said the commission "looks to Nevada court rules and statutes" to guide how it addresses quasi-judicial proceedings.

Nevada Press Association Executive Director Barry Smith said they might want to give those statutes another look.

"Unless they can point to a court ruling or another statute, this makes it clear that 'quasi-judicial' meetings are subject to the Open Meeting Law," Smith wrote in an email to the Review-Journal, referring to Nevada Revised Statute 241.016. "A couple of commissions are specifically exempt, but not the PUC — at least, not that I'm aware of."

DeFazio plans to fight the trespassing charge, which is set for a hearing in Clark County Justice Court on Dec. 07.

Contact James DeHaven at jdehaven@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3839. Find him on Twitter: @JamesDeHaven.