Judge kicks three rural officials off November ballot

CARSON CITY -- A district judge on Tuesday booted three rural Nevada elected officials off the November ballot because of the state's term limits.

District Judge Richard Wagner said the 12-year limit for officeholders applies in the cases of Todd Plimpton, a Pershing County School Board member, John H. Milton III, a Humboldt County commissioner, and Linda Schrempp, a Humboldt County School Board member.

This decision represents the first time a Nevada judge has decided candidates cannot run because of the term limits constitutional amendment, which was passed by voters in the 1994 and 1996 elections. The amendment prohibits officeholders from serving more than 12 years in the same office.

Wagner's decision comes just a week before the state Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether term limits should apply to many officials in four other counties, including Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury and Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas.

Unlike the district attorneys in Humboldt and Pershing counties, their counterparts in the four counties decided that term limits did not apply for the 2008 election. Secretary of State Ross Miller then asked the Supreme Court to decide the issue.

In his opinion, Wagner said "finality in this matter" must be determined by the Supreme Court.

He said county clerks in Pershing and Humboldt counties should expedite appeals to the Supreme Court for Plimpton, Milton and Schrempp.

Wagner said it was clear from reading the constitutional amendment that candidates were put on notice that if they have served 12 years in office and their term ends this year, then they are "ineligible to be placed on the ballot."

"When the people through the lawful and legitimate process amend the state constitution, as was done in this matter, to set eligibility for public office, it is not for the courts to set aside the clear intent of the people to frustrate their intent," Wagner said.

This ruling differs from an opinion offered by then-Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa three months before the term limits amendment received final approval in November 1996.

Del Papa said term limits would not begin to apply until the election in 1998.

Because of her opinion, 18 legislators who otherwise would be termed out this year have filed for re-election. They include Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, who first was elected in 1972.

Buckley was elected first in 1994.

The constitutional amendment did not specifically say when term limits were to begin. Las Vegas political consultant Sig Rogich, who led the campaign to put the matter before voters, did not object to Del Papa's opinion.

But in his opinion, Wagner said the constitutional provision "could easily have stated" that term limits applied only to future terms of office.

Yet he added that the "clear use of the English language," as written in the constitutional amendment," indicates if a person has 12 or more years in office, then he or she cannot run for office in 2008.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.