Officials, party to a lawsuit, have no sway

If not for a disputed new take on state election law, Boulder City Council members Travis Chandler and Linda Strickland would be facing a recall vote right now.

So why are they suing Secretary of State Ross Miller over the very thing that helped them keep their jobs?

The short answer is they aren't.

The long answer is a lot more complicated, and it has left some election officials and legal experts scratching their heads.

The story began in March, when Miller ruled that only voters who participate in the election of a public official should be allowed to sign a recall petition against that official.

His reading of the law effectively negated hundreds of signatures on petitions against Chandler and Strickland, dooming the recall to failure.

Recall organizers responded last week with a lawsuit challenging Miller's more-restrictive reading of election statutes. But instead of listing themselves as plaintiffs, they filed suit in the names Chandler and Strickland, neither of whom have the slightest interest in, or a thing to gain from, the court challenge.

Strickland was not amused.

"Quite frankly, I've never run across this is all my years of practice," said the councilwoman, herself an attorney since 1983. "To me this is a misrepresentation. When I saw it I said, 'You've got to be kidding me.'"

So why was it done that way?

"It's very simple," explained Craig Mueller, attorney for the recall organizers. "We just read the code."

Sure enough, Nevada Administrative Code 306.040 states that a challenge to a recall petition "must name as the plaintiff in the case the public officer who is the subject of the petition."

Mueller didn't believe it himself at first. He had an associate at his law firm double-check the code, then bring him a copy so he could read it himself.

"Did it seem weird to me? Yeah, it seemed weird," he said. "Welcome to practicing law in Nevada."

As for the case itself, Mueller likes his chances. All he has to do, he said, is tear down the kind of legal interpretation one might find in "an F paper in law school."

The state can no more grant different rights to voters based on their participation in previous elections than it can separate them by race or gender, Mueller said. "It's called equal protection under the law."

Though the goal is to force a recall vote on Chandler and Strickland, petition organizer Christine Milburn said the case has broader implications for Nevada and its election laws.

"This is bigger than Boulder City at this point. This is a huge deal," said the woman named in the lawsuit as one of three "real parties in interest."

The question is, does their status of plaintiffs, even involuntary ones, give Strickland and Chandler the authority to have the case tossed out before it can be heard?

Strickland doubts it. Other than being named, the two City Council members don't appear to have real any standing in the case.

In a letter to Mueller, Strickland is demanding he withdraw the lawsuit and have the documents filed so far sealed so a public-records search won't turn up her name in connection with the case.

She also sent letters to Miller and Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax explaining that, despite appearances to the contrary, she isn't really suing them.

"I have never been a plaintiff in a lawsuit. That may be no big deal to some people, but it is to me," Strickland said.

Mueller, who has no intention of withdrawing anything, is concentrating instead on preparing his legal arguments.

The lawsuit will be heard, at least at first, in district court in Carson City, where all recall-related litigation is required to be filed under state law.

Everyone involved in the case expects the issue to wind up before the Nevada Supreme Court at some point.

The Nevada attorney general's office has backed Miller's take on the law. The Legislative Council Bureau disagreed, arguing that any registered voter should be allowed to sign a petition to recall one of his or her elected representatives.

Despite her anger over the use of her name, the lawyer in Strickland can't help but wonder how the argument will be settled.

"It's going to an interesting fight," she said.