EDITORIAL: Around the world in 80 days, Nevada style
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat, has signed onto 33 lawsuits challenging the Trump administration. It’s a miracle that he found the time for such activism, given that he travels more than Dora the Explorer.
An analysis of Mr. Ford’s calendar by Review-Journal investigative reporters reveals that he was away from Nevada for more than a third of 2024. His itinerary included France, Taiwan, Singapore and Mexico. He hit at least 20 states, from Washington to Florida, from California to Massachusetts.
Mr. Ford, who is seeking his party’s gubernatorial nomination, isn’t the first politician to succumb to wanderlust, of course, and many of the trips featured legal conferences or workshops. A spokesman for Mr. Ford said campaign or personal funds and sponsoring organizations — which can include lobbyists and corporations — covered the cost of his out-of-state travel.
When he wasn’t jet-setting around the country and the globe, Mr. Ford managed to join his fellow Democratic attorneys general in nearly three dozen lawsuits against President Donald Trump’s agenda. The legal actions touched a wide array of subjects including White House tariff proposals, budget cuts and immigration policies.
Mr. Ford insists that such lawsuits are necessary “to protect Nevadans from any harm or danger, especially from the federal government when they’re breaking the law and/or violating our sovereignty.” Fair enough. Yet only a fool would believe there isn’t a partisan motive behind many of the lawsuits. The attorney general, after all, stood by in silence when the Biden administration unilaterally canceled billions in student loan debt and co-opted the property rights of U.S. landlords with an illegal eviction moratorium.
Most troubling, however, is the attorney general’s reluctance to provide details in a timely manner on his travel and the taxpayer costs of his judicial activism.
It took Mr. Ford four months to release his 2024 calendar, and he has yet to make public his 2025 schedule. Other state officials — including Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo — provided the information within weeks. Meanwhile, the attorney general’s office has slow-walked Review-Journal records requests regarding the costs of the anti-Trump lawsuits, now saying the information will be released in January.
Too many Nevada public agencies — at both the state and local level — routinely flout the state’s open records law, which recognizes the importance of fostering “democratic principles” through open government and accountability. But Mr. Ford is the state’s top-ranking law enforcement official. That his office wouldn’t make compliance with this vital state statute a high priority is a disappointment, to say the least.
