EDITORIAL: Granting public employees status unattainable for the mere common folk

Here we go again in Carson City with an effort to undermine open government and create an elite class of public employees who are afforded special protections unavailable to mere common folk.

It’s a biennial ritual in the state capital.

At issue are Senate Bills 6 and 79, which would allow various criminal justice officials to keep secret certain personal information in public databases. Under current law, a court may issue an order preventing public access to county assessor records for judges and law enforcement officers. The bills expand both the employee groups eligible for such treatment and the number of records that may be withheld.

The bills mirror similar proposals dating back more than a decade.

Testifying in support of the bills, Kim Kampling, an administrator in Clark County Justice Court, said she often gets threatening letters. Not to minimize her plight, but so do people in a whole host of private-sector professions who will never enjoy any such protections. Besides, law enforcement agents are more than capable of handling such cases without obliterating the state’s open record statutes.

Offering a more sensible perspective, Carson City Assessor Dave Dawley told lawmakers that the two bills undermine government transparency and could provide a safe harbor for shady public officials.

Legislators tempted to jump onboard these misguided measures ought to ponder recent developments from our neighbor to the west. On Monday, a federal judge blocked a California law that lets public officials shield private information from the internet if they fear for their safety.

Several Golden State lawmakers tried to invoke the law after pro-gun bloggers published the addresses and telephone numbers of legislators who had embraced various firearm restrictions. The judge ruled, however, that the prohibition ran afoul of the First Amendment.

“Any ruling that allows for the dissemination of true facts is good,” said David Snyder of the First Amendment Coalition. “I understand the safety concerns, but there are other ways to address that.”

Indeed. The same principle applies to the proposals percolating in the Nevada Senate. Senate Bills 6 and 79 would erode government accountability and further exacerbate the divide between the taxpayers who foot the bills and those who are supposed to toil in their service.