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Legislative Immunity

Robert Wechsler
I listened yesterday to the testimony of Kevin Powers, a member of the Nevada Legislative Counsel's office, to the House Committee considering the legislative immunity amendment I discussed in yesterday's blog post. He was very impressive, with all the facts and laws at his fingertips. But his defense and explanations fell short of convincing me (but apparently not the legislators) that the amendment is appropriate.

Robert Wechsler
The Nevada legislature is really going out of its way to make sure that its members, and no one else in the state, is protected by legislative immunity with respect to the state ethics commission. For a body that was afraid, without a court's blessing, to exclude its members from the state ethics commission's jurisdiction (to the extent a member is involved in legislative activity), it does not seem afraid, even before the appellate opinion in its legislative immunity case has been published,...
Robert Wechsler
The oral arguments before the Nevada Supreme Court in the Commission on Ethics v. Hardy appeal are now available in MP3 format, suitable for your media player.

It doesn't look as if the decision will be a good one for government ethics enforcement, certainly at the state level and, perhaps, at the local level, as well.

Robert Wechsler
Once again, it has been proven that placing ethics in the hands of prosecutors can be damaging to the cause of government ethics. The proof this time is in the state prosecutor's opposition to the Baltimore mayor's motion to dismiss criminal ethics charges against her, partially on account of legislative immunity.

In his opposition to the motion to dismiss...
Robert Wechsler
Yesterday, the Nevada legislative immunity case was argued before the state Supreme Court. The Las Vegas Sun reporter felt that the judges' questions favored the state legislator rather than the ethics commission. I'll let people know when the oral arguments audio goes up on the Supreme Court website.
Robert Wechsler
It had to happen soon:  a legislative immunity defense has been used in a local government ethics matter, albeit in a city where violations are criminally prosecuted. I happened upon it in my research on my last blog entry, about the Baltimore mayor's defenses of her taking gifts from a city developer when she was president of the city council.

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