A Suit Against Council Members That Squares the Virtuous Circle of Conflict of Interest and Legislative Immunity
For all you local government legislative immunity fans, here's a case
you'll enjoy (other local government ethics people should find it
interesting, as well). A Virginia state senator has sued members of a
city council for what they did in their legislative capacity, despite
the fact that she knows she herself cannot be sued for what she's done
in her legislative capacity. That's a nice start, isn't it?<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://hamptonroads.com/2008/12/lawsuit-muddles-new-vote-sen-lucas-hote…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the </a><span><a href="http://hamptonroads.com/2008/12/lawsuit-muddles-new-vote-sen-lucas-hote…; target="”_blank”">Virginian-Pilot</a>,
</span>companies created and controlled by Virginia state senator
Louise
Lucas sued Portsmouth council members (and the council itself) for
rejecting her request for low-cost financing for a development in
Portsmouth. Lucas accused the council of rejecting her request because
its members wanted to control all conference
business in the city. She represents Portsmouth in the state senate.<br>
<br>
Lucas has again petitioned the city council with respect to a new
version of her development, and the issue is -- surprise, surprise --
do council members have a conflict of interest because they have been
sued? Should they all abstain from discussing or voting on Lucas's
requests? Consider also that Lucas is chair of the Senate Local
Government Committee and is accusing council members of racial
discrimination (she is an African-American).<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/583" target="”_blank”">As I've been saying</a>,
legislative immunity (nowhere mentioned in the article or <a href="http://hamptonroads.com/2008/12/sen-lucas-hurts-self-while-hurting-port…; target="”_blank”">the
editorial</a> that followed it) is just another conflict of interest
issue in masquerade.<br>
<br>
This is a fascinating situation. There are many issues not dealt with
above, such as whether a state senator should be allowed to seek
government funds for her businesses; the fact that her suing the city
attorney forces
the city to hire private attorneys; what is there to be done about an
elected official suing other elected officials elected by essentially
the same people?; can an elected official sue other elected officials
for racial discrimination against herself?<br>
<br>
The <a href="http://hamptonroads.com/2008/12/sen-lucas-hurts-self-while-hurting-port…; target="”_blank”"><span>Virginian-Pilot</span> editorial </a>is
one of the most condemnatory I've ever read. Toward the end, it says,
"By filing suit against the very people she represents, Lucas has
rendered herself useless in the state Senate, at least when it comes to
representing Portsmouth." If ever there were a case calling out for
legislative immunity to prevent a serious conflict of interest, this is
it. The case should be thrown out of court as soon as possible.<br>
<br>
The council members would be left angry at the senator, and hardly
could be expected to act fairly, but that's not something law or ethics
has much to say about.<br>
<br>
But most important for government ethics professionals is the fact that
this legislative immunity case has been treated as a conflict of
interest case, emphasizung how much of an ethics issue legislative
immunity is. Conflict of interest and legislative immunity do indeed sit
on opposite sides of a single <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/583" target="”_blank”">virtuous circle</a>.<br>
<br>
For more background, see <a href="http://hamptonroads.com/2008/12/sen-lucas-request-financing-convention-…; target="”_blank”">this
earlier article</a>.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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