Posted on 02/21/2017 7:12:31 PM PST by BackRoads775
The Nevada Policy Research Institute accused state Sen. Heidi Gansert of violating Nevada’s separation of powers clause in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
The lawsuit claims on behalf of plaintiff Doug French that Gansert, R-Reno, violates the state constitution by serving as a senator and working in the state’s executive branch as executive director for external relations at the University of Nevada, Reno.
“The bigger picture is that we need to put an end to this violation,” NPRI spokesman Michael Schaus said. “It’s happened in the past, and it seems to happen repeatedly, but it’s ignored by both parties. I don’t think anyone has successfully challenged it.”
According to the lawsuit, French wants Gansert’s state position and is “duly qualified” for it.
(Excerpt) Read more at reviewjournal.com ...
Sounds like double-dipping to me.
Nevada is one of the states which assumes its “citizen legislators” will have a full-time career separate from the very part-time work as a legislator. Their state senators get paid only around $9,000 per yr, plus expenses, so they would have to maintain their prior career unless they are supported by a spouse or a trust fund.
Still, it is an interesting constitutional problem, whether someone in any “executive branch” function, can be allowed to serve in the state legislature. It could be an oddity (as in this case) for a university administrator to be barred from serving in the legislature, when a university is somewhat remote from the Governor’s office. But if it still counts as “executive branch” then maybe the courts will force her to choose.
According to the Board of Regents Bylaws (http://system.nevada.edu/tasks/sites/Nshe/assets/File/BoardOfRegents/Handbook/T1CH01BylawsoftheBoardofRegents(1).pdf) the university is not part of either the executive or legislative branches of the State, having been established as a separate legal entity. Their interpretation appears to me to be consistent with the other parts of the constitution dealing with higher education.
That makes sense, therefore it does not apply.
Nothing logical applies to government.
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