The Costs of Court Actions by Elected Officials, Monetarily and Otherwise
A recap of our weekly reporting plus bonus content.
Lawsuits and court actions are never good for most involved. These cost money and make people look bad.
These are needed if rules and laws really have been flouted, but when involving elected officials there’s often a disputed line on performative and necessary.
This week, there were oral arguments in a case with council member Jenny Brekhus seeking a special administrative hearing into claims of retaliation against her, and who is to blame for bad vibes at City Hall, Brekhus herself or Brekhus being targeted for not playing along with business as usual.
At issue specifically now is whether deadlines have been passed for this new hearing to even take place.
Over at the Washoe County School District Board of Trustees, a budget increase of half a million dollars was approved to fight lawsuits and open meeting law complaints brought against that body by one of its own members Jeff Church, who calls himself “the watchdog.”
The money would be used to hire outside counsel to address any other Church induced legal actions in the possible pipeline.
Dozens of previous Church complaints and lawsuits have already cost the district nearly $350,000.
It’s a soon to be closing local political chapter for Brekhus, who has often been isolated on city council, politically and otherwise, and might be one for Church as well.
Brekhus is in her third term, with a heated 2024 Ward 1 June 11th primary a prelude to who will replace her on our city body, while former teacher Christine Hull is running against Church for the District A Washoe County School Board of Trustees seat.
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