Commission blames Bruning for funding problem

 29 comment(s)  
 E-mail Story
 Print Story
  Share

 digg it!
 Facebook
 del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit

Text Size: 

Tools Sponsor

By NANCY HICKS / Lincoln Journal Star

The state’s equal opportunity agency may lose $250,000  a year in federal funding — all of its housing investigation funding — because Nebraska Attorney Gen. Jon Bruning refuses to take housing equal opportunity cases into court.

And the chairman of the Nebraska Equal Opportunity commission says he will write a letter to Bruning criticizing the attorney general’s  personal behavior during a recent private meeting with Commission Director Anne Hobbs on the issue.  

During that meeting, the attorney general "began to attack me and instructed my commission that they should fire or replace me as executive director," Hobbs said in a letter to Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers and during a Friday NEOC board meeting.  

[+]Enlarge

Jon Bruning

Jon Bruning

Others at the meeting said Bruning raised his voice and made personal comments about Hobbs.

In response to the criticism, the attorney general’s office said Bruning “is committed to building cases with NEOC that we can successfully prosecute.”  

Under state law, the attorney general’s office is required to file lawsuits in district court when a citizen whose housing discrimination case is determined to have merit asks for that help.

During the past five years, 39 citizens have asked for that help. According to Hobbs, the attorney general’s office has not filed a case.

And since Hobbs became director in 2005, the NEOC staff has worked “closely” with the attorney general’s office on nine cases. Two of those cases were settled out of court. No lawsuits  were filed by the attorney general’s office on the other seven, Hobbs said.

In addition, the attorney general’s office and NEOC staff have been unable to agree on a memorandum of understanding over guidelines for reviewing HUD cases, according to Commission Chairman Arnold Nesbitt.

 Because of the attorney general’s failure to file a civil action in housing cases, HUD officials have indicated they intend to decertify the NEOC, Hobbs wrote in the letter to Chambers.

That would eliminate the $250,000 in federal funding the state agency gets, about one-twelfth of the total budget, and all of the money used for housing complaints.  

All housing complaints would then be investigated by federal staff, Hobbs said in an interview Friday.

HUD has been so disturbed by the legal advice from the attorney general’s office in two cases that the federal agency has removed those cases from the state agency to be investigated by federal staff, Hobbs said.  

Bruning’s office said the attorney general does not have to take every housing case to court, despite state law. The response also suggests NEOC investigations on some cases would not  meet  requirements for success in court.

 The attorney general’s constitutional authority to select which cases to take into court trumps the requirement that the agency move forward with every case, said Chief Deputy Attorney General Dave Cookson.  

There is a difference in standards between evidence that can be used before the commission to determine if discrimination took place and evidence that can be succesfully used in court, he said.  

The attorney general’s office must also have “competent and reliable evidence,”  Cookson said.

This is similar to the  difference between decisions police officers make to arrest and prosecutors make to prosecute, he said.

Bruning has indicated to the NEOC that “we want to work with them to build cases that we can successfully prosecute,” Cookson said.

“Regardless of what disagreements we’ve had in the past, the attorney general personally made a commitment that he wanted to work to find a solution” to pursue these cases, Cookson said.

J.L. Spray, a Lincoln attorney and commission member, will work with the attorney general’s staff to resolve problems.  

NEOC Director Hobbs disagreed with the attorney general’s analysis of meritorious and strong cases.

"The commission is very aware that not every case has strong evidence — and we do not expect that our attorney general will pursue every case,” she wrote to Chambers.  

“But it appears that the AG cannon distinguish between robust cases and weaker cases — and perhaps does not recognize the various subtle shapes that discrimination may take."  

In addition, Chairman Nesbitt said he will write a letter to Bruning about his behavior during an Oct. 30 meeting involving three commissioners, the director, the attorney general and some of his staff.  

During that meeting, Nesbitt said, Bruning began attacking Hobbs and telling commission members they should fire Hobbs.

In his letter, Nesbitt said he will express his “concerns with a couple of the things that were said and the way people were treated.”

Commissioners said Bruning raised his voice and the criticism became personal.  

“This was not a professional meeting,” said Commissioner Betty Trumble, who attended the meeting.“

“The attorney became angry and leveled some very personal attacks at our executive director,” said Spray, who was at the meeting.

“And I was surprised that the meeting took on that context. We were making some some serious headway in resolving the dispute,” he said.    

Spray said he has been assured the attorney general’s office will work with the agency.

The attorney general agreed to be more aggressive in reviewing housing reports and offered to do  training, Spray said.

Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com