Bruning says discrimination commission incompetent
The Legislature should disband the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission because it doesn’t properly investigate complaints, Attorney General Jon Bruning said Wednesday.
Bruning said his office will not be filing a lawsuit based on an NEOC decision because the person making the complaint is an illegal immigrant, and the NEOC investigators did not do their job well.
“This is another in a long line of cases that are not properly investigated or prepared,” Bruning said. “The NEOC has not done its job and the Legislature ought to consider shutting them down.”
But the NEOC executive director says Bruning is refusing to file this case because of his policy on immigration, not because of the quality of the investigation.
The case involves a Lincoln couple who filed a housing discrimination case contending their landlord treated them differently because of their ethnic origin. The landlord asked for their driver’s licenses, inquired about people not on the lease living in the apartment and then sent them an eviction notice.
The man making the complaint, the husband, told Bruning this week that he did not want the state to file a lawsuit because he was an illegal immigrant and he didn’t want witnesses getting in trouble for helping him.
“It is not the policy of this office to use state resources to provide nonemergency public benefits or assistance to undocumented or illegal aliens,” Bruning said in a meeting with several reporters and in a letter to the NEOC saying his office will not file a lawsuit.
But Anne Hobbs, executive director of the NEOC, says the agency doesn’t ask about immigration status because the law doesn’t say you have to be a citizen to be protected.
“First of all, this is a solid case,” she said. “We did not ask about their legal status. We asked how they were treated legally.”
Hobbs said the attorney general’s office has known about this case for several months, and this is the first time that the attorney general has complained about the quality of the investigation.
NEOC staff asked the attorney general’s office for advice about investigating the case before the case went to the commission for its decision and again after the agency sent the case to the attorney general’s office, she said. They got no complaints about the investigation, she said.
The commission found probable cause that discrimination occurred during its Feb. 15 meeting, she said.
Wednesday’s standoff is a continuation of a fight between the NEOC and Bruning over the attorney general’s responsibility for NEOC complaints.
Hobbs and commissioners have pointed out that in the past five years Bruning’s office has taken to court, at most, one of the 105 cases alleging aging and housing discrimination.
In late January Bruning said that he would take the next NEOC case if the NEOC board believed it was sufficient.
This tenant complaint was that next case.
Hobbs says that Bruning’s office is required under state law to take the cases that the commission believes are legitimate. In this case Bruning is breaking the law if he doesn’t file a lawsuit because the respondent, the owner of an apartment building, has asked the state to bring a lawsuit, she said.
But Bruning says state law allows him to decide which cases are taken to court, and he won’t spend taxpayer money on this case involving an illegal immigrant.
Bruning is refusing to follow state law because of his own policy on immigration, Hobbs said. The immigration status is the only issue mentioned in an April 2 letter from the attorney general’s office to the NEOC.
“I believe this is an issue about immigration and not about the quality of our investigations,” she said.
Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.
Bruning said his office will not be filing a lawsuit based on an NEOC decision because the person making the complaint is an illegal immigrant, and the NEOC investigators did not do their job well.
“This is another in a long line of cases that are not properly investigated or prepared,” Bruning said. “The NEOC has not done its job and the Legislature ought to consider shutting them down.”
But the NEOC executive director says Bruning is refusing to file this case because of his policy on immigration, not because of the quality of the investigation.
The case involves a Lincoln couple who filed a housing discrimination case contending their landlord treated them differently because of their ethnic origin. The landlord asked for their driver’s licenses, inquired about people not on the lease living in the apartment and then sent them an eviction notice.
The man making the complaint, the husband, told Bruning this week that he did not want the state to file a lawsuit because he was an illegal immigrant and he didn’t want witnesses getting in trouble for helping him.
“It is not the policy of this office to use state resources to provide nonemergency public benefits or assistance to undocumented or illegal aliens,” Bruning said in a meeting with several reporters and in a letter to the NEOC saying his office will not file a lawsuit.
But Anne Hobbs, executive director of the NEOC, says the agency doesn’t ask about immigration status because the law doesn’t say you have to be a citizen to be protected.
“First of all, this is a solid case,” she said. “We did not ask about their legal status. We asked how they were treated legally.”
Hobbs said the attorney general’s office has known about this case for several months, and this is the first time that the attorney general has complained about the quality of the investigation.
NEOC staff asked the attorney general’s office for advice about investigating the case before the case went to the commission for its decision and again after the agency sent the case to the attorney general’s office, she said. They got no complaints about the investigation, she said.
The commission found probable cause that discrimination occurred during its Feb. 15 meeting, she said.
Wednesday’s standoff is a continuation of a fight between the NEOC and Bruning over the attorney general’s responsibility for NEOC complaints.
Hobbs and commissioners have pointed out that in the past five years Bruning’s office has taken to court, at most, one of the 105 cases alleging aging and housing discrimination.
In late January Bruning said that he would take the next NEOC case if the NEOC board believed it was sufficient.
This tenant complaint was that next case.
Hobbs says that Bruning’s office is required under state law to take the cases that the commission believes are legitimate. In this case Bruning is breaking the law if he doesn’t file a lawsuit because the respondent, the owner of an apartment building, has asked the state to bring a lawsuit, she said.
But Bruning says state law allows him to decide which cases are taken to court, and he won’t spend taxpayer money on this case involving an illegal immigrant.
Bruning is refusing to follow state law because of his own policy on immigration, Hobbs said. The immigration status is the only issue mentioned in an April 2 letter from the attorney general’s office to the NEOC.
“I believe this is an issue about immigration and not about the quality of our investigations,” she said.
Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.
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