Lawyers for the teachers' union said Thursday the judge who threw a Nevada version of California's property tax cap off the ballot does not have a conflict of interest.
We The People Nevada, headed by former Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, tried Wednesday to throw out the ruling by Senior Judge Charles McGee that removed the Proposition 13 style question off the November ballot. The group argued he shouldn't have handled the case because his wife is a longtime employee of the Washoe School District. And lawyer Joel Hansen said since the tax cap would reduce revenue to Washoe School District, the judge has a conflict in the case.
Teacher' union lawyers were given just one day to respond because the Supreme Court is considering whether to stay McGee's ruling pending an appeal by Angle's group.
Mike Dyer and Jim Penrose submitted a 10-page opposition brief saying that conflict doesn't exist because McGee's wife retired from the school district five years ago.
"The bulk of her income is received in the form of a retirement benefit to which she is entitled as a matter of statute and contract and which in any case is paid by the Nevada Public Employees Retirement System, not the district," they wrote.
They said that retirement benefit will continue no matter what happens with the proposed property tax cap and, therefore, the judge has no economic conflict of interest.
The brief says the same is true of her health benefit subsidy, which is also statutory and will continue no matter what the school district gets from property taxes.
"Judge McGee has no disqualifying interest in the outcome of this litigation and, accordingly, he was not required to recess himself."
The secretary of state's office also filed a brief opposing disqualification of McGee saying that would require doing the whole hearing over which would prevent the county clerks from meeting federal laws requiring they get absentee ballots to Americans abroad including troops serving in the Middle East.
They said it is simply too late and that any attempt to remove McGee from the case should have been done before the hearing, not afterward.
Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.