Published Tuesday May 13, 2008
NE: Attorney general takes case to national TV
BY LESLIE REED
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

LINCOLN — Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning went national with his dispute with the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission Monday, appearing on a CNN talk show hosted by Lou Dobbs, a vocal advocate for tougher measures to stop illegal immigration into the U.S.

"We're not going to stand for discrimination — I'm just not going to be the free lawyer for an illegal who wants to get money from the citizens of this country," he told Dobbs in a brief interview.

Last month, Bruning called for the NEOC to be shut down after it forwarded him a housing discrimination case involving two undocumented Latino immigrants.

He said the case had been poorly investigated by the NEOC, because the agency failed to determine the immigration status of the couple, who complained they were given an eviction notice because of their national origin.

"Our taxpayers have had enough, and they don't want to see their state attorney representing illegal immigrants," Bruning told Dobbs. "Listen, if discrimination does occur against Nebraska citizens, I'm still going to act, the federal government is going to act, there's lots of ways to get redress."

Arnold Nesbitt, an Omaha railroad executive who serves as NEOC chairman, said Bruning is using the case to make political points.

"I saw nothing out of that (interview) except he got his three minutes on national TV," Nesbitt said.

Nesbitt said the commission's dispute with Bruning is over his reluctance to file discrimination lawsuits, not illegal immigration. He said the agency's federal funds have been jeopardized because Bruning has not pursued litigation in 17 housing discrimination cases referred to his office since January 2003. The case in dispute is the only one, to NEOC officials' knowledge, that involves undocumented immigrants.

"He has really turned this into his own personal political platform," Nesbitt said. "This was never about illegal immigration. To call to shut down an entire agency over something that is not our most common case, it's ludicrous."

The commission is a seven-member citizen board that screens housing and job discrimination complaints to determine if they have merit. When the commission finds reasonable cause to believe discrimination occurred, the cases can be resolved through an NEOC settlement and hearing process or filed in civil court.

The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development cut off the agency's funding for 30 days beginning in mid-April. It pays the NEOC $2,400 per case to investigate alleged violations of federal housing discrimination law, which generates about $250,000 per year for the state agency.

The agency has asked to hire its own attorney because Bruning has not taken up its cases. However, Bruning said he will not permit that because he believes the agency doesn't properly weed out unsubstantiated cases.

• Contact the writer: 402-473-9581, leslie.reed@owh.com