Thread: Nebraska: Bruning says discrimination commission incompetent

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April 3, 2008

Bruning says discrimination commission incompetent

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- Attorney General Jon Bruning said on Wednesday that the Legislature should consider shutting down a state commission that handles cases of alleged housing and age discrimination.

Bruning said the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission bungled a recent case of alleged housing discrimination against two illegal immigrants, arguing that it adds to a pattern of incompetence displayed by the commission.

"NEOC is not properly investigating these cases ... and the board is exercising no oversight," he said. "Perhaps the Legislature should consider shutting them down altogether."

Bruning said the couple that filed the original complaint with NEOC alleging discrimination asked his office not to file a lawsuit on their behalf, and that his office would not spend tax dollars helping illegal immigrants anyway.

The director of the commission, Anne Hobbs, said Bruning is the one who mishandled the case and accused him of being negligent by not prosecuting many other cases the commission brings to his office. She argued that state law gives all people protection from housing discrimination, not just legal residents.

Bruning and the commission have been at odds for months. Hobbs believes Bruning's office is required under state law to take to court cases NEOC believes are legitimate. Bruning maintains that his office is charged with making final decisions on what cases are taken to court.

Of the dozens of cases of alleged discrimination that the commission has brought to Bruning's office over the last five years, Hobbs has said, only one of them has been prosecuted.

"I have a big issue with the attorney general refusing to follow Nebraska state law," Hobbs said.

The most recent case involves a Lincoln couple that filed a complaint with the commission alleging they were discriminated against by their landlord. According to both Hobbs and Bruning, the landlord asked the complainants to provide drivers' licenses after becoming concerned that too many people were living in the apartment.

Bruning said such a request is not unusual, with landlords often asking for documentation from tenants. The new landlord, he said, had discovered he did not have the tenants' drivers' licenses on record.

But Hobbs said the request was an example of how "one individual was treated differently than everybody else because of national origin."

Bruning said the investigative work handed over to his office was shoddy, and called the case "another in a long line of cases not properly investigated."

Hobbs said Bruning's office never asked for more information on the case even when asked.

After the NEOC voted to forward the case onto the Attorney General's Office, the complainants contacted the office. Bruning said they asked the office not to proceed with a lawsuit on their behalf, fearing it would land them and others in trouble because they were illegal immigrants.

Bruning said it was the first time his office had heard the complainants were illegal immigrants.

Hobbs said the commission does not ask complainants whether they are legal residents.

Bruning's office wouldn't have moved ahead with the case even if the complainants had not backed out.

"It is not the policy of this office to use state resources to provide non-emergency public benefits or assistance to undocumented or illegal aliens," Assistant Attorney General Tom Stine wrote in a letter to Hobbs.

A bill supported by Bruning that would have required state and local agencies to verify that residents applying for state benefits are legal U.S. residents died in the Legislature earlier this year.

The Attorney General's Office said that it is required to act on behalf of state agencies, but has discretion over what cases to accept from people outside state government.

Bruning said he decided not to notify immigration officials of the couple's illegal residency status. He doubted they would have the time to do anything about it.

www.siouxcityjournal.com

Bruning said the couple that filed the original complaint with NEOC alleging discrimination asked his office not to file a lawsuit on their behalf, and that his office would not spend tax dollars helping illegal immigrants anyway.

The director of the commission, Anne Hobbs, said Bruning is the one who mishandled the case and accused him of being negligent by not prosecuting many other cases the commission brings to his office. She argued that state law gives all people protection from housing discrimination, not just legal residents.

Federal law is supreme and being in this country illegally violates federal laws. Bruning's duty includes reporting known illegal aliens.