Past Ethics Complaint Against Nebraska AG Was Dismissed After Legal Review

From Nebraska Examiner:

By Paul Hammel

September 23, 2022

LINCOLN — An ethics complaint against Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson after the 2020 election was rejected after a legal review concluded that his support of a lawsuit challenging the counting of votes in 2020 wasn’t “purely political.”

Then-State Sen. Ernie Chambers had filed a complaint against Peterson shortly after the 2020 election. He charged that the state’s top lawyer had violated a legal code of conduct for participating in a “frivolous” lawsuit — a Texas-led effort to overturn the defeat of President Donald Trump in four battleground states.

The complaint was similar to one filed Wednesday by a national group, The 65 Project, which is targeting GOP attorneys general who joined in the Texas effort, maintaining that the legal challenge made false claims and was aimed at discrediting U.S. elections.

The new complaint prompted the Examiner to seek a copy of the resolution of the 2020 complaint by Chambers. The report had not previously been made public but was described Wednesday as a “thorough” exoneration by a spokeswoman for Peterson.

In a three-page letter, released late Thursday by the AG’s office, the Nebraska Counsel for Discipline’s Office — which reviews and prosecutes cases of misconduct by lawyers — rejected Chambers’ complaint.

Kent Frobish, the assistant counsel for discipline, said the amicus brief that Peterson joined in support of the Texas lawsuit was “not devoid of legal propositions supported by case law and argument.”

“Your primary allegation is that Mr. Peterson acted out of a purely political motive and because you disagree with his motive, you believe that equals unethical conduct,” Frobish wrote.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the Texas challenge. But just because the arguments advanced were not successful, Frobish said, does not mean a lawyer acted unethically.

The complaint by Chambers was also rejected by another member of the Counsel for Discipline’s Office, John Steele, who died before his report was released. Steele concluded that Peterson felt there were important legal issues to be raised.

Frobish, who was asked to review Steele’s determination, agreed, and rejected an assertion by Chambers that the public reaction to Peterson’s legal move was proof he had “brought discredit” to himself and the legal profession. Forty other grievances, Frobish said, had been filed against Peterson’s legal action and similarly rejected.

“This is not a popularity contest,” Frobish wrote in the Feb. 3, 2021, letter. “Even if 99% of the citizens of Nebraska disagreed with Mr. Peterson’s position, it would not prove a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct.”

The Counsel for Discipline does not confirm or deny whether a complaint has been filed against an attorney, though the filer of a complaint can make that public.

The discipline office also does not make public the results of a complaint unless it results in formal disciplinary charges. But a party to the complaint can make a resolution public if they chose to.

Nebraskans want accountability from their elected officials and government. They want to know whether their tax dollars are being well-spent, whether state agencies and local governments are responsive to the people and whether officials, programs and policies are working for the common good. The Nebraska Examiner is a nonprofit, independent news source committed to providing news, scoops and reports important to our state.