• Background.

  In Nevada the Nevada Attorney General is tasked with fundamental conflicts of interests. The Attorney General is responsible for providing legal advice to state agencies, to enforce laws and take action when state officials and employees break those laws, and to defend the state, state officials and employees when citizens bring complaints against the state. Nonetheless the prevailing responsibility of the Attorney General is to ensure that Nevada's laws are followed. Our experiences give us concerns that reigning in lawless state officials is not a priority in this administration.

• in 2008 a complaint was presented to the Attorney General's Office regarding the Department of Agriculture using state personnel and state equipment (computers) to go out onto the internet and defame horse advocates.
  • The A.G.'s proposed solution was that the Department would say it was sorry if the advocates promised not to ever say bad things about the Department.

• In 2008 State Veterinarian Phil LaRussa was caught on tape trying to extort favors from advocates. A complaint was brought to the Attorney General's office. The office "lost" the file.
  • LaRussa threatened to use his position to kill orphan foals if advocate Shirley Allen didn't agree to sign an illegal cooperative agreement and advocate Willis Lamm didn't agree to send out thousands of emails stating that LaRussa's boss, Tony Lesperance, was doing a great job and if Lamm didn't agree to participate in a "photo op" in front of the State Legislature shaking Lesperance's hand.

  • At a public meeting in Dayton, Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto personally promised that her office would investigate and take appropriate action. Her office lost the file, then lost a copy of the recording, then fumbled around with the case, then nothing happened.

  • Subsequently LaRussa was audiotaped telling NDoA employee Mike Holmes to knock a foal in the head and throw it in the landfill. The A.G.'s response was to question whether the recording was legal under the state's surreptitious surveillance law. (The surveillance law applies to clandestine videotaping, not recording a conversation where the person recording was one of the parties actively engaged in the conversation.)

• In October, 2008, the Nevada Department of Agriculture dumped a transport load of 33 horses onto the Oregon based Whispering Winds Equine Rescue through the use of falsified paperwork.
  • The operators of Whispering Winds came to Nevada, brought their documents and filed a complaint with the Attorney General's Office. The Attorney General's solution was that Whispering Winds could return the horses to the Department, but that Whispering Winds would have to pay for the Coggins tests, health certificates and shipping charges. (The general impression was that the Attorney General dismissed this fraud as a "clerical error.")

• Subsequent to the Whispering Winds horse dumping, the Department engaged in a series of illegal sales of Virginia Range horses.
  • The Attorney General's office dismissed those matters as "clerical errors."

• In December, 2009, horses were clandestinely sold to kill buyer Ole Olsen. Two state employees, a state pickup, trailer and fuel transported the horses from Carson City to Elko.
  • A representative of the Chicago based Equine Welfare Alliance submitted a formal request for an investigation. The EWA representative was told, "Horses don't commit crimes."

• Virginia Range horses are presently at the Fallon Livestock Exchange awaiting sale, even though the legally required estray and sale notices were never published nor were the horses branded as required by law.
  • The position of the Attorney General's office is that these repeated and clearly documented violations of state laws by state officials "have no merit."

• Since the Attorney General apparently refuses to make good on her promises made during a public meeting, the advocates are exercising their First Amendment rights and are taking this issue to the streets.
  • The advocates would rather not have a showdown. What they are looking for is a solution.

Please review the related documents

• Talking Points: Tony Lesperance and the Dept. of Agriculture

• Media Talking Points

• October 20th Protest Announcement

This document is still under development and additional material may be added.

The protest is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, October 20, 2010 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM in front of the Office of the Attorney General, 100 N. Carson St., Carson City, NV.