Founding Father, Alexander Hamilton, wrote in Federalist Paper #26 “…the state legislatures, who will always be not only vigilant, but suspicious and jealous guardians of the rights of the citizens, against encroachments from the federal government...”

This post is about Victor Fuentes of Amargosa Valley and how the members of the Nevada Legislature have utterly failed in protecting Mr. Fuetes from federal encroachment.

Victor Fuentes fled communist Cuba to live the American Dream. He found a nice, stream-fed piece of land in the Amargosa Valley and founded Ministerio Roca Sólida (Solid Rock Ministry) Church with his wife, Annette.

“There was a beauty to that land. It was a peaceful place for us as believers to go and rejoice”, Fuentes stated of the land. With donations from their church members, their own funds, and lots of hard work, Patch of Heaven opened its doors. And by 2010, the camp was booked nearly every weekend.

This is where the Fuentes' nightmare begins.

In 2010, the US Fish & Wildlife Service decided that the stream were to be diverted. Once diverted, the stream and pond went dry. Just three weeks later, a heavy rainfall broke the earthen dams, flooding the entire camp, destroying the grazing areas of the camp’s livestock and causing thousands of dollars of damage to buildings.

The US Fish & Wildlife Service has refused to compensate Mr. Fuentes for the damage and the Center for Justice and Constitutional Litigation is now representing Mr. Fuentes to collect damages.

This is where I get upset.

The Nevada Legislature, our elected officials, are the ones responsible for protecting our Rights. This issue has been going on for just over a year and not a peep to be heard from our representatives.

Each and every one of our elected officials took an Oath to support, protect and defend the Nevada and U.S. Constitutions. In other words, to protect our Constitutional Rights. Alexander Hamilton was clear the the purpose of the State Legislature was to prevent encroachments of the federal government.

 The US Fish & Wildlife Service blatently encroached on Victor Fuentes' private property rights.

This is why I am running for Nevada Assembly in District 13. I will be your voice in Carson City. I will fight to protect your Rights.

It’s a bad idea for state workers to serve in the Legislature. This is why the Separation Of Powers Clause is in the Nevada Constitution.

And now the Nevada Policy Research Institute (NPRI) has filed a lawsuit to force government workers serving in the Legislature to choose either their government job or being a legislator. After all, as the old saying goes, a dog can’t serve two masters.

Indeed, state Sen. Ben Kieckhefer (R-Reno) quit his government job at the Department of Health and Human Services after being elected in 2010. And on Thursday, Sen. Kieckhefer tweeted: “I left my job with DHHS the day after I was elected specifically to preserve separation of powers. It’s important.”

Senator Kieckhefer, I agree.

All told, about 20 percent of state legislators are government employees. Only two of them, however, are Republicans like Kieckhefer. And one of them is moderate Assemblyman Scott Hammond…who Kieckhefer has endorsed over conservative non-state worker Assemblyman Richard McArthur in the SD-18 race next year.

For Sen. Kieckhefer to be consistent, he needs to publicly call for Hammond to do exactly what Kieckhefer himself did; resign his government job if he wishes to continue serving in the Legislature. After all, it’s the only way to preserve that separation of powers, right? And it’s important, right? Senator?

On another note, I have heard that this practice of ignoring the Nevada Constitution has been allowed as the Constitution also states that it is up to the Legislature itself to decide who is eligible to serve.

Isn’t this a case of the fox guarding the hen house? Can we really expect our State Legislators to be the ones who decide who is eligible?

Although the Nevada Constitution does state that the Legislators decide the eligibility of its’ members to serve, the Legislature cannot violate the Nevada Constitution in making their decision.

The Nevada Legislators do have a guideline in making the decision on whether or not one, or more, of its’ members are aligible. It is Art. 3 Sec 1, the Separation of Powers Clause.

In other words, just because we have the foxes guarging the hen house, they cannot ignore (violate) other parts of the Nevada Copnstitution. If we had elected officials who actually followed their Oath of Office, we wouldn’t be in this situation.

The Separation of Powers Clause is clear when it states “…and no persons charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these departments shall exercise any functions, appertaining to either of the others…” (emphasis mine)

Yes, “any function” means that even a janitor must quit his job if he/she wishes to serve as a member of the Legislature.

The Nevada Constitution is clear. If a public employee wishes to serve in the Nevada Legislature, they MUST quit their public employee job.

To Assemblyman Scott Hammond, and all the other Public Employee/Legislators, you have two choices. Either quit your public employee job, immediately, or resign your position as State Legislator.

The Oath of Office of our elected officials is simple; to protect your Constitutional Rights. Can you name the last time your elected officials folowed their Oath of Office?

Here’s an interesting video on the Constitutional Duties of our local ELECTED Sheriff.