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NEOC forwards agreement to HUD for review

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BY JoANNE YOUNG / Lincoln Journal Star

Friday, May 16, 2008 - 07:53:29 pm CDT

OMAHA — The Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission, facing a looming federal deadline, hurried Friday afternoon to work out an agreement with the state attorney general’s office.

NEOC officials forwarded the agreement late Friday to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD officials will review it next week, and let the NEOC know  whether it is acceptable, said HUD spokeswoman Dale Gray.

The commission, which met here Friday morning, talked for nearly two hours about its next steps to address Attorney General Jon Bruning’s continuing refusal to handle discrimination cases forwarded by the commission, including those  involving undocumented immigrants.

Story Photo
Jon Bruning

The commission said it would try again to try to reach an agreement  before considering legal action.

NEOC Executive Director Anne Hobbs got feedback Friday from HUD on a draft of the agreement. A letter from Myrtle Wilson, regional director of HUD’s fair housing office, listed 10 concerns or deficiencies in the draft agreement — including failure of the draft to address Bruning’s refusal to handle the cases of undocumented immigrants. Wilson said the agreement must address those cases, requiring either that Bruning handle them or that another viable option be set out.

One option discussed by the commission would be to rely on a bank of volunteer lawyers to take those cases.

“We’re talking about a long shot” on whether that would be acceptable to HUD, Hobbs said. “It’s not completely impossible, but a long shot. It’s always worth trying.”

The revised agreement sent Friday still did not appear to address the issue of how to handle cases brought by illegal immigrants.

“I don’t know whether it addresses it,” Hobbs said.

She pointed to a sentence in the agreement that says: in cases in which Bruning’s office says its resources are insufficient to pursue a case, NEOC can refer the case to an NEOC-contracted attorney who would agree to handle it for no charge. 

Chief Deputy Attorney General David Cookson had said during  Friday’s  meeting the attorney general’s office would have a problem recovering financial damages in cases involving undocumented immigrants.

 If  the federal agency continues to have problems with the proposed agreement, Hobbs and commission chairman Arnold Nesbitt will confer by telephone Thursday with HUD and the attorney general’s office.

The commission set a meeting for May 23 in Lincoln to discuss with outside attorneys any potential  legal remedies to the disagreement, if needed. The Lincoln firm of Vince Powers and Associates, and at least three other law firms, have offered to help the NEOC if its negotiations with Bruning fail.

In the meantime, Nesbitt said, any citizen could file legal action.

One commissioner, Kristin Yates, was ready Friday to consider legal action.

“I don’t think we can abide this situation any longer,” she said. “I don’t see that the language of the (agreement) is going to solve the problem.” 

People who have discrimination claims, the agency and its employees are all being hurt, she said.

Commission member J.L. Spray said the law does not authorize the commission to sue the attorney general.

At the same time, commission members said, Bruning is not following the law in refusing to take those cases. 

HUD has given Bruning and the NEOC until May 24 to settle their differences. The federal agency already has prohibited the NEOC from taking housing discrimination cases — requiring it to refer any cases to HUD — and as of Friday the agency had lost $96,000 in HUD payments on 40 cases.

Without an acceptable agreement, HUD could suspend the agency for 180 days, which could lead to an elimination of HUD’s contract with the NEOC, Hobbs said.

“One of the frustrating things here,” said NEOC chairman  Nesbitt, “is we’re fighting a battle when we didn’t start the war.”

Hobbs told the commission Friday the staff is “extremely distressed” and the public is losing confidence in the agency with every day that goes by.

During the public comment  portion of the meeting, NEOC investigator Lisa Euchner addressed the commission, tearfully telling them about 14 of the new cases lost by the state agency in the past 30 days.

One case involved a man in a debilitating condition surrounded by stairs. She couldn’t help him, she said, other than to tell him to call HUD, which has no local office he could go to to explain his case and show an investigator photos of the stairs he faces every day.

“I implore the commission not to wait,” she said. “I apologize for getting emotional. But this is my job and I can’t do it.”

Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.


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Bob wrote on May 16, 2008 1:25 pm:
" The chairman's statement that the Commission deals with discrimination, not immigration, tells you everything you need to know. Maybe the Commission can get away with that narrow focus, but the Attorney General can't; he has to deal with ALL laws, including those that prohibit anyone from renting a place ("harboring") and illegal immigrant. "

 Ej wrote on May 16, 2008 1:42 pm:
" would the land lord be violating the law if he rents to illegal immigrants? Who helps him with his rights? You can't violate someone's rights who isn't entitled to them. Please name another country in the world that would forsake it's citizens over the rights of an outsider! Please keep it up Mr Bruning. "

 Get a clue Bob wrote on May 16, 2008 1:57 pm:
" I'm going to guess that most often, renters don't know about people's legal status in America because they might simply not ask. And why should they?! What incentive is there for a decent renter to be all nosey and up in someone else's business?! The other day I was helping my daughter find a place here in Lincoln, along with her gay male best friend. The renter we came across asked my daughter and her best friend if they were a couple. They pleasantly declinded to answer on the spot by saying that they are simply "just friends." But when we left the house apartment we were looking at, both of them and including me were apalled by the silly personal questions this renter was asking. Now I understand that most renters want to rent out to respectable people (i.e. non drug users) but to ask personal questions such as relationship status, and even possibly immigration status, seemed to be too intimate of a question to ask to my daughter and her friend. And quite possibly if my daugher and her friend answered honestly, we got the feeling that the renter would have used that answer to NOT rent out his place to my daughter and her friend. Discrimination is discrimination and Jon Bruning needs to start doing his job. I'm sorry that I voted for him the last time I saw his name on the ballot. You can bet that I won't make that mistake again. "

 TS wrote on May 16, 2008 2:09 pm:
" Are you kidding me? This is such a joke. If the numbers here are correct there are 39 cases that Bruning has refused to look into, ONE of which is an illegal immigrant. The whole idea of this argument centering on illegal immigrants is absurd! Forget the issue of illegal immigrants in regard to this issue, the real question is why does Bruning refuse to look into the 38 cases of discrimination against legal residents of Nebraska? Why is Bruning hiding behind this concocted argument about illegal immigration and why do the people who are paying attention to this issue allow him to do so? "

 To Get A Clue wrote on May 16, 2008 2:47 pm:
" Maybe the "Landlord" (not "renter", a "renter" rents the place from a landlord) wanted to know about the relationship because it can play a factor in leasing the home or apartment. What happens if they were dating and they break up? One moves out and the other stays, but the one who stays can't afford the rent by themselves. Then they are asking for extensions while they try and find another roomate. I know this because I put a landlord through this exact situation. "

 Comm UnSense wrote on May 16, 2008 2:56 pm:
" If you are familiar with this ordeal, you will also note that the other 38 cases that were not dealt with, were passed over because the commission dis a bad job of preparing the information. The AG's office is working with them now, trying to rectify that situation. What more do you want from this guy? Maybe he should run every case in the paper and check the blogs before he does anything else?
"

 BB wrote on May 16, 2008 3:38 pm:
" Of course the NEOC wants him to prosecute the cases. They don't get funding if they don't make it look like they are doing something. It sounds to me like most of the cases presented to the AG are just a way for NEOC to receive HUD funds. Good for the AG. I know I don't want my tax dollars be wasted on unfounded discrimination cases. "

 Hypothetical wrote on May 16, 2008 3:49 pm:
" Let's assume the assertion is correct that the other 38 cases were poorly prepared. One would think the AG's office would notice this trend at 5, 10, maybe even 20 in a row.

AFter identifing such a trend, most taxpayers would expect someone in the AG's office to be proactive and contact the NEOC to address the problems so the time (and tax dollars) of the NEOC and AG are not wasted.

To let it get to 38 (including the one that got all the press) shows the AG's office really has no desire in working with the NEOC, prosecuting cases involving discrimination, or being respectful with our tax dollars. I believe the person running the AG's office (Mr. Bruning) should be held accountable for this. "

 BeatleRockin wrote on May 16, 2008 4:05 pm:
" Thank you, Jon. Keep up the good work! "

 To get a clue bob... wrote on May 16, 2008 4:10 pm:
" why should a landlord question a possible renters legal status in America? If you read http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2008/05/16/news/top/41f7c50cc3e9272e8625744a006d868e.txt you'll see that this set of rental units will now be out of $50,000 in payments and their loans have to be frozen to avoid bankruptcy for this month because of the raid of the illegals in Iowa the other day "

 Not true EJ wrote on May 16, 2008 4:21 pm:
" Everyone is entitled to 'rights' just by being alive. Are you kidding me? You think all 'illegals' are dark skinned and have accents--or don't speak english. It would be funny to me if it wasn't so dang annoying. Even if they're tourists, 'illegal immigrants' (another 'funny' word)--they still have rights. They have the right to be left alone. "

 DJL wrote on May 16, 2008 4:46 pm:
" Does the commision ever turn cases away on it's own, or does it take everything to the AG's office? I'm glad that the AG actually looks at a case & evaluates whether it has merit before spending time & money on it - and then refuses to drag through the courts those that don't have validity. Too often a property owner is looked at as having "deep pockets" and is a target for scammers. And it seems that attitude may extend to the NEOC. They are too quick to assume a complaint is valid and not a attempt for unwarranted financial gain. "

 What wrote on May 16, 2008 5:47 pm:
" I've said this a hundred times, and I'll keep saying it - to anyone accusing this agency of doing a bad job in their investigations, don't blame them, blame Bruning who is supposed to be their attorney and who is supposed to be working with them to make their investigations better. If Bruning has been at his job for years, and for years they've been sending him bad cases, looks to me like the attorney (Bruning) is the one guilty of the shoddy case work. That's pretty easy to figure out, people. "

 Please wrote on May 17, 2008 9:16 am:
" Whatever happens, plesae don't let Bruning off. Don't allow him to not perform his job! Hold him to the fire. Make him do his job and represent illegal immigrants. "

 Benjamin wrote on May 17, 2008 3:05 pm:
" AG's office seems to be working toward a solution to keep fighting discrimination and let illegals fend for themselves. Works for me. "

 geewhiz wrote on May 17, 2008 9:06 pm:
" Something that may help put the NEOC housing discrimination issue in perspective is how many cases the NEOC investigates regarding housing discrimination and how many they forward to the the AG office. It may have been published, but I don't remember it. And honestly I don't know. If they forward all of them, that may show that they just forward anything (but may not.. bad year or whatever). If it's a smaller percentage, then.. well, you get my drift. "

 airedale wrote on May 17, 2008 9:11 pm:
" Despite the 'rah rah rah' from the people who somehow think Bruning's office does anything to fight illegal immigration I suspect that this problem will plague Jon well into the next election.

I can't imagine members from any minority group voting for Jon in large numbers. This series of blunders by Bruning will cause ripples across the real estate business and markets, will reduce the amount of federal aid to at least one State Agency and will cause Bruning a lot of headaches in the event that he achieves some sort of office in DC.

And, of course, there is always the real possibility that someone will stop playing nice with Jon and file a complaint with the Bar Association.

Bruning's office has never nor will it ever do anything to fight illegal immigration. This is just another case of the Great and Powerful Oz spewing a lot of orders and blowing a lot of smoke. Eventually the little dog will pull the curtain back.

"

 renee wrote on May 19, 2008 1:49 pm:
" Federal law prohibits illegal immigrants from receiving non-emergency benefits. I'd say suing apartment owners for money falls in that category. I commend Attorney General Bruning for following the law and saving our tax dollars. "

 airedale wrote on May 20, 2008 9:16 am:
" Renee:

Federal officials including the US Attorneys office have a different interpretation than you and Jon Bruning do about what the federal law does and does not say. Since they are the ones tasked with enforcing immigration laws (unlike Jon Bruning) I think their opinion probably should be the one that resolves this issue. "

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