Complaint Opinion 13-02
Date
10/10/2013
Number
13-02
Topic
Conduct at committee hearing
Respondent
Blake
Question/Complaint
Complaint alleged that a committee chair cut-off public testimony, was rude and was interruptive. Further alleged that the actions complained of showed favoritism, violated a rule of the House on committee procedures and violated constitutional rights to freedom of speech.
Summary
No provisions of the Ethics Act were cited in support of the allegations. The Act does not address the time allowed for public testimony nor the interruption of public testimony. The House rule called for balance in the presentation of public testimony but in this case an alleged violation of that rule does not invoke any of the provisions of the Act. These allegations were dismissed for lack of reasonable cause. The Act does not confer jurisdiction on the Ethics Board to adjudicate a constitutional claim that rights to freedom of speech were violated. This allegation was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.