Tue, Nov 18, 2008 (2:04 a.m.)

On the Clark County Commission’s agenda today is an item to pay more than $243,000 in court-ordered attorneys fees in a decade-old lawsuit.

It stems from a 1997 ordinance designed to stop outcall services from handing out leaflets, showing scantily clad women, on public property. County officials were concerned that the large number of leafleters were discouraging tourists from walking on the Strip and the areas around the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada and an outcall service company sued and the county spent years in a fruitless court fight instead of trying to find other ways to resolve the issue. In 2007 a federal court issued a judgment against the county and last year ordered the county to pay attorneys fees.

“It’s unfortunate that the government saw fit to repeatedly attempt to defend an indefensible, unconstitutional law at taxpayer expense,” said Gary Peck, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada. “And it’s unfortunate that Clark County chose to pass that law in the first place.”

Governments in Nevada have been woefully ignorant or dismissive of the First Amendment and related issues, including open meetings, public records and access to public property. This settlement should serve as an expensive lesson to government leaders, one we hope they learn.