NORFOLK, Nebraska — Leaders of a northeast Nebraska natural resources district are headed to court after punishing a board member for confirming a complaint she filed about the alleged behavior of another board member toward women.

Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District board member Melissa Temple sued the board Tuesday in federal court. She alleges the board violated her free speech rights by “retaliating” against her after she spoke up on “matters of public concern.”

The filing says the NRD board went too far with a censure motion it adopted in August. In addition to censuring Temple, the board stripped her of her committee assignments and curbed her ability to seek reimbursements for board-related expenses, which are guaranteed in state law.

Temple’s lawyers asked for a preliminary injunction until the court can hear the case, saying she and her constituents risk harm. Her lawsuit was the first filed by the new First Amendment Clinic at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Law. 

Daniel Gutman of the UNL clinic said the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that boards can legally censure their members. But he said the court has not yet resolved questions about extra sanctions that might prevent elected officials from doing their job.

“Somebody like Melissa Temple has the right to speak, just like all of us have the right to speak,” Gutman said. “An … NRD cannot strip an elected board member of the essential functions of their job simply because they do not agree with her speech.”

Neither NRD staff nor the board chairman immediately commented Tuesday about Temple’s lawsuit. The board’s lawyer, Don Blankenau of Lincoln, said he needed time to review the documents before the board would respond.

The board censured Temple after rejecting her April complaint alleging that board member Scott Clausen had spoken condescendingly to women testifying before the board, dismissed public health threats to women and children and disparaged Temple’s intelligence in public.

Her lawsuit says he talked over a female engineer testifying about flood control, that he dismissed testimony from a public health expert about risks from nitrates in drinking water to women and kids and said Temple was not smart enough to serve on a committee.

Clausen filed a complaint against Temple contending that Temple had broken board decorum by speaking to the Norfolk Daily News about her complaint, harming his reputation. The board backed Clausen’s allegation and not Temple’s.

The Norfolk Daily News quoted Temple as saying she wanted to “hold our board to a higher standard of ethics, professionalism and accountability,” to abide by the code of decorum the board adopted and to promote a culture of “civility and respect.”

Clausen declined Tuesday to comment about the lawsuit.

Temple said Tuesday she promised “my constituents that I would uphold the integrity of the board … and when I made attempts to do that I was punished and silenced.” She said she would not stop trying to be fully restored as a board member.

“It’s not about he complained or she complained,” she said. “It is this bigger picture of our fundamental rights.”

Temple said she continues doing what she can as a board member.  But she is no longer allowed to participate in subcommittees, which is often where preliminary decisions about board direction and priorities are made, along with recommendations.

She said losing the ability to be reimbursed for travel to conferences and continuing education as a board member strains her budget as a teacher. She said she is still doing what she can afford but said she’s slowly losing the information and authority to speak.

Temple said she has heard from some fellow board members who want her to “just keep the peace and quietly move on, but I don’t think peacekeeping is a virtue that should ever be upheld above righteousness.”

A group of former NRD board members wrote a letter in August criticizing the board’s decision to sanction Temple. One former member, Scott McHenry, said Tuesday that the vote to sanction her wasn’t about right or wrong, rural or urban, Republican or Democrat.

“It was about a director who got his feelings hurt,” McHenry said. “And he has more buddies on the board than she does.”

Gutman said Temple’s first lawyer warned the NRD board about the risks of punishing Temple “for engaging in protected First Amendment speech” and diminishing “her ability to participate in meaningful policy discussions and decisions.”

Several people in an overflow crowd at a board meeting in August told the board they risked costing taxpayers money with costly litigation and an avoidable fight.

Gutman and the UNL program’s assistant director, Sydney Hayes, said they will try to get a hearing about an injunction quickly. UNL law students will join the legal team this spring.

This story was originally published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. It is part of the national nonprofit States Newsroom. Find more at nebraskaexaminer.com.