Haskins v. State ex rel. Harrington, 4175

• Decision Date: 11 December 1973
• Docket Number: No. 4175,4175
• Parties: Ray W. HASKINS, Appellant (Defendant below), v. STATE of Wyoming ex rel. Inze L. HARRINGTON et al., Appellees (Plaintiffs below).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

Page 1171

516 P.2d 1171

70 A.L.R.3d 1171

Ray W. HASKINS, Appellant (Defendant below), v. STATE of Wyoming ex rel. Inze L. HARRINGTON et al., Appellees (Plaintiffs below).

No. 4175.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

Dec. 11, 1973.

Charles E. Graves, Cheyenne, for appellant.

Ross D. Copenhaver, Copenhaver & Castberg, Powell, for appellees.

Before PARKER, C. J., and McEWAN, GUTHRIE, McINTYRE and McCLINTOCK, JJ.

Mr. Justice McCLINTOCK delivered the opinion of the court.

Ray W. Haskins appeals from the decision of the District Court of Park County, Wyoming, ousting him from office as member of the board of trustees of Park County School District No. 1.

Haskins, a contract teacher in the district for some 15 years, ran for, was elected and on June 30, 1971 qualified as a member of the board of trustees. Claiming that such service as a member of the board was incompatible and inconsistent with his service as a teacher in the school district, Inze L. Harrington and three other members of that same board, through the county attorney of Park County, Wyoming, secured leave to file and on September 8, 1971 did file complaint in quo warranto.

After alleging Haskins' election and qualification as member of the board of trustees while under employment by the district as teacher, the complaint sets forth a number of respects in which the office of trustee and employment as teacher are claimed to be incompatible and inconsistent, being essentially that the position of teacher is subordinate to the office of trustee and that Haskins as trustee will have power and authority over himself as teacher, over other teachers, and over administrative personnel who in turn have power and authority over Haskins as teacher. It is alleged that contrariety will result from any attempt of Haskins faithfully to discharge his responsibilities as trustee toward his position as teacher, and that as a teacher he has a personal and individual interest which will conflict with the interests of the district.

It is then alleged that the exercise of such incompatible, inconsistent, and repugnant duties and authority is not in the best interest of the school district or its residents, citizens, and taxpayers and by reason of these facts Haskins is not qualified to hold or exercise the office of a member of the board of trustees.

A second claim repeats the basic allegations of the first claim, and states that Haskins has failed and refused to resign or terminate his employment as a teacher, by reason of which failure he has forfeited his office as such trustee.

The complaint prays for judgment of ouster and a declaration of forfeiture and vacancy of Haskins' office as member of the board of trustees.

By amended answer setting forth affirmative defenses Haskins admits that he was and is a teacher, that he qualified as an elected member of the board of trustees, and that he does not plan to resign or terminate his employment as a teacher. All allegations of the complaint with respect to incompatibility and inconsistency of the office of trustee and employment as teacher are denied.

In three affirmative defenses Haskins claims that he is entitled to hold the office of trustee while continuing his employment as teacher under the equal rights provisions of art. 1 of the Wyoming Constitution, the equal rights and due process clauses of the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution, and § 22.1-299, W.S.1957, Cum.Supp.1973, providing that a qualified elector resident in a school district is eligible to hold the office of school district trustee. A fourth affirmative defense alleges that in each case where he has deemed it necessary or that he has been requested to do so he has failed and refused to vote and participate in the discussion of matters which pertain to his personal employment, all in accordance with §§ 6-178 and 9-680, W.S.1957, Cum.Supp.1973.

Both parties moved for summary judgment claiming that there was no genuine issue of fact. The motions were accompanied by affidavits, the tenor and effect of the relators' being mainly to designate instances where Haskins had voluntarily or upon suggestion of other members of the board disqualified himself from participation in board matters; the gist of Haskins' being that by such abstention he had been able to avoid any conflict of interest situations.

After argument on the motions judgment was entered sustaining relators' motion and ousting Haskins as a member of the board of trustees. In this judgment it is found that statutes of Wyoming have not changed the common law regarding incompatible positions; that the position of teacher and office of member of board of trustees in the same school district are incompatible and inconsistent; that Haskins' position as a teacher employed by the district is incompatible and inconsistent with the office of member of the board; and by reason thereof Haskins is not qualified to continue to serve as a member of the board and should be ousted and removed as such trustee.

While relators do not contend that Haskins' employment as a teacher amounts to the holding of an office in the ordinary sense of that term, ¹ they state the issue to be the right of Haskins to hold and exercise the duties of an office when such office and duties conflict with and are superior to and supervisory of the employment of such officer within the same school district. They would deny his right to hold the office as trustee by application of the common-law rule against holding incompatible offices. However, as they state the rule, it

'* * * provides that a person cannot hold incompatible and inconsistent offices or two positions, one of which is subordinate to the other * * *' (Emphasis supplied.)

Relators' argument, then, is directed toward establishing that the office and the employment are in fact and law incompatible.

Haskins, on the other hand, contends that constitutional and statutory enactments of this state have changed the common law applicable to incompatible positions or positions involving conflict of interest; that the common-law prohibition against holding incompatible offices does not apply to positions; and that he has a constitutionally protected right to run for and hold office subject only to the legislative right to protect the public interest in providing statutory conflict of interest rules.

The Constitutional Defenses

Considering Haskins' last proposition first, we are of the opinion that there is no constitutionally protected right to hold incompatible offices or employments. The antiquity of the common-law rule; the great number of cases in which it has been applied; the public policy served by a requirement of undivided loyalty; all lead us to conclude that application of the rule against holding incompatible offices, whether by the common law or as it might be declared by legislative enactment, does not result in an unconstitutional infringement of personal and political rights. The rights protected by §§ 2 and 3 of art. 1 of our constitution, as well as those protected under the first, ninth, tenth, and fourteenth amendments to the federal constitution, are not absolutes and do not preclude imposition, by decision or statute, of such reasonable restrictions on those rights as are in the public interest. Thus, while it has been said that a public officer or employee has the right to engage in political expression and run for political office, Sweezey v. New Hampshire (1957), 354 U.S. 234, 77 S.Ct. 1203, 1 L.Ed.2d 1311; Monitor Patriot Company v. Roy (1971), 401 U.S. 265, 91 S.Ct. 621, 28 L.Ed.2d 35, it has also been held that if this personal interest comes in conflict with a compelling state policy or interest the person's right must be considered subordinated to the public interest. United States Civil Service Commission v. National Association of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO (1973), 413 U.S. 548, 93 S.Ct. 2880, 37 L.Ed.2d 796, approves and reiterates the holding in United Public Workers of America (C.I.O.) v. Mitchell (1947), 330 U.S. 75, 67 S Ct. 556, 91 L.Ed. 754, sustaining restraints imposed by Congress upon the right of federal officers and employees to participate in political activities. These decisions sustain the right of the sovereignty to impose reasonable restrictions on personal and political rights.

We believe this is also an answer to Haskins' claim under his third affirmative defense that he is entitled to hold his office under § 22.1-299, W.S.1957, Cum.Supp.1973, providing that a 'qualified elector of the school district is eligible to hold the office of school district trustee.' The statute does not purport to eliminate or restrict the rule against holding incompatible offices, and we can not so construe it.

We therefore hold that application of the rule against incompatibility is not an unreasonable interference with any of Haskins' political rights and that the first three affirmative defenses as alleged in the amended answer are without merit upon the issues involved. We then proceed to the question of whether the right of Haskins to hold the office of trustee while continuing as a teacher is proscribed by the common-law rule against incompatibility.

The Rule Against Holding Incompatible Offices

It is said in 78 C.J.S. Schools § 155, p. 972, that a 'school officer whose duties are incompatible with those of a teacher cannot be both officer and teacher at the same time.' The authorities cited include Knuckles v. Board of Education of Bell County (1938), 272 Ky. 431, 114 S.W.2d 511, which denied a teacher the right to act as superintendent or assistant superintendent in the same school system. Holding that the duties of an assistant or deputy official are circumscribed by the same boundaries as those possessed by his principal, the court says (p. 515):

'Many of those duties in their nature are supervisory of the conduct of teachers in the schools under the jurisdiction and control of the superintendent. * * * There...