The Nevada U.S. attorney's office on Wednesday made public the creation of a "Public Corruption Strike Force."
It will be staffed by experienced federal prosecutors and "focus on the investigation and prosecution of all federal crimes affecting government integrity, including bribery of public officials at all levels of government, election crimes and other related offenses," according to a news release.
The office said the strike force, which comes at an uncertain time for office leader Sigal Chattah, will involve collaboration between federal, state and local agencies.
"I'm not sure I've seen anything like this from a U.S. attorney's office and I'm not sure that there's a public corruption problem in Nevada such that a separate strike force like this is required," said former Nevada U.S. attorney Greg Brower. "But needless to say, public corruption, just theoretically, is a significant problem that needs to be very aggressively investigated and prosecuted and has been by the Department of Justice traditionally."
Nevada has a history of federal public corruption investigations and prosecutions, including the Operation G-Sting scandal in the early 2000s that led to county commissioners being found guilty of accepting bribes from strip club owner Michael Galardi.
But the release cast the latest effort as something new, saying that the strike force was "the first of its kind" in Nevada.
"For far too long, public corruption in the State of Nevada has been a scourge on Nevada's residents and business owners," said Chattah in the statement, which refers to her as the "First Assistant United States Attorney."
She added: "No stone will be left unturned to protect Nevadans from corruption and no public official and/or agency is above the law."
President Donald Trump's administration appointed Chattah to serve as interim U.S. attorney in March, then extended her term in July by making her acting U.S. attorney.
Federal public defenders challenged her appointment and Arizona-based Senior U.S. District Judge David Campbell disqualified Chattah from multiple cases in September. He agreed to pause his decision pending appeal, but wrote that he "still holds that Ms. Chattah has not been validly appointed."
Oral argument in the appeal of Campbell's decision is scheduled for next month in the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Experienced attorneys offered mixed reactions to the strike force announcement.
Retired Nevada federal public defender Franny Forsman said she was worried by the prospect of increased federal involvement in local elections.
She questioned whether Chattah might be trying to distinguish herself with the Trump administration.
"Anything involving election fraud is of great interest to the Trump people for sure," she said.
Others were more positive.
Longtime defense lawyer Richard Wright said he was pleased that he would be handling cases with local federal prosecutors rather than the Justice Department's national public integrity section.
"It's just easier dealing with people you know and trust as opposed to someone you don't know and they don't know you," he said.
Kathleen Bliss, a former federal prosecutor involved in the Galardi investigation, said she applauded any effort to investigate and prosecute public corruption where warranted.
"I'm speculating, but I think what she's doing is she's decided that it's something important and she's decided to elevate it to a more strategic level," Bliss said of Chattah's push to combat public corruption.
She also praised the apparent effort to collaborate more with local and state officials.
Chattah has clashed with her state counterpart, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson, who previously said that she had shown an "unfitness to serve" during a public spat over the handling of a child sex sting case involving an Israeli official.
"The proof will be in the pudding," said Brower. "It'll be interesting to see what cases if any come out of this."
He added: "We just have to assume this is well-intentioned until, unless we see evidence that it's not."