- Quickdraw McLaw
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With mail-in ballots already arriving and early voting starting Saturday, it’s time to talk about some of the contested judicial races featured on that ballot. We welcome your comments on the qualifications of the candidates as well as any information you can offer to help voters make an educated decision. Just remember to keep your comments appropriate and defamation-free.
There are 2 posts today, this one dealing with District Court and another dealing with Statewide Offices. We’ve previously posted articles we came across regarding the races. This week the RJ also issued its endorsements.
There are four district courts vacancies being decided on the ballot this year where the candidates will be elected to a four-year term.
In Department 9, the candidates are:
- Gall, Maria
- Leavitt, James Dean
- Albertson, Anna
- Roohani, Ellie
- Ganz, Adam
- Moors, Lindsey D.
- Schwartz, Jennifer
- Brewer, Kristine
- Hughes, Lynn
- Jacks, David
- Keels, Stephanie M.
- Kurth, Robert
- Parladé , Mari D.
I've been impressed with Judge Gall in Department 9. She has handled some pretty complicated business matters and made it look easy.
Definitely agree on this especially given her newness to the bench. I think it would be a very bad loss for the Bench and the Bar if Leavitt gets this
There were some detailed posts yesterday, as well as an article in the Nevada Current that could be clicked on with yesterday's "Topics" setting, which does a deep dive on the Family Court race.
The main point made by such posts is that of the six candidates, only one appears to have raised any money of note, or is even campaigning to any meaningful extent.
That seems quite unusual as most open judicial seats are very aggressively contested.
THANK YOU… I am a voter who does actually read this blog every time my sample ballot arrives. I do count on the opinion of those who work closest to these people running.
Take the comments with a grain of salt. Very often it is sour grapes from someone that the judge ruled against trying to bash the judge (attempt to extort more favorable rulings even when the original ruling was the correct one applying the law to the facts).
I have been perempting dept A and based on those candidates, I will continue to do so. Hughes or Jacks are really the only decent options and that's a pretty generous use of the word decent.
Watching the video of Telles yesterday it looks like he really thought he had a chance to get bail. Must have been why he had wife come in and cry during hearing. Is there any way Telles can get the judge to reconsider and grant him bail? Maybe if he hires Chesnoff?
I don't practice criminal law, but his suicide attempt seems to justify denying bail.
Speculation is that he did not attempt suicide, but that the superficial self inflicted cuts were an attempt to hide wounds caused in the altercation with German.
11:06–if a candidate makes no real effort to obtain the position, it raises questions of how much they will value it if they get elected. It also calls into question their work ethic. It also seems a little flaky and non-comital to sign up for an election and then do little or nothing.
Perhaps some of these candidates who did very little were intending to mount more of a campaign if the money came in, but they were unsuccessful at raising it. Perhaps some others just want to promote their business, or increase their name-recognition for future races, or whatever.
With those qualifiers understood, I still only want to vote for someone who really wants it, expresses their vision for the job, offers some ideas, campaigns hard, attends events, seeks endorsements etc.
Also, it's not sensible to run for a Family Court race, against five other people, and expect to collect much money. Any candidate with half a brain and an ego somewhat in check, knows or should know that those races are always primarily self-funded(unlike the Civil or Criminal seats).
If the vast majority of the money a judge raises comes from lawyers that will appear in front of that judge, it might be worth considering a candidate with a small amount running against the judge with the pot filled by lawyers that the public's interest might be the opposite of trial lawyers' interest. The public might consider "why do all the trial lawyers want this one candidate so badly that they have given nothing to the one running against him/her?"
Appeared in front of Roohani once, moved things along efficiently which is all I can ask for I guess. Will probably vote for her. Don't have much to go on unfortunately.
Gall seems like an easy choice considering the reported issues with Leavitt. https://www.nevadacurrent.com/2022/10/14/former-nshe-regent-challenging-appointed-judge-in-special-election/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEVId4ixWn4
The recent RJ article on this makes this an easy choice as well. People deserve second chances, but I'm not sure this is the one.
People do deserve second chances. But not at the expense of a really good judge who's already in the seat.
Leavitt also made the highly ill-advised decision to post an anti-mormon rant (relative to the new temple and curing world hunger or some such nonsense) on Facebook. I mean what is to be gained by alienating 8% of the county population, most of which vote and many of which are practicing attorneys.
Also, if your last name is Leavitt, many will assume you are a practicing Mormon. If what 8:05 AM said is true, then it's more than alienating, its forfeiting assumed good will.
That's exactly what I was referring to. If you are not smart enough to avoid commenting on another's FB post, at the risk if alienating and forfeiting (as 1000 above states), you have no prayer of getting my vote.
This differs in my opinion from Chattah's "crane" comment and the common sense behind it.
There is a good video of a "debate" on veteransinpolitics.org between Gall and Leavitt. I will leave you to your own decision so I will not say what I think, but it is worth watching and considering.
There has never been anything on that website or by the proprietor that is worth watching or considering.
Change my mind.
It is not likely that your closed mind can be changed. While I am not a fan of the site nor the way it operates it does give you an easy way to hear many of these candidates speak. I like hearing people speak and when I can watch a bunch of them and fast forward through the BS sections, it is worth something to me.
"Judge Roohani graduated with honors from Clark High School’s AMSAT magnet program. Next, Judge Roohani obtained a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas graduating with honors distinction." …. She gets points from me for graduating with honors from Clark's AMSAT program. My daughter was also part of it and I know how rigorous it is!
11:41 Thank you… I'm watching it now and it raises even more concern for me.
This election cycle is actually very easy to me: 1) Gall – hands down; 2) Roohani – without a shadow of a doubt; 3) Ganz. I don't practice family law so I don't have a strong opinion. But at least with Gall and Roohani you are getting solid, fair minded and experienced Judges that both defense lawyers and plaintiff lawyers respect.
Agreed on 1 and 2. No clue on #3.
Come on. "Experienced Judges" are not people who have been on the bench 10 months. I am not advertising my associate who was admitted in October 2021 as "an experienced litigator." I like Gall and will vote to retain her; Roohani is a big no. But I would not call either one of them judically "experienced."
Out of curiosity 1:08, what is your issue with Roohani? (if you can say without outing yourself). I've never appeared in her court but she has had generally favorable comments so far.
You think Roohani's opponent – Yanna Riyzakis or Anna Anderson or whatever she goes by now is a better choice?? How?
If you say Roohani is a big no without explanation I'm going to immediately discount your opinion. She's smart, courteous, is always prepared and calls me sooner rather than later. My experience with her opponent is that she is condescending, unprepared and shady. Roohani was the most stand up AUSA I ever dealt with, including Judge Silva, I have nothing but good things to say about her as a judge and a person.
1:08 here. Her learning curve on civil matters at the state level has been inordinately long. That is why it’s a “no”. As far as her opponent, I get the questions about temperament but she has actual experience in state civil matters. We have had too many people come from AUSAs with no state civil experience and the results are somewhere between mixed to pretty bad.
About Adam Ganz, don't know him personally but know about him through friends and colleagues who seem to think he's a decent human being and also professional to deal with. Apparently he has significant civil TRIAL experience. That tells me he is probably intimately familiar with the CP and E Rules. Will be voting for him.
@5:39 Roohani has already exceeded most of the new PD judges on the civil learning curve in half the time. Heck, she's already ahead of some of judges with prior civil experience. Intelligence and the ability to understand the law matters. Go figure.
Thankfully, I can count on one hand the number of times I've appeared in Family Court since it was first established (dating myself – remember when you had to sit through five or six uncontested divorce hearings at the beginning of every District Court law and motion calendar?). Anyway, I have no idea who to vote for in that race. Just throwing a dart at the ballot at this point. On everything else, I agree with the consensus above.
It's OK to skip a race if you really don't know who to vote for.
In my opinion, it's better to skip a race and let more informed people decide it than to inadvertently support one of the many crazies out there.
I can find VERY LITTLE on Anna Albertson. This was about the only thing I could find: https://www.political.tips/post/the-ultimate-opportunist-judicial-hopeful-dem-leader-anna-albertson-backs-nv-gop-s-chattah-for-ag
Try her under Yianna Reizakis. https://usattorneys.com/lawyer/yianna-c-reizakis/
I guess we should all be a little concerned if the candidate for a Judge is an open Socialist…
That article on Albertson is pretty damning. No way she has my vote. And why does she go by 2 completely different first and last names?
Anna Albertson is a pretty good lawyer who I happen to know. She is smart and experienced in state practice. Her bio lists 35 trials and that is more than most trial attorneys have done in their entire career. She changed her name when she got married. Yianna is Anna. I don't know Roohani but doubt she was the most qualified. Being an AUSA gives one very limited experience and no state experience. I worry about any federal practitioner getting robitis when becoming a judge. Federal court /practice is all about sanctions, sanctions and hard rules compliance (pretrial orders and case management b.s..) No I am not Albertson but I am voting for her.
Yeah but……..socialist
Where is the reference to socialist. Are you talking about Anna Albertson? She was a private practitioner not a government lawyer like Roohani. Never saw anything about her that would deserve that label. ?????
Read the article as posted by 118
"Article" is a loose term for what Sarah Cirillo wrote about Reizakis.
Any opinions on Ganz, Moors, Schwartz? There is a good interview of Ganz here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTuXMBgwRQM
Ganz.
See my comment above at 10:20 about Ganz
It's a hard no on Ganz for me.
In one of the articles, Ganz indicates that he picked Dept 17 to run in because both his opponents are women and they will cancel each other out in voters' minds. I find that cynical and distasteful. I also know him personally and don't plan on voting for him.
Between the other two, does anyone have any insight?
Schwartz has civil and criminal experience. I’m voting for her.
I love that the Bar thought Telles handling of his trust account was the straw that broke the camel's back in his suspension, rather than premeditated murder hahaha
How is that even remotely funny? Or even true? There was no rather.
The order explicitly states the murder charge as the basis for suspension.
Op back – the actual headline referenced the trust account, I’ll post the link tomorrow, nothing funny about murder, funny part is the bar’s focus
Timothy Treffinger in the news 2015 : https://pvtimes.com/news/former-deputy-ag-treffinger-to-accept-felony-drug-plea/
Treffinger is an absolute wreck, even disregarding the prior felony charge. Not even sure the man can read. Seriously.
Since Brewer attended the TJ School of Law and Acupuncture how do you not vote for her? That sealed the deal for me
I wonder who will show up at Telles' sentencing hearing to testify as to good character. Will Boyd 14 alumni make a showing and have his back?
What happens if None of the Above gets the most votes?
Nothing. Except that the candidate who loses to None of the Above gets mocked mercilessly.
11:58 Hopefully it inspires someone to run against them next cycle.