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Election 2002 John Curtas Nonpartisan Age: 50 Occupation: Attorney Donald Mosley* Nonpartisan Age: 55 Occupation: District Court judge Kenneth Pollock Nonpartisan Age: 37 Occupation: Attorney DISTRICT COURT DUTIES District Court judges serve six-year terms and are paid a base salary of $130,000 per year. They oversee criminal and civil cases under state law. The judgeships are nonpartisan offices. -- REVIEW-JOURNAL

Thursday, August 22, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

DISTRICT COURT DEPARTMENT 14

The platforms of the three candidates for the District Court Department 14 judgeship boil down to experience on the bench vs. ethics.

Incumbent Donald Mosley says his extensive experience, consisting of more than two decades of service as a judge in Southern Nevada, demonstrates he is deserving of re-election.

"A judge is like a medical doctor, a schoolteacher or any other professional," he said. "The longer they are at it, the more proficient they are."

But Mosley's two opponents, Las Vegas lawyers John Curtas and Kenneth Pollock, each say ethics violations by Mosley have created a need for new blood in Department 14.

"It's time to restore both ethics and competence to the bench in Department 14," Curtas said. "It's time for a change. It's time to restore integrity."

Pollock also said he is running to restore ethics in Department 14.

"I think the voters are entitled to judges who conduct themselves with the highest degree of ethics," Pollock said. "They have to be committed to being fair and improving the judicial system."

The candidates are referring to a March ruling by the Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission, which found Mosley committed several ethics violations during a two-year period. The commission fined Mosley $5,000 and issued a censure.

Among the findings: Mosley engaged in ex parte conversations -- communications that fail to include both sides of a case before a judge -- and he failed to recuse himself from a case involving a man who testified on Mosley's behalf in a child custody dispute with Mosley's former girlfriend.

Mosley did not hesitate in addressing the commission's findings, saying the origin of the allegations against him were the child custody case. He said the findings of the commission were unjust, and he is confident an appeal with the Nevada Supreme Court will eventually clear him.

"I think the most informed voters who know anything about this understand that its genesis is in a child custody battle," Mosley said. "Most will understand what that is all about."

Mosley described his critics as "opportunists."

Curtas said Mosley's conduct was "egregious."

"In almost any other state he would have been removed," Curtas said. "What he did was so egregious, I can't imagine why he's even running again. It's inexcusable."

The top two finishers in the Sept. 3 primary will face one another in the Nov. 5 general election.

Mosley was first elected to the District Court bench in 1983 after serving as a Las Vegas Municipal Court judge. In a survey this year of attorneys who appear before him, 65 percent recommended he remain on the bench. He said he takes pride in offering consistent and fair rulings.

"I have virtually every endorsement I've asked for, including all law enforcement endorsements," he said.

Curtas is a veteran of the Las Vegas legal community and an experienced trial lawyer in both criminal and civil matters. He has spent the past 25 years as a trial attorney in both state and federal courts. He is a past president of the Clark County Bar Association and was elected this year to the State Bar Board of Governors.

He said he has litigated virtually every type of case, from capital murder to complex civil litigation.

"I think I have the most balanced career of any candidate, and it is a career that I believe is unimpeachable," he said.

Pollock has practiced law for the past 11 years in Nevada and California. He has primarily practiced in civil litigation, recently focusing on construction defect cases. He has been appointed as an arbitrator in California and Nevada.

If elected, he said would be an accessible and fair-minded judge who would adjudicate cases solely on the facts.

"You have to be accessible," he said. "Litigants have to feel that, whether they've won or lost, that their cases were judged on their merits."