Monday, May 19, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

POLITICAL NOTEBOOK: White House reaches beyond Ensign list to fill judgeship

Las Vegas attorney asked if he'd be interested in lifetime appointment

The White House apparently isn't overly enthused about any of the four candidates U.S. Sen. John Ensign proposed for a federal judgeship in Nevada, including the senator's startling recommendation of Democrat Leif Reid.

The Bush administration instead has reached out to Las Vegas attorney Rick Pocker and asked him if he'd be interested in the prestigious lifetime appointment.

"I can confirm, yes, I went to Washington at the request of the White House Counsel's Office to discuss the judgeship," Pocker said Saturday.

The counsel's office called Pocker Wednesday and asked him to come out as quickly as possible, so he flew out Friday, Pocker said, declining to give any further information, including whether he even wants the job.

Pocker, 48, has 23 years experience in law and is respected within the federal system for his work in complex cases on telemarketing fraud and anti-Semitic, anti-government tax protestors.

A former federal prosecutor and Nevada's U.S. attorney from 1989 to 1991, he is now in private practice with Dickerson, Dickerson, Consul & Pocker.

He's known in Washington because in 1996, Pocker was selected to direct a House subcommittee investigation into the Clinton administration's controversial "Iranian Green Light policy" which allowed Iran to ship arms to Muslims in Bosnia in direct violation of a U.N. arms embargo.

Ensign, a veterinarian by profession, startled Republicans when he nominated Leif Reid, son of the state's most powerful Democrat, U.S. Sen. Harry Reid.

Traditionally, the senior senator belonging to the same party as the president sticks with that party when considering candidates for judgeships.

Ensign was criticized by Republicans for submitting Harry Reid's son, both because of the party affiliation and the relative lack of experience.

The younger Reid has been an attorney for seven years, the least amount of time of any on Ensign's four-person list.

District Judge Ron Parraguirre's 18 years of experience included serving as a judge since 1991, when he was elected to Las Vegas Municipal Court. He has been a civil judge in District Court since 1999. Early in May, political and legal sources said he appeared to be the front-runner.

The third nominee Ensign placed on his list for the lifetime federal appointment is U.S. Magistrate Robert McQuaid, whose 32 years of legal experience includes seven as a magistrate in Reno. The fourth contender is Sandy Smagac, a Las Vegas civil attorney with nine years experience who unsuccessfully ran for a District Court judgeship in 2002.

Contacted Saturday, Ensign spokesman Jack Finn said the senator had no comment.

Boggs McDonald out

Las Vegas City Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald had decided against being a Republican lady-in-waiting to run against Harry Reid in 2004.

"2004 is not going to be a Lynette year," she said last week.

Boggs McDonald earlier said that if Rep. Jim Gibbons decided not to carry the GOP banner to run against Reid, Nevada's highest-ranking Democratic official, she might be a contender.

The White House even viewed her as a prospect. In late February, at a White House luncheon for black political, business and religious leaders, she sat next to Karl Rove, President Bush's top political strategist.

But even though Gibbons is telling people he'll decide in the summer between running for re-election, running for the U.S. Senate and running for governor in 2006, Boggs McDonald has decided to opt out.

"I'm enjoying having a little normalcy in life," she said. Her husband will be studying to take the Nevada bar exam and Boggs McDonald said she just doesn't have the "fire in the belly. I just can't get fired up about it."

In her 2002 congressional race, even though she knew she was an underdog against Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., Boggs McDonald said she got fired up for that race.

She said there is a "strong possibility" she might run for secretary of state in 2006.

Porter silent on Rhodes

Jim Rhodes' proposed development of 5,400 homes on the edge of the Red Rock Conservation Area is in the congressional district of Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., but Porter is not playing any role in the controversial issue.

While U.S. Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign are advocating that the federal government buy the 2,400 acres which Rhodes bought in March for $53.8 million, Porter has been silent on the issue.

His reason: "I want to avoid any conflict," Porter said last week. So he's not discussing what action should be taken.

During his campaign, the National Republican Congressional Committee filed a complaint against Rhodes with the Federal Election Commission.

The complaint questioned the legality of $27,000 worth of contributions to Porter's opponent, then-Clark County Commissioner Dario Herrera, by Rhodes, 13 of his employees and two of their spouses. The donations ranged from $1,000 to $2,000.

The FEC complaint has not been resolved. Such matters often take years to conclude.

Five of the employees donated $10,000 to Reid about the same time.

When the FEC complaint was filed in September, a check of Clark County voting records for the past six years showed four of the donors were not registered to vote, and 10 had no record of voting. Of the five who gave the maximum to Herrera and Reid, only two had voted in the past six years.

Herrera, then the chairman of the Clark County Commission, voted on zoning issues important to Rhodes, who had 22 items before the commission in 2001 and 2002. All of the items passed with no opposition by any commissioners. County staff had recommended denial in five cases.