Supreme Court Justice Nancy Becker Voted to overturn tax amendment. District Judge Nancy Saitta Comes out firing in election challenge.

Three years is an eternity in politics, and by conservative estimates, 180,000 people have moved to Clark County since the taxing antics of the 2003 Legislature.

While one rural Assembly race could still hinge on the biggest tax increase in state history, this year will mark Nevada voters' first crack at one of the Supreme Court justices who ruled to set aside a popular citizen amendment to the state constitution.

Justice Nancy Becker sided with the majority in ruling that lawmakers did not need a two-thirds majority in 2003 to raise the taxes necessary to fund another constitutional mandate: public education. The 6-1 decision in Guinn v. Legislature became moot when lawmakers passed the taxes by a two-thirds majority in both houses anyway.

With numerous Senate Republicans and a handful of Assembly Republicans siding with all the Democrats, voters never had one party to blame. And because the tax increase was a cobbling of levies on booze, cigarettes, entertainment, gaming and payroll, the average person did not feel the pinch.

But the Supreme Court ruling was different. The public could focus its anger on six men and women in black robes. Because the author of the decision, Deborah Agosti, and Justice Miriam Shearing opted not to seek re-election in 2004, and because Justice Myron Leavitt died, Becker will be the first of the six to face voters.

Clark County District Judge Nancy Saitta filed for Becker's seat last week and avoided tiptoeing around Canons of Judicial Ethics, which limit what a jurist can say about a case that may come before the court. Saitta came out firing, saying she has been "deeply troubled by the drift in court decisions which favor the powerful over the rights of ordinary citizens."

She said those rights are being eroded under Becker's tenure.

"You don't honor the spirit of American independence or the letter of the law when you cast aside an amendment to the constitution because it is merely inconvenient," Saitta said in her news release.

An older case in which Becker authored the majority opinion will also reverberate in this race, thanks to the current disgust with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Kelo v. New London. That ruling held that a municipality can condemn private property and give it to another private party if that transfer results in increased tax revenues.

Becker authored the Pappas decision, which allowed the city of Las Vegas to condemn a business to make way for a publicly funded parking garage for the downtown casino district along Fremont Street.

"You don't honor the principle of property rights when you allow the taking of an elderly widow's family business in order to give more powerful neighboring businesses a competitive advantage," Saitta said.

Becker will have a hard time defending either of those old opinions, but she may turn to the juicy allegations about Saitta that surfaced during the G-Sting investigation.

Former strip club owner Michael Galardi, whom the jury believed, told investigators Saitta showed favoritism in a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of a group of topless dancers seeking back wages. He also said he gave her a $10,000 campaign donation. Saitta denies Galardi's claims. Galardi made similar accusations against other judges, local officials and attorneys.

However, Saitta will have to distance herself from another topless club owner, Crazy Horse Too's Rick Rizzolo. Saitta can't run for the high court with help from a pal who is reportedly working on a settlement to avoid prison time for tax evasion.

And although Saitta is a highly respected district judge, she had more of her decisions overturned than her colleagues. She had seven reversals between 2003 and 2005.

Both have tremendous resumes.

Saitta chairs the complex litigation division, credited with streamlining unwieldy cases like those involving construction defects. She was formerly the state's children's advocate and also served as a deputy attorney general.

Becker, who has been on the high court since 1998, is a former Clark County district judge who also founded the Clark County Pro Bono Project. She's the only woman currently on the Supreme Court.

The battle of the Nancys may be down the ballot, but it is shaping up to be one of the more interesting races this election year.

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Ma Bell gives mothers everywhere a bad name for caving in to the federal government's fishing through millions of phone calls.

So as you pick up the phone today to wish your mom a happy Mother's Day, just remember that Ma Bell will be reporting that call to Big Brother.

Mom, who knew that when you handed me your dog-eared copy of "1984" it wasn't satire?

Thanks for supporting me in my first journalism assignment, when the high school volleyball coach wouldn't talk to me because I had criticized his ability to teach social studies. Thanks for driving me hundreds of miles to visit colleges and for schlepping me around town for sports. Thanks for taking me to art museums and to meet Hank Aaron.

You taught me to tie my shoes and question authority, which is more than the current members of Congress can muster at the same time.

I thank you for being a Jane of all trades and for being the master of the only job that really matters -- motherhood.

Erin Neff's column runs Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. She can be reached at 387-2906, or by e-mail at eneff@reviewjournal.com.