Most judicial incumbents win voter favor

Two Clark County Family Court judges were defeated on Tuesday, although voters favored incumbents in most of the judicial races.

With all precincts reporting, Rena Hughes had 58 percent of the vote in the Department J race against Judge Kenneth Pollock, who had 42 percent. In the Department F race, Denise Gentile had 55 percent, while Judge William Gonzalez had 45 percent.

Clark County lawyers have rated Pollock three times in the Review-Journal’s Judicial Performance Evaluation, but he never has received a retention score higher than 50 percent. In the 2013 poll, 68 percent of the responding attorneys said Gonzalez should keep his job.

When Pollock first was evaluated in 2010, 47 percent of the responding lawyers said he should be retained. Last year, only 40 percent said he should keep his seat.

During an interview about his survey results last year, Pollock said he came to the bench as an agent of change, and “agents of change are never popular.”

Pollock had little family law experience when he was elected in 2008.

He defeated incumbent Lisa Kent after pointing to her poor scores on previous judicial performance surveys. He also described himself as an outsider and called Family Court “as dysfunctional as the families it serves.”

Pollock said he has made changes that have made him unpopular.

“I became elected and what did I do? I started enforcing the rules,” he said.

Pollock unsuccessfully challenged District Judge Susan Scann in 2010.

Gonzalez was appointed to his seat in 2009, and voters elected him the following year.

A total of 31 judicial races appeared on this year’s general election ballot in Clark County. The two Nevada Supreme Court races were uncontested, so incumbents Kristina Pickering and Mark Gibbons automatically received the title of “justice” for another six years.

In the primary, 24 judicial races featured an incumbent without a challenger.

Five judges are retiring: Valorie Vega, Allan Earl and James Bixler in District Court, and Gloria O’Malley and Steven Jones in Family Court.

Jones, who was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2012, pleaded guilty in September to one felony count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a $2.6 million investment scheme. He was first elected to the bench in 1992.

Kent, who now goes by Lisa Brown, entered the Department T race this year and appeared to be headed to victory in the race against Maria Maskall. Incumbent Gayle Nathan was eliminated in the primary.

Brown’s 2008 defeat came after she was rated the worst judge in the 2006 Judicial Performance Evaluation. Only 29 percent of the lawyers who rated her said she should be retained.

Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0264. Find her on Twitter: @CarriGeer.