Family Court Department T incumbent trails as primary votes tallied

The 10 contested judicial races on the primary ballot offered few surprises Tuesday, but one Family Court race took an interesting turn.

Incomplete results showed former Family Court Judge Lisa Brown leading the Department T race. Las Vegas attorney Maria Maskall followed, narrowly ahead of incumbent Gayle Nathan, who was elected in 2010.

“Everything that I do is centered on protecting children and helping families,” Brown said before the election. “I do that professionally and personally, and it’s what I’ve dedicated my life to for the past 25 years.”

Brown is a former foster parent who adopted two boys. Since losing the 2008 election, she has been working as a court-appointed attorney for parents whose children were removed from their care because of abuse or neglect.

The top two vote-getters in each race advance to the Nov. 4 general election. Winners of the judicial races, which are nonpartisan, will serve six-year terms.

Brown, who was first elected in 2000, lost her Department J seat to Kenneth Pollock in 2008, when she ran as Lisa Kent.

Her defeat came after she was rated the worst judge in the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s 2006 Judicial Performance Evaluation. Only 29 percent of the lawyers who rated her said she should be retained.

But Nathan also received low marks from lawyers. In 2013, 48 percent said Nathan should be retained, down from 59 percent in 2011.

Maskall lost three prior Family Court races. She said she targeted Department T this time because it needs a judge with a good temperament who also has knowledge of the law and civil procedure.

Of her opponents, Maskall said in a pre-election interview, “You’ve got one that the attorneys would like to see get out of the position and one that the voters have already voted out.”

A total of 34 District Court and Family Court races appeared on this year’s primary ballot. Of those, 24 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.

Eight lawyers sought to fill O’Malley’s seat in Department B. Linda Marquis and Joseph Scalia II were leading the pack by small margins Tuesday night.

Five lawyers filed for the Department C seat being vacated by Jones, who was indicted in 2012 in a federal fraud case. Rebecca Burton was leading Tuesday night, followed by John Hall “Jack” Howard Jr.

In the race for Vega’s seat in Department 2, Richard Scotti was leading, while John Watkins and Bill Skupa were locked in a tight contest for the second-highest number of votes.

Jim Crockett had the highest amount of votes in the race for Bixler’s seat in Department 24, followed by Joe Hardy Jr.

In Department 22, incumbent Susan Johnson collected the majority of votes, far ahead of second-place finisher Jacob Hafter.

Incumbent Ron Israel was leading in the Department 28 race, followed by Susan Bush.

Other incumbents also were faring well in Family Court, although Rena Hughes had more votes than Pollock in the Department J race.

Pollock has been rated three times in the Review-Journal poll but never has received a retention score higher than 50 percent.

Incumbent Jennifer Elliott was leading the Department L race, followed by Paul “Mitch” Gaudet. Incumbent Sandra Pomrenze was leading the Department P race, followed by Nathan Gibbs.

In the 2013 Judicial Performance Evaluation, 47 percent of the lawyers recommended Pomrenze for retention. She did not practice family law before becoming a judge.

Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710. Find her on Twitter: @CarriGeer.