No money offered, attorney says

A prominent eminent domain attorney entangled in an investigation into Las Vegas campaign manager Gary Gray denied Monday that she offered any money to Supreme Court candidate Kris Pickering on condition that Pickering recuse herself from certain cases.

Attorney Laura Fitzsimmons spreads her money around during election season but emphatically denied any claim she was willing to donate to Pickering's campaign.

"Kris Pickering and I have been bitter adversaries for 20 years," Fitzsimmons said, speaking out for the first time since the investigation was revealed last week. "Any allegation that I would ever offer any financial assistance to her campaign for any reason is false."

Pickering confirmed last week that federal authorities were investigating an offer made to her by Gray, who until last summer served as Pickering's campaign manager in her bid for the Supreme Court.

According to Pickering, Gray told her he would funnel $200,000 into her campaign coffers if she signed an agreement promising to recuse herself from cases involving Fitzsimmons. Pickering said Gray told her the money would go to an opponent if she did not sign the deal.

Pickering said she refused to sign the agreement and contacted authorities.

Gray has not returned numerous messages left at his office and on his cell phone.

Pickering's opponent in the general election, Deborah Schumacher, received $10,000 from Fitzsimmons and a matching contribution from Fitzsimmons' husband. But the District Court judge said she does not know the Fitzsimmons family and was never approached with a deal to recuse herself from cases related to Fitzsimmons. Schumacher returned the contributions from Fitzsimmons last week after the investigation came to light.

The turbulent relationship between Fitzsimmons and Pickering dates to the late 1980s. Pickering represented an insurance company in its appeal of a jury's decision that awarded an elderly man $6 million in punitive damages. Peter Chase Neumann, a Reno attorney, represented the man, James Ainsworth.

Fitzsimmons authored a brief against Pickering's client for the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association, and Pickering ultimately lost the case.

The two clashed again in the 1990s when Fitzsimmons represented Washoe County District Judge Jerry Carr Whitehead, who was accused of judicial misconduct after allegations that he inappropriately communicated with attorneys outside his courtroom.

Pickering, according to her former employee Pat Lundvall, was not a party to the case but became involved because of her dislike for Supreme Court Justice Charles Springer, who later joined Fitzsimmons' firm. Fitzsimmons was angry that confidential reports about the case were being leaked to the media; Lundvall said in a deposition that there were discussions in Pickering's law firm about releasing information to reporters.

Fitzsimmons and her team requested a hearing master to determine the source of the leaks.

"I don't think their relationship has ever been good," Neumann said. "I know that they are certainly enemies now."

Pickering did not return phone messages left Monday.

Neumann questioned the timing of the story regarding the investigation into Gray. He cited speculation in the Reno area that the story favored Pickering because she rejected Gray's offer and reported the proposal to the authorities.

"The poll just came out saying she is behind, and then the story comes out; that was my reaction when I first saw that," Neumann said. "That is pure speculation."

Contact reporter Adrienne Packer at apacker@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710.