North Las Vegas judicial candidates allege violations of code of conduct

The contest to determine who will be North Las Vegas's first female Municipal Court judge has been heating up.

Department 1 candidates Marsha Kimble-Simms and Catherine Ramsey each filed complaints about the other's campaign claims with the state's Committee on Judicial Ethics and Election Practices.

Ramsey's complaint, which came first, alleged that Kimble-Simms violated the state's code of judicial conduct by using the words "Judge Pro-Tem" in her campaign materials, though she has not been on the approved Justice of the Peace Pro Tempore Panels since Dec. 31, 2008, and has not served as judge pro tem since 2007.

Kimble-Simms alleged that Ramsey violated the code by claiming Ramsey has 25 years of legal experience -- though she has been licensed to practice law in Nevada only since 2002 -- and by claiming that she is the "only candidate who has worked in Department No. 1."

In a decision published earlier this month, the committee ruled that Kimble-Simms "engaged in an unfair election practice" by referring to herself as a judge pro tem in campaign materials and that she must eliminate the phrase or make it clear her experience was in the past.

The committee also ruled that Ramsey did not violate the state's code. Her legal experience stretches back to 1985: she worked as a legal secretary, legal assistant and paralegal before being licensed to practice law. Ramsey's campaign materials state she is the only candidate "with first-hand knowledge and experience in the very court in which she is a candidate" -- not that she is the only candidate who has worked in Department 1.

Ramsey, a North Las Vegas deputy city attorney in the criminal division, said she's happy with the panel's decision.

"It's important for the voters not to be misled."

But Kimble-Simms, an attorney with her own law firm, doesn't view the decision "as a victory" for Ramsey.

"She suffered more than I did," Kimble-Simms said. "She changed all her literature. She's no longer putting that she has 25 years of legal experience. Nor is she putting she's the only person who worked" in Department 1.

Ramsey said that isn't true: "I haven't changed anything."

Kimble-Simms said she didn't think her campaign materials were misleading.

"Everybody knew I was not an incumbent judge," she said. "I did sit as a judge pro tem."

The court handles misdemeanor cases, including traffic offenses.

One of the women will replace Judge Warren VanLandschoot, who is retiring.

Ramsey got 37 percent of the vote in the primary, and Kimble-Simms got 35 percent. The two were separated by just 131 votes.

Kimble-Simms has said her long record of community service, including as president of the Foster Care and Adoption Association of Nevada, sets her apart.

A University of Detroit School of Law graduate, she was licensed to practice law in Nevada in 2003. She ran unsuccessfully for Municipal Court in 2009 and for justice of the peace in 2008.

Ramsey has worked for the city since 2007. Previously, she worked in private practice and as a deputy district attorney for Clark County. She is a graduate of Boyd Law School at UNLV and was licensed to practice law in Nevada in 2002.

Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.