Tuesday, April 28, 1998 | 9:52 a.m.
People who would not have dreamed of challenging the formidable and popular longtime Clark County Clerk Loretta Bowman have decided to make a run for the office she's resigning from after 33 years.
"I had no desire to run against Loretta Bowman," Shirley Parraguirre, the judicial executive assistant to District Judge Sally Loehrer, said. "She was too popular to take on."
A Clark County judicial assistant for 17 years and one of four people to date who have publicly announced their candidacy, Parraguirre, 57, decided to file for Bowman's seat only after she announced her resignation at the end of the year.
"After so many years, Loretta didn't have to campaign or do anything," Parraguirre said. "When she decided to step down, I decided to file."
Others who have announced are Assistant Clerk Mary Mosley, former Assemblywoman Jane Wisdom and Las Vegas zoning board member Byron Goynes. Only Goynes, 37, had tried to unseat the 79-year-old Bowman, in 1994.
Also mentioned as possible candidates are Dennis Hertherington, executive director of the Clark County Pro Bono Project, and Tami Bass, a former law clerk to District Judge Lee Gates.
"I'm sure there's going to be lot of people coming out just because Loretta's been there so long and the office is finally open," Mosley said.
Bowman began as a deputy clerk in 1947, and was appointed in 1965 to fill the remaining term of Helen Scott Reed. Bowman was elected in 1966 and seven successive times. She decided to retire after her 50th anniversary at three-quarters of her current $86,399 salary.
The clerk oversees 202 employees at six different locations who administer all District and Family Court records, the Marriage Bureau and County Commission records.
Wisdom, a two-term state assemblywoman for District 3 from 1987-89, is currently public information officer for the county recorder's office, which files all marriage certificates.
"My experience in the recorder's office, and in other areas of Clark County government, will mean no on-the-job training is required," Wisdom said in a press release.
Mosley, 48, is considered the front-runner because she has been Bowman's assistant for the past eight years and has the support of clerk staff. Mosley also said she is most qualified because of her 25 years in the clerk's office.
Parraguirre said she looks forward to the competition.
"It doesn't deter me at all," Parraguirre said. "I have a total of 40 years of experience in the legal field."
After 23 years in private law firms, Parraguirre spent seven years working for former district judges Carl Christensen and Tom Foley before working for Loehrer. That experience, she said, has shown her how the clerk's office operates from both sides of the countertop.
"I know what practicing attorneys need from the clerk's office as well as the district judges," Parraguirre said.
Parraguirre, who has worked on the campaigns of several judges -- it runs in the family -- said running her own campaign is harder than she thought.
"I'm finding that it's easier to do this for somebody else," she said.
Filing for the Sept. 1 primary is May 4-18.
archive
