Columnist Sandy Thompson: Much expected of three new judges

Sandy Thompson

Saturday, Nov. 11, 2000 | 3:44 a.m.

Sandy Thompson is vice president/associate editor of the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at 259-4025 or e-mail at thompson@lasvegassun.com

THE THREE new Clark County Family Court judges will have to hit the ground running.

On the day they take the bench, Jan. 2, each is expected to have a waiting caseload of 1,000. The high volume and backlog of cases were the main reasons why the Legislature created the three new departments, increasing the number of judges from eight to 11.

Lisa Brown, Cheryl Moss and Nick Del Vecchio, each of whom had gathered the most votes in their primary races, handily won Tuesday's general election. Family Court Judge Art Richie, who had been appointed in early 1999 to fill the unexpired term of Judge Gary Redmon, ran unopposed.

Of the candidates in the three contested races, those who spent the least on the campaign emerged victorious.

The biggest spender by far was Phil Beuth, who lost to Moss. Beuth's campaign finance report for the period ending Oct. 31 showed that he had raised $200,317 and spent $186,828. Moss's report for the same period showed contributions of $9,665 and expenses of $15,403.

During the campaign, Beuth's television ads drew criticism for implying that he would be a better Family Court judge because he was a married father and Moss was single with no children.

Beuth said he simply was trying to point out that women should not vote for a candidate solely on a gender basis, and that he had a better "life perspective" because he was married and had children.

Moss said she doesn't believe the ads had much of an impact on the race, because the margin of victory was similar to that in the other races.

The second largest spender was William Henderson, who lost to Brown. According to Henderson's campaign finance report ending Oct. 31, he raised $8,832 but spent $85,740. Brown raised $25,432 and spent $21,874.

Brown said she worked hard on a grass-roots campaign to get out her message that she was running because she wanted to help children. Her goal is to be fair and compassionate and to work hard.

Beth Wachsman, who lost to Del Vecchio, raised $43,615 and spent $43,532 compared to Del Vecchio's contributions of $14,750 and expenditures of $26,455 as of Oct. 31.

For Del Vecchio, the election was the end of a long political drought. He had run at least 10 times before for various judicial posts, including Family Court judge. In that race he lost to Judge Gerald Hardcastle, who will take over as juvenile judge in January.

The new judges will undergo three weeks of training. It will take a lot longer to get comfortably settled into the job, and by then it will be time to run again. This term is only for two years. After the next election cycle, they will be on six-year terms along with the other Family Court judges.

The court hopes the new judges will help improve efficiency -- handling cases in a timely manner. According to a third-quarter court report, there were 11,046 pending domestic cases as of Sept. 30. That load had been spread among the equivalent of 6 1/2 judges. (The Juvenile Court judge and time spent by the presiding judge on administrative matters make up the other 1 1/2.)

Richie, one of the newest judges before this election, said that when he took the bench, he was surprised at how much work it takes "to do the job the right way."

"You need stamina and resilience," he said.

Good learning and listening skills also will help, as will keeping an open mind on ways to resolve critical issues.

Those not only will serve the new judges well, but will benefit the people they serve -- children and families.