Appointed judges retain seats

Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2000 | 10:47 a.m.

District Judges Valorie Vega, James Mahan and Ron Parraguirre were lucky this year, but the same may not be true two years from now.

The three judges managed to avoid any competition for their seats in Tuesday's primary and so will cruise through November's general election.

The judges agree most prospective judges want to wait for the 2002 elections to run for office because the pay-off will be much larger.

Vega, Mahan and Parraguirre were all appointed to serve out the terms of their predecessors, so they only have two years left on their terms. Anyone elected in 2002 will have a full, six-year term to fulfill.

Vega, 45, spent five years as a Clark County deputy district attorney before being appointed to the Las Vegas Municipal Court in 1989.

Parraguirre, 41, was a Municipal Court judge for eight years, practiced law for five years and served one year as counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on criminal law.

Mahan, 57, is the chairman of the Eighth Judicial District Court rules revision committee and chairman of the Clark County Regional Judicial Council.

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