County Clerk

Thursday, Aug. 15, 2002 | 9:02 a.m.

Three Democrats are battling for the office of county clerk in the primary election, including incumbent Shirley Parraguirre.

Democrats Sam Bledsoe and Richard Lucci are eyeing Parraguirre's office overseeing all records for District Court, Family Court and the county commissioners. Republican Gilbert "Gil" Avila, Independent American Dawn Pizzorno Hansen and Natural Law party member Christy Russell are also running for the office.

Parraguirre defeated Bledsoe in the last general election before he switched from the Republican to the Democratic party. He said his strong history with labor, including presidency of a United Steelworkers local in Cincinnati, led him to change parties. It is Bledsoe's third attempt to win the office.

Currently a fleet manager with Production Resource Group, Beldsoe has taught school, run several automotive shops and worked in trucking. He is endorsed by multiple labor unions, including the county Service Employees International Union, AFL-CIO, Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs, Teamsters and sheet metal workers. If elected, he plans to incorporate more bilingual language services into the clerk's office.

Parraguirre has 40 years of experience in the legal community, including 22 years as a paralegal with private law firms and 18 years as a judicial executive assistant to District Court Judges Sally Loehrer and Thomas Foley. She has helped mainstream the court system with a new electronic filing program that gives easy public access to case status on the Internet and is currently working on implementing an online marriage license application.

Lucci, Parraguirre's third Democratic challenger, was not able to be reached.

Avila, a private consultant on governmental relations, worked for former California Gov. George Deukmejian both when he was attorney general and governor of California. He also served as head commissioner for the California border commission and then as a housing specialist providing landlord/tenant law information with Nevada Legal Services. Some of his major goals as county clerk will be to better serve disabled and senior citizens and to better back up and protect all county records.

Hansen describes herself as a "stay-at-home mom and an unpaid political activist." As an activist in Reno, she assisted in the removal of four city councilmen who had condemned a historical street to build a shopping center for some of their friends and helped stop the building of a recreation center that was to be used for personal use, Hansen said.

Now a Henderson resident, Hansen said she would make sure the County Clerk's office is bonded as required by state law and would work to eliminate the marriage license requirement.

Russell is a market coordinator for Caprice Entertainment and the owner/operator of A-1 Amusements. She said she plans to set up a system to pay fines and tickets over the Internet.