District Court Department 4

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

Eight seats are contested in District Court election, with several candidates competing for the open seats created by two new departments.

Valoria J. Vega, Ron D. Parraguirre, Joseph Bonaventure, Lee Gates, Jennifer Togliatti, Michael Douglas, Michelle Leavitt, Mark Ralph Denton, Sally Loehrer, John S. McGroarty, Michael A. Cherry, Nancy M. Saitta and Allan R. Earl are all running unopposed for re-election.

Department 4

Private attorney Carolyn Ellsworth is running against incumbent Judge Kathy Hardcastle in Department 4, which handles criminal cases. Ellsworth, who worked with the major fraud unit of the district attorney's office from 1980 to 1990, said she is running against Hardcastle because of the incumbent's low retention scores on the Judicial Performance Evaluation done by the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Downey Research Associates.

Ellsworth served as general counsel to Mirage Resorts Inc. from 1990 to 2000 and has operated a private practice handing wrongful termination and discrimination cases since 2000.

Hardcastle is finishing her first term in Department 4, having worked as a lawyer for 17 years, including five years as a deputy public defender. On the bench, she has worked to improve case flow management and public access to court records through the Internet, she said. A court website now gives judges, attorneys and the public access to updated court information.