Chairez: AG wrong in candidacy ruling

Thursday, Feb. 7, 2002 | 9:36 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Former District Judge Don Chairez of Las Vegas says the state attorney general's office did not have the final say when it wrote an opinion saying Chairez cannot be a partisan candidate in the upcoming election.

"I'm not out of anything yet," Chairez said.

The attorney general said the Nevada Constitution prohibits Chairez from seeking local or state office. He could enter races for Congress or a judgeship, however.

Chairez announced that he would run for Clark County district attorney and said he may take his case to a federal court to determine whether the legal opinion sticks.

Chairez, a Republican, served as a District Court judge in Clark County from 1994 to 1998, when he resigned to run for Congress against Shelley Berkley, the eventual winner.

In her legal opinion, which was addressed to Secretary of State Dean Heller, Senior Deputy Attorney General Kateri Cavin said the Nevada Constitution says District Court judges are ineligible to hold any nonjudicial office during the term for which they were elected.

Cavin said to be a lawful candidate one must be eligible for the office when filing. She said a judge, who was elected in 1996 for a six-year term, cannot file as a candidate this year for a nonfederal, nonjudicial office, even if he had resigned the judgeship.