Sobel loses, Mosley wins in heated races

Kim Smith

Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2002 | 11:27 a.m.

Attorney Jackie Glass beat out incumbent District Court Judge Jeffrey Sobel Tuesday in a particularly bitter battle, but negative campaigning didn't work in two other high-profile judicial races.

While Glass garnered 61 percent of the votes to unseat Sobel, incumbent judges Donald Mosley and Kathy Hardcastle handily defeated their opponents, John Curtas and Carolyn Ellsworth, respectively.

Unofficial election results showed both Mosley and Hardcastle won 63 percent of the votes in their races, compared with their opponents' 37 percent.

Sobel's secretary said he was out of town and unavailable for comment until Friday, but Glass said she thinks a combination of things led to her victory.

Glass said that in addition to a massive grass-roots campaign, "I think the message got out to the voters that there needed to be a full-time, hard-working judge in that department."

The endorsements of several law enforcement organizations also helped, Glass said.

In other races, Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell easily won the seat vacated by Mark Gibbons, who is heading to the Nevada Supreme Court. David Wall and Valerie Adair will take the bench in two newly created departments, and incumbent Gene Porter retained his seat. Las Vegas Municipal Court Judge Jessie Elizabeth Walsh beat out Family Court Judge William Voy for the Department 10 seat.

Political science and law school professors called this year's judicial races unusual in that there appeared to be a larger number of negative campaigns.

In the Sobel-Glass race, Glass accused Sobel of being a lazy and lenient judge who rarely appears in his courtroom and once let a two-time drunk driver involved in fatal accidents off with probation.

Glass' political strategist Gary Gray even launched a website attacking the judge with such links as one titled "Who is Turn-'em-loose Sobel?"

Sobel countered that he has always received a 70 to 90 percent approval rating from attorneys and claimed to be one of the most efficient judges on the bench.

As for the allegations about his leniency, Sobel said many sentences were stipulated to by the attorneys and his hands were tied. The drunken driver noted by Glass also received a year in prison, Sobel said.

The battle between Mosley and Curtas remained hot up until Election Day.

Curtas made sure voters knew Mosley was found guilty of violating seven judicial canons of ethics in March, even talking about it on "Face to Face With Jon Ralston" on Las Vegas ONE, Cox Cable channels 1 and 39.

That show prompted Mosley to file a complaint with the Standing Committee on Judicial Ethics and Election Practices last week, alleging Curtas knowingly misstated certain facts about the ethical problems.

The committee ruled on Monday that Curtas misstated two of four facts, but unknowingly.

Mosley is in the process of appealing the March decision and maintains the charges stem from a nasty custody battle.

Curtas also accused Mosley of releasing a police report that details a traffic stop in which a passenger of Curtas' was arrested on drug charges and drug paraphernalia was found on Curtas' side of the car. Mosley denied the allegation. Curtas was never arrested.

Curtas conceded the race to Mosley shortly after early voting results were released.

"All I can say is that I got into this race because I thought it was disgraceful that someone with his record was running, and if the voters don't feel that way, both they and I will have to live with their decision," Curtas said.

In the less contentious battle for Department 4, Ellsworth noted Hardcastle received poor reviews in the biennial study and alleged her sentencing practices "show she is not in touch with certain issues," such as those involving the elderly.

Hardcastle, who spent five years as a deputy public defender, said she is a hard-working judge who has worked with her counterparts to make the courts more accessible to the public and to expedite cases.