Davidson cites broad background

Kim Smith

Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2002 | 11:12 a.m.

Scientists and attorneys both need to have the ability to "analyze, synthesize and communicate" information, Davidson said.

Whenever he speaks with someone who is considering a future as an attorney, Davidson said, he urges them to forgo some of the obvious courses in psychology, criminal justice and sociology in favor of science classes, debate and the theater.

"Clarity of thought is pretty important for an attorney, and I don't see that all of the time," Davidson said.

Davidson, a 48-year-old Democrat, is one of three attorneys seeking to replace two-term District Attorney Stewart Bell, who is running for district judge. He faces Republican David Roger and Independent American Joel Hansen.

Davidson, a native New Yorker, became a marine biologist after getting a degree from the University of Miami, but that career was brought to a sudden end.

"One sunny day I blew out one of my sinuses diving a wreck in the Keys," Davidson said.

He applied to medical school and law school and was accepted to both, but he had already started the University of Arizona law school by the time he heard from the medical school. He graduated in 1978.

"Clearly the law was not my first choice, though my parents, given my propensity to argue with them, thought I was well-suited for it," Davidson said with a laugh.

He now holds the No. 2 position in the district attorney's office, experience he holds up as key to his qualification to step up to the top job.

Davidson cites his broad range of experience, including 20 years of private practice, criminal defense work and an understanding of every division and decision in the district attorney's office, which employs 600 people.

During the campaign, he has compared his experience to Roger's 15 years as a prosecutor, and said that his Republican opponent has "never supervised anyone, and he has no leadership skills."

"This is not the time and this is not the office for on-the-job training," Davidson argued during a September debate.

The two candidates, however, agree on many other issues. They both support the death penalty and say they would focus on career criminals and cybercrimes.

Davidson said his parents, George and Irene, were a great influence on his career.

His father, who died in 1978, was a civilian mechanic for the Air Force who became a shop teacher, though he hadn't finished high school, Davidson said. New York City school officials hired his father with the understanding that he would obtain a teaching degree.

Davidson said he can remember sitting at the kitchen table as a sixth grader studying with his father and brother. After six years of night school his father had his teaching certificate.

"In my house it wasn't a question of whether you were going to go to college, it was what graduate school you were going to go to," Davidson said.

Shortly after passing the bar, Davidson worked alongside Bell at a private law firm in Las Vegas.

In 1998, four years after Bell became DA, Chief Deputy District Attorney Johnnie Rawlinson was appointed to the U.S. District Court and Davidson agreed to assume her duties.

As assistant district attorney Davidson oversees all of the civil matters handled by the district attorney's office, providing defense and advice to all county agencies.