Runoffs slated for two court seats

Judy Odierna

Wednesday, April 9, 2003 | 9:57 a.m.

Two Las Vegas Municipal Court seats will be filled in the general election June 3, with four mostly familiar faces emerging from Tuesday's primary.

Incumbent Toy Gregory will face Denise McCurry in Department 1, and Abbi Silver and Bill Henderson will go head-to-head in Department 6.

With only about 21 percent of Las Vegas voters turning out for the primary, one expert said it will be difficult to entice people to come back out to vote again just for the municipal judge races, which typically don't draw much of a crowd.

"If all you have standing is a judicial race you'll probably see the lowest turnout you'd ever see in the state," said Michael Bowers, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Bowers said the turnout in the general elections could be less than 10 percent.

"Only die-hard voters will show up, or people who are committed to a particular candidate," Bowers said.

Voter turnout in the general election could be lifted, however, by a City Council race that was left undecided Tuesday -- incumbent Michael McDonald and Janet Moncrief will square off -- and a ballot initiative on libraries.

In Tuesday's judge races, 16.8 percent of registered voters cast ballots.

Gregory, who has held the Department 1 seat for 20 years, received 40.8 percent of the vote. McCurry captured 35.9 percent and Mathew Paul Harter, a third opponent, received 23.3 percent.

Gregory survived an aggressive attack from Harter, who took aim at Gregory's attendance record.

Gregory was appointed to the seat in 1983 and was named chief Municipal Court judge in 2000.

"I'm very pleased with the results," Gregory said. "I'm confident that in the general election they will vote me back into Department 1 as chief judge. I think the voters are going to compare records and they will make the right choice."

McCurry said she will continue with her strategy of avoiding mudslinging and that she's not worried about a fund-raising gap between her and Gregory.

"I was outspent and I still came up with (11,550) votes," McCurry said. "It just goes to show how far hard work can go."

The once-crowded race for the vacant Municipal Department 6 seat has been whittled down to Silver, a deputy district attorney, and Henderson, the runner-up. Silver leads in contributions, having raised $128,319 and spent $61,954 as of April 1. Henderson raised $12,250, including a loan from himself of $11,200.

Silver, who ran unsuccessfully for district attorney in the Republican primary last year, said she was pleased with her numbers Tuesday.

"I feel cautiously optimistic," Silver said. "I grew up in this town and I have a lot of friends and supporters here in Las Vegas."

Silver received 38.8 percent of the vote, followed by Henderson with 15.2 percent.

Henderson ran unsuccessfully for Family Court in 2000, for Municipal Court Department 2 in 2001 and for Family Court Department L in 2002.

"I do want to congratulate Abbi on an impressive showing," Henderson said. "I feel bad for the people who didn't make it to the general election because they worked very hard. I've been there. I'd probably say my results are due to name recognition from my prior campaigns."

Bowers, the political science professor, said voters can expect to see more aggressive campaigning -- and possibly some mudslinging -- leading up to the general election.

"Because there are no issues in a judicial race the only way to truly stand out is to attack your opponents," Bowers said. "That's the way to stand out and get people to vote for you."

Municipal judges mainly deal with contested traffic tickets and other citations, and for that reason citizens are more likely to go before a municipal judge than any other type of judge. Both seats are for a six-year term that pays $113,578 annually.