Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2004 | 11:14 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Attorney General Brian Sandoval said Monday he will accept a nomination to become a federal judge, calling it the "opportunity of a lifetime."
Sandoval, 41, had said in 2002 that he would finish his term as attorney general and run for re-election in 2006. But a federal judgeship is important enough to make him change his plan. "I don't consider this just another office," Sandoval said of the nomination.
Sandoval's nomination to the federal bench, brought by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., was announced Monday. Reid picked Sandoval, a Republican, to succeed U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben of Reno, who is taking senior status in April.
Sandoval, who was co-chairman of the state campaign for President Bush in the last election, said he received a call from Reid, and the senator asked him about taking the job and that started the ball rolling.
If he is confirmed by the Senate, Sandoval said he will be "able to make decisions impacting Nevada for the next generation. Incredible issues come through the court."
Reid and Ensign cited Sandoval's varied qualifications, including his stint as chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission, a post Reid, a lawyer himself, once held.
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., as the Republican senator, has the privilege of recommending federal judicial nominees to President Bush.
But Ensign and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., have an agreement that for every three nominees Ensign recommends, Reid can recommend one. It's Reid's turn, and he recommended Sandoval.
"We work together to pick judicial nominees based on their character and qualifications, instead of their politics," Reid and Ensign said in a joint written statement. "We hope President Bush and our colleagues in the Senate will follow our lead, and work with us in a bipartisan fashion so Brian Sandoval can be nominated and confirmed."
Sandoval doesn't expect to make the switch for three or four months and in the meantime he will stay on as attorney general. His replacement will be named by Gov. Kenny Guinn, who may also get to appoint the state controller if Kathy Augustine is convicted of misuse of her office.
Sandoval said he is accepting the new position "with a little bit of trepidation." He said he "didn't want to let down his staff."
"This is one of my most difficult decisions," he said.
In the meeting with his staff Monday, Sandoval mentioned the possibility that this could eventually lead to Sandoval's elevation to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, according to a worker who was present at the session.
Reid's recommendation of Sandoval is a savvy move because it could eliminate a young leader in the Nevada Republican party from reaching loftier political heights.
"Isn't that a wonderful way to kick the political opposition upstairs?" asked University of Massachusetts, Amherst, political science professor Sheldon Goldman, an author and expert on politics and the federal judiciary. "On the one hand you are recognizing a bright star, while removing that person from the political marketplace."
But Goldman added that accepting a life-time appointment to a federal bench doesn't prevent someone from jumping back onto a political track.
"It's not typical, but it has happened," Goldman said.
Goldman cited George Mitchell, who served as a U.S. District judge in Maine and later became Senate Democratic leader. Other observers noted that White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, President Bush's nominee for Attorney General, was once a Texas Supreme Court justice.
Reid spokeswoman Tessa Hafen dismissed the theory that Reid was thwarting the rise of a talented Republican.
"That was not Sen. Reid's design," Hafen said. One thing that did factor into the decision, though, was Reid wanted to recommend a Hispanic nominee to better reflect Nevada's growing Hispanic population, Hafen said.
Another reason that recommending a GOP moderate like Sandoval is a smart political move for Reid is it gives Reid credentials in future fights over Bush judicial nominees.
It's not uncommon for senators from the same state but different parties to cooperate in making recommendations for federal nominations, said Dave Warner, a spokesman for the Washington watchdog group Judicial Watch.
The cooperation helps assure confirmation in the nearly evenly divided Senate.
Sandoval, who spoke at this year's Republican National Convention in New York City, has been seen as one of the Republican party's rising stars. Several political consultants said his appointment to the federal bench isn't necessarily the end of his political career.
At just 41 years old and with three young children at home, Sandoval could spend a few years on the bench and still have plenty of time to launch another bid for office, said Republican consultant Ryan Erwin.
Sandoval is appealing to Republicans because he is smart, and articulate, and he has an ability to generate money and respect from both sides of the aisle, said Erwin, a former state Republican party executive director.
"Brian's the total package, he really is," Erwin said.
Sandoval served two terms in the Assembly from Washoe County, then was appointed chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission where he served for three and one-half years before resigning to run for attorney general. As attorney general, Sandoval has been involved in cases involving the open-meeting law, Yucca Mountain, the investigation of Augustine and the Legislature and its special session over taxes.
Sandoval also argued the case over whether or not public employees were barred from serving in the Legislature before the Nevada Supreme Court. He lost that case.
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