Columnist Jeff German: Zadrowski is losing the name game

Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2004 | 10:54 a.m.

Bernie Zadrowski has a lot going for him in the race to fill the newly created Department 9 seat in Las Vegas Justice Court.

At 38 he's an experienced prosecutor in the district attorney's office. He has a long list of law enforcement endorsements, including the influential Las Vegas Police Protective Association. And he can point to his many activities within the legal community.

On Monday Zadrowski put out a news release saying he has the support of all six of the candidates who didn't make the Sept. 7 primary cut.

The only thing Zadrowski doesn't have is a recognizable name. That belongs to his opponent in the general election, 28-year-old Joe Bonaventure, a 2001 law school graduate who has the good fortune of sharing the name of his father, popular District Judge Joseph Bonaventure.

And that makes Zadrowski a big-time underdog -- and most likely the loser -- in this race.

"In a sense, I'm running against his dad, because that's who people think I'm running against," Zadrowski says.

Look at what happened in the primary. Zadrowski pounded the pavement and out-spent Bonaventure $54,038 to $30,210, but Bonaventure coasted to an easy victory, collecting 43.8 percent of the vote.

Zadrowski, on the other hand, barely made it out of the primary. He squeaked passed attorney Lizzie Hatcher by 352 votes to earn a spot with Bonaventure on the November ballot. His second-place finish won him a mere 13 percent of the vote.

If this race were judged on experience, Zadrowski, a chief deputy in the district attorney's Battery/Domestic Violence Unit, would be the clear winner. He lists a four-page resume on his campaign Web site, touting several facets of his career, including the many hours he has spent in the courtroom. He also has taught criminal law at the Community College of Southern Nevada and served on prestigious professional committees.

Not surprisingly, Bonaventure posts no resume on his Web site. But recently he invited Web viewers to stop by his booth at the San Gennaro Feast, where he handed out free garlic. The Culinary Union and the Nevada AFL-CIO are listed as his most notable endorsements.

Bonaventure's biggest claim to fame, other than being the namesake of a well-known district judge, is being part of the charter graduating class at UNLV's Boyd School of Law. He spent 14 months as a prosecutor in the district attorney's office before going into private practice. But veteran deputies there say he can't come close to Zadrowski's record of trying more than 100 criminal cases.

Yet Bonaventure has heredity on his side, a name people identify with every time they think of the court system. The senior Bonaventure attracted much local and national attention presiding over the Ted Binion murder trial in 2000.

And wouldn't you know it?

The Binion retrial is set to get under way Oct. 11 and is likely to run well past the Nov. 2 general election.

That means the Bonaventure name will be in the newspapers and on the 6 o'clock news every day the last three weeks of the race, which will be nearly impossible for Zadrowski to overcome at the polls.

He'll have to campaign like Superman to even the score.