Parraguirre, Douglas outspent opponents in high court races

Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2005 | 10:36 a.m.

SUN CAPITAL BUREAU

CARSON CITY -- Justice Ron Parraguirre spent $614,478 in the election last year to win his seat on the Nevada Supreme Court, and Justice Michael Douglas spent $258,894, or five times more than his opponent, to win his seat on the state's high court.

Douglas and Parraguirre filed their campaign reports with the Secretary of State's Office on Tuesday

The third and final report filed by Parraguirre, a former district judge in Clark County, indicated that he raised $618,642 during the campaign.

The report, which covered from Oct. 26 to Jan. 15, showed he received $10,000 from the Merrill Lynch Trust Company of Pennington, N.J., and $2,500 each from Nevada Power Co. and Carmine Vento of Henderson.

Parraguirre paid out $23,489 in the final month of the campaign to R&R Partners Inc.; $13,265 to Paladin Advertising of Las Vegas and $10,000 to Fisher Consulting of Reno.

Parraguirre defeated John Mason 393,116 votes to 215,729.

Mason's final campaign report had not been received by the Secretary of State's office as of this morning. The deadline was Tuesday but those that are postmarked by the deadline are considered filed on time.

Douglas campaign reports are already on file at the state offices and indicate that Douglas raised $285,921 in his race to defeat attorney Joel Hansen of Las Vegas.

Hansen reported collecting $48,025 and spending the same amount.

Douglas received 360,001 votes to Hansen's 196,799.

Douglas, appointed to the Supreme Court to replace the late Justice Myron Leavitt, received $5,000 contributions each from the Las Vegas law firms of Harris Kemp & Jones, Schreck Brignone, Beckley Singleton and Jones Vargas.

He also got $5,000 from Jim Guzy of Glenbrook at Lake Tahoe. Those contributions came in the final reporting period from Oct. 26 to the election.

Douglas reporting paying $53,457 to Dan Hart and Associates and $6,000 to Bill McMurdy & Associates in the final months of the campaign.

Hansen reported receiving $1,000 from Phyllis Schafley of Illinois, who was one of the major opponents of the Equal Rights Amendment. His law office of Hansen & Hansen also contributed $3,543.

He reported paying $4,098 to the Patriotic Public Relations and Advertising Co. and also reported repaying himself $4,478 for money he advanced to the campaign.