Supreme Court campaign funds reported

Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 | 9:48 a.m.

SUN CAPITAL BUREAU

CARSON CITY -- Justice James Hardesty collected $644,319 in campaign contributions and spent $595,294 in winning his election to the Nevada Supreme Court.

The report of Hardesty, a former District Court judge in Reno, was received by certified mail Thursday by the secretary of state's office.

He defeated District Judge Cynthia Dianne Steel of Las Vegas 356,674 to 259,299. Steel reported raising $94,631 during her campaign and spending the same amount.

Hardesty collected $10,000 from Merrill Lynch Trust Company of Pennington, N. J.; $5,000 each from Nancy Quon and Robert Black, both of Las Vegas, and Caesars Palace.

He received $4,000 both from Harrah's Operating Company Inc. and Liberty Oil & Refining Association Inc.

In the period between Oct. 21, 2004, and Jan. 15, Hardesty reported collecting $99,465 in contributions.

Since Oct. 21, he paid November Inc. of Las Vegas $44,000 and Minor Advertising of Reno $40,759.

Steel, in her final report, said she put $9,496 of her own money into the campaign since Oct. 21. She only raised $12,346 during that period. Her biggest expenditure was $12,000 to Westland Communications of Albuquerque.

John Mason of Reno, who lost to former District Judge Ron Parraguirre of Las Vegas in a contest for the Supreme Court, said he received $862,494 and spent $862,142.

Mason spent more than $200,000 above that of Parraguirre who won 393,116 to 215,729.

In the closing month of the campaign, Mason personally contributed $6,380 to the campaign. From Oct. 21 to Jan. 15, he collected $2,500 each from the Douglas County Republican Central Committee and Warren Trepp of Reno.

His biggest expenditure was $34,960 to the post office for mailing.

Parraguirre reported earlier he collected $618,642 during the campaign and spent $614,478.

The deadline for filing the campaign collections and spending report was Tuesday. But the report is considered filed as long as it was in the mail on that day.