Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006 | 7:26 a.m.
Late last year, former District Judge Don Chairez was approached separately by prominent Las Vegas lawyers Laura FitzSimmons and Kermitt Waters. Their pitch: We want you to run for Justice Nancy Becker's Supreme Court seat. She needs to go.
"Laura and Kermitt thought that $200,000-$300,000 could be raised to take out Justice Becker," says Chairez, who eventually decided against that race and is now the Republican nominee for attorney general.
FitzSimmons and Waters are two of Nevada's biggest eminent domain lawyers. Waters is so passionate about the topic that he and Chairez sponsored a group calling itself the People's Initiative to Stop the Taking of Our Land, or PISTOL. The group succeeded in getting a proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would, among other things, make it much tougher for governments to take private land for the public good through eminent domain proceedings.
FitzSimmons and Waters represent clients who believe the government is unfairly taking their land for "public purposes." Becker, Waters says, has "absolutely" ruled more consistently in favor of the government in eminent domain cases than any of her colleagues.
According to Chairez, FitzSimmons and Waters not only want Becker out, they want their own justice in.
"I think they're playing the same game the casinos and developers are," he says. "The casinos are looking for their puppet."
The difference, Chairez says, is that Waters and FitzSimmons are looking for someone who philosophically agrees with them on eminent domain issues, not a pawn.
The race between Becker and District Judge Nancy Saitta, who formally announced her candidacy for Becker's seat in May, has descended into a contest rife with accusations of influence peddling and campaign-contribution shakedowns.
Saitta's supporters say Becker is beholden to the gaming industry because of its significant contributions to her campaigns. What's more, they claim that she used the system to try to pressure a litigant with a case pending before the court to give money to her campaign.
Becker, meanwhile, is firing shots of her own, alleging that Saitta would be unduly influenced by the strong backing of FitzSimmons and Waters, who has quietly orchestrated an anti-Becker telephone campaign to get his choice on the bench.
Saitta says she will not be influenced by campaign contributions. Because she and FitzSimmons are sufficiently close, however, Saitta says if she wins, she will recuse herself from any cases involving her friend.
In a two-day span in April, FitzSimmons and people she's closely associated with gave $50,000 to Saitta's campaign - 17 percent of the funds Saitta has raised this year, according to records released this month by the secretary of state's office.
On April 19, FitzSimmons gave $10,000 to Saitta's campaign, and another $10,000 through an investment company called Down the Road, which she manages with her husband, John Lambrose, a deputy federal public defender.
The following day, Saitta received another $10,000 contribution - the maximum allowed by state election law from any individual or company - from a company called Strawberry Flats, which FitzSimmons and Lambrose manage along with Joseph "Joe" Lamarca, owner of Euphoria Salons and Day Spas, a local chain.
Lamarca also gave Saitta another $20,000 that day through two other companies he manages, Willin and Lamarca/Doyle (he manages Lamarca/Doyle with a business partner, Lawrence P. Doyle). The two companies are based at the same Las Vegas location as Strawberry Flats, 3355 S. Highland Drive, Euphoria's corporate headquarters.
Lamarca says Strawberry Flats owns properties in Key West, Fla., and Hawaii. Both Lamarca/Doyle and Willin are investment companies, he says.
Lamarca denies he donated to Saitta because of his business connections and close friendship with FitzSimmons, or because of any interest in eminent domain or property rights issues.
Saitta's campaign Web site makes it clear that she favors a different view on eminent domain cases than Becker - one more favorable to Waters and FitzSimmons.
"The Constitution guarantees our property rights, yet the Supreme Court has consistently ruled against Nevada's landowners and in favor of governments who have seized private property," Saitta says on the Web site.
FitzSimmons says she contributed to Saitta for one main reason: She's a terrific judge.
"I donated to Nancy Saitta because I greatly admire her commitment to the Constitution and to fairness for everyone," FitzSimmons says.
"She would be an excellent Supreme Court justice who will not be beholden to the large gaming interests and other special interests who put Nancy Becker on the bench in the first place, and who have donated tens of thousands of dollars to keep her there so that she can consistently rule in their favor, and against the rights of everyday Nevadans."
According to FitzSimmons, Becker has "basically been bought and paid for by the big law firms and powerful gaming interests."
She claims that has manifested itself in Supreme Court decisions backing gaming companies, such as the International Game Technology whistleblower case, in which IGT employee James McAndrews sued his employer in 2003, alleging the company and its subsidiaries owed up to $50 million in back taxes. In a February opinion written by Becker, the court threw out the case.
Becker has received significant campaign funding from large gaming companies in her last two Supreme Court races. This year, according to state records, 30 percent of the $276,982 Becker has raised so far has come from megaresorts and other gaming interests.
According to a 2004 report from the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN), gaming interests from 1998 to 2002 gave more to Becker - $94,282 - than any other Supreme Court justice or candidate during that time.
In her 2000 race, according to PLAN's report, Becker raised $203,733, of which 46.3 percent came from gaming interests.
Becker denies that she has been influenced in any way by the gaming industry's support. She cited a defamation case in which she came down against casino mogul Steve Wynn, and in a labor dispute with MGM Grand, she said she refused to grant an injunction to prevent striking workers from picketing the hotel.
"It makes no difference to me who gives to my campaigns," Becker says. She says she makes her decisions based on the merits of each case.
(Susan Greenspun Fine contributed $500 to Becker's campaign, as did Daniel and Robin Greenspun, according to state records. The Greenspun family owns the Las Vegas Sun.)
Saitta's 2006 contributions report shows gaming interests so far have been basically a nonfactor. She received a $5,000 donation from Coast Casinos Inc., the only apparent gaming contribution to her to date.
Yet as of Aug. 8, when the state contribution and expense reports were filed, Saitta had raised $295,006.25, almost $20,000 more than Becker, the incumbent.
Another of Saitta's largest contributors is a lawyer who lost big in a case in which Becker played a role.
Campaign reports show that in May, Reno lawyer Robert Maddox gave Saitta $10,000. His wife, Nancy A. Cyra Maddox, also contributed $10,000.
Maddox says he's a big Saitta fan - "She's just a first-class individual," he says - but also cited another reason he's giving to Saitta: Becker was one of the justices who decided in 2003 to vacate a nearly $16 million judgment Maddox had won in a construction-defect case on behalf of 200 homeowners.
Maddox says he personally lost $2.8 million in contingency fees in the case, plus another $2.3 million his office spent in out-of-pocket expenses, for a total of $5.1 million.
"To have it taken away was not a pleasant experience," Maddox says. "It was a big hit."
One case that comes up more frequently when talking to opponents of Becker is Guinn v. Legislature in 2003 - in which she was one of six justices who supported shelving the constitutional requirement for a two-thirds majority vote on taxes.
Another is the Pappas case.
In 2003 the Supreme Court in a 4-2 decision ruled that the eminent domain purchase of a downtown Las Vegas property owned by the Pappas family was constitutional.
The land was taken by the Downtown Redevelopment Agency to create a parking garage for the Fremont Street Experience.
Becker wrote for the majority that the garage "furthers the public purpose of eliminating blight in downtown Las Vegas."
Eminent domain activists said the government took the property without just cause - only to then hand it over to the casinos.
Waters says those cases are two big reasons he's trying to help engineer Becker's defeat.
"Do I support Saitta? Let's put it this way: I'm against Judge Becker because of what she's done," Waters says. "She's the justice least friendly to private property."
Although Waters has not cut a check directly to Saitta, he has helped her by organizing an anti-Becker telephone campaign, which he says highlights her role in those two cases.
Waters says the messages were sent just before the primary to about 200,000 homes statewide - and that he likely will have the messages dispatched again before the general election.
Waters says he can't recall how much the anti-Becker advertising effort cost. Those numbers were not immediately available from the secretary of state's office.
FitzSimmons says that efforts on behalf of Saitta by her and Waters are not being done jointly. The two - who once worked in the same law office - have not spoken since 2001, she says.
She claims a recent incident involving Becker and a client of hers increased her support for Saitta.
FitzSimmons represents university system Regent Steve Sisolak of Las Vegas. Sisolak sued Clark County in a case involving land he owned near McCarran International Airport that he claimed had been devalued when the county, which operates the airport, placed height restrictions on nearby developments.
Oral arguments were held before the Supreme Court in February 2005, and the case was still pending when, Sisolak says, he received two invitations to a March 7 Becker fundraiser at the Mansion at the MGM Grand.
Sisolak says that he was taken aback by the invitations, and wrestled with what to do for three weeks before deciding against contributing to Becker's campaign.
"If I donate, it's like I'm trying to bribe someone. And if I don't, I could lose the case," he says. "My emotions were all over the block. It was very scary."
The court ruled last month that Sisolak was entitled to a $6.5 million judgment from the airport. Becker was one of two dissenting judges.
"While I never was a fan of Justice Becker because I always represent the underdog and she commonly rules in favor of the powerful, it was only after Justice Becker tried to shake down my client that I decided to get so involved in the Saitta campaign," FitzSimmons said in an e-mail.
Becker responds that Sisolak was mistakenly on a "mass-mailing" list for the fundraiser because he had given to Supreme Court candidates in previous years. The invitation list, she says, was composed of those people and previous Becker supporters.
The invitations were sent twice to everyone, Becker says, with a map included in the second one.
As soon as she discovered the mistake, Becker says she told her staff to remove Sisolak from the list. She claims any allegation that it was a shakedown is "absurd."
The fundraiser was hosted by MGM Mirage Chairman Terry Lanni and 76 others - including four stockholders of Jones Vargas, the influential law firm representing the airport in the Sisolak case.
MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman says Lanni hosted the fundraiser for Becker because "she's a terrific justice who has served the state well in that role."
The company's support is based on the quality of her work, Feldman says, and not the level of her support for the gaming industry.
Feldman says that while Saitta also has done a "terrific" job, "philosophically, we'll support incumbents, as long there's no reason not to."
Both Saitta, a District Court judge since 1998, and Becker, a Supreme Court justice since that same year, say they are proud of the broad range of support they've received statewide.
And both hint that the contributions the other has received could taint her future work.
Regarding Becker's support from the gaming industry, Saitta says: "The numbers speak for themselves."
Becker implies the same thing about Saitta and her ties to FitzSimmons and Waters.
"When a small number of people with a particular interest donate a large amount," she says, "you have to ask whether the person receiving the money is being influenced by that."
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