Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Jon Ralston on the embarrassing state of Nevada’s judicial system

I'm embarrassed.

For the local judicial system. For the valley's media. And for Southern Nevada.

It took an out-of-state newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, to publish one of the most devastating pieces about Las Vegas that we have seen in many years. The story, which the paper printed this week, is not some of the standard Sin-City-with-Flamboyant-Mayor lampooning we have come to expect. This is an in-depth investigative piece, the product of years of reporting by two journalists, which exposes the incestuous nature of a judiciary fueled by friendships and campaign money.

The notion of Las Vegas as a juice town is not news. The idea that judges can be unduly influenced by who they know and the money they receive is something cynics have long assumed - and one of the reasons many of us have called for electing judges.

But what the L.A. Times has done is devote resources to detailing and documenting a causal connection between influence attempted and decisions rendered.

Through extensive research and interviews, the reporters have uncovered a pay-to-play system that will be hard for the locals to refute.

And in so doing, the California newspaper has left every journalist who has covered courts and politics in this state red-faced and surely induced many past and current judges to wonder if any law enforcement agencies are looking at the same information the Times reporters had.

You surely will hear many defenses rolled out by the judges, past and present, including that facts were distorted, pernicious insinuations made, erroneous inferences drawn. But the preponderance of evidence amassed by reporters Michael J. Goodman and William C. Rempel - 6,000 words worth - is so impressive that whatever protests we hear will seem too much.

One judge who is portrayed unflatteringly in the piece, Nancy Saitta, called Thursday to tell me she thought it was "a fair article" but one that didn't tell the whole story. And Saitta, who is running for the Nevada Supreme Court, said she was willing to come on "Face to Face" next week to discuss the piece.

She actually discussed the local judicial system with the L.A. Times reporters despite an astonishing April 28 memo from court Public Information Officer Michael Sommermeyer that said: "My recommendation is for all of the judges to refuse to comment."

You know where the article is going with the title of the investigation - "Juice vs. Justice" and the headline - "In Las Vegas, They're Playing With a Stacked Judicial Deck" - and the subhead - "Some judges routinely rule in cases involving friends, former clients and business associates - and in favor of lawyers who fill their campaign coffers."

But this is a story that does not rely on sensational headlines or quotes from losing lawyers who might be accused of having sour grapes.

Yes, attorneys from inside and outside Nevada are critical of the judicial system. But the reporters went much further - they examined hundreds upon hundreds of case files going back years to detail potential conflicts and biased decisions for many former and current District Court judges, including Don Mosley, Joe Pavlikowski, Gene Porter, Sally Loehrer, even Jim Mahan, who has moved up to the federal bench and bristled at the questioning.

Only the recently retired John McGroarty, who merited his own sidebar in the Times, came out well:

"This is a fast track, a fast town - very fast," he said. "This isn't Des Moines, Iowa." He rubbed his thumb and forefinger together to indicate money. "This is a juice town," he said. "Go out there and start messing with that juice, and it will come back and get you."

Coming on the heels of G-Sting, where the FBI uncovered political corruption we had missed, the L.A. Times story is more evidence that we in the local media are part of the problem when we need help from outsiders to fulfill our duty as watchdogs. And if you think all that news is embarrassing, here are some worse tidings:

That was only the first of a three-part series that continues today and Saturday.

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