Judging Political Contributions
It takes a lot to bring Picon down, but as we penned this story we were struck by sadness and question what is happening to our elections in Washoe County, Nevada.
There once was a respected District Court judge who was well liked by the bench and the bar in Washoe County, in fact, throughout the State of Nevada, the Honorable Elliott A. Sattler, Second Judicial District Court - Department 10.
Judge Sattler was appointed to the bench in 2013 by former Governor Brian Sandoval, and in 2020 he was opposed by a local personal injury attorney Kathleen Sigurdson. To the bench and the bar’s shock and sadness, Sattler lost. No one expected it, except for perhaps the ‘funder’ of Sigurdson’s race.
Picon wrote about all the $15,000 contributions on Thursday, July 18th the GSR/Grand Sierra Resort and Saraha Las Vegas, both owned by Alex Meruelo, directed to City of Reno Councilmembers Devon Reese, Naomi Duerr, Miguel Martinez, and Kathleen Taylor. Those lucky ducks. We believe the contributions might have something to do with the Illumined Arms Retail and Gunsmithing Shop/Gun Range, or more to the point keeping the gun range from being built, but hey, we might be wrong.
The one thing we’re not wrong about is Elliott Sattler’s campaign loss in 2020 to personal injury attorney and horse lover Kathleen Sigurdson. Sigurdson had been advertising on television for over 15 years and had all sorts of name recognition, plus, who doesn’t like horses. Whereas Sattler seemed stiff and uncomfortable in his television commercials, no warm and fuzzy, just judicial.
Some ponder why Sigurdson got in the race, we’ve talked to a number of attorneys over the weekend, and learned Sigurdson had talked about running for judge on and off over the years but commented she would be incapable of raising the necessary funds and further would not fund a judicial race herself, you know like Judge David Hardy, Department 15 does whenever he pulls an opponent. We urge folks to entertain themselves with the Contribution and Expense reports for our judicial seats, most interesting who donates.
While delving in we learned that Sattler had a case that involved the Grand Sierra Resort in 2018 or 2019 and “the powers that be” over at the GSR were not pleased with his decision. So, as a long-time attorney in Reno told us, “The GSR went judicial shopping.”
Someone must have remembered Sigurdson’s comments, and they found her, or she found them, and she found a funder for her race in the GSR. Almost an exclusive funder, in looking at her Contribution and Expense Reports.
When Picon penned an article where we touched on Sigurdson’s race on July 22, 2022, we noted the case we thought might have been the culprit to cause Sattler to be defeated; CV12-02222 – Albert Thomas ETAL vs MEI-GSR Holdings ETAL.
Could the success of Sattler vs Sigurdson in 2020 be the reason GSR is rewarding Reno City Councilmember’s Reese, Duerr, Martinez, and Taylor in 2024? Worked once, why not again, after all have to keep that pesky gun range from opening.
However, there is a sad twist to this story and that is the ratings that Judge Sigurdson received in the latest Washoe County Bar Association judicial review.
Guess, while shopping for a judicial candidate against Sattler no one took the time to learn if Sigurdson would make a good judge. Apparently in the eyes of the members of the bar association, Sigurdson gets some of the lowest scores not only in 2023 but again in the newly released 2024 review.
Again, in 2024 much like 2023, Sigurdson is the “Queen of Preempt” getting the highest number on her side of the General Jurisdiction street, the only judge with a few more is family court Judge Cindy Lu. A preempt is caused when one of the lawyers pays a fee that goes to the Nevada Supreme Court to have their case moved to another department. Meaning, lawyers don’t want to be in Sigurdson’s court.
Just to add one more layer, the individual who ran Sigurdson’s campaign in 2020 also handled Councilmember Naomi Duerr’s State Senate campaign in 2024 – you know the $5,000 donation from Sahara Las Vegas. Tallac got a $40,000+ payday from Judge Sigurdson’s race back in 2020.
That’s the point of this story, look at who paid for the race. When watching the City of Reno Government City Council meetings ask yourself are these city council members acting on your benefit or are they ‘watching out’ for the interests of individuals and businesses who contribution to their campaigns.
