Justice is blind… to Campaign Contributions.
Justice in our community and our country is intimately tied to judges, members of our community who are supposed to remain impartial at all levels. The impartiality of our entire justice system has been in question since the Supreme Court started overturning multiple rulings upending established precedents. This pattern of partisan politics has unfortunately also been taking place in Northern Nevada; we took a look at six local judges' campaign contributions. These searches were made using these six judges' names, but not the names of family members, or business entities. Anyone can make the same searches we made by visiting Aurora by clicking here.
1. Derek Drieling - Reno Justice Court, Dept. 1
No contributions made by Judge Drieling could be found through Aurora.
2. Ryan K. Sullivan - Reno Justice Court, Dept. 3
Judge Sullivan has made $950 of reportable contributions per Aurora. However, all contributions appear to have been made before she was a sitting judge. Her largest contribution was $500 to David Humke, a former judge and Washoe County Commissioner, he passed away in May at the age of 73.
3. Scott E. Pearson - Reno Justice Court, Dept. 4
Elected to his current position on the bench in 2010, Judge Pearson has not remained so impartial. Ignoring the ~$1,760 in contributions to his own campaign, in 2016 he made a $200 contribution to Washoe County Commissioner Vaughn Hartung's campaign. Also in an interesting move, Pearson also made a $2.00 contribution to former Nevada State Treasurer and former Lt. Governor and current White House Adviser Kate Marshall.
4. David Clifton - Reno Justice Court, Dept. 5
Elected to the bench in 2010 and again in 2017, Judge David Clifton has made $55,750 in reportable contributions between 2009 and 2018; $50,100 of those contributions were made to his own campaign, but $5,650 in contributions was made to other candidates, all while Clifton has served as a judge.
5. Pierre Hascheff - Reno Justice Court, Dept. 6
Elected to the bench in 2012, Judge Pierre Hascheff has made 39 reportable contributions with some before he was elected to the bench, but also a significant number after he started his service as a judge. In 2018 and 2022 he contributed $1,000 and $2,000, respectively, to Washoe County Commissioner Bob Lucey. These contributions only represent a small portion of the $34,075 he has given, taking into account $11,500 he has given to himself.
6. Pete Sferrazza - Reno Justice Court, Dept. 2 (Retired)
Retiring from the bench, Pete Sferrazza leaves an interesting legacy. Sferrazza retired in October of 2020 following his wife's DUI in August of that year. These document were the first Picon ever published and left a lot of questions unanswered. Beyond that Sferrazza has made numerous small campaign contributions, 22 to be exact, only totally $2,250.
