Nevada Commission on Judicial Selection violates the Nevada Constitution! “The FIX is in”

Clark County Nevada
August 17, 2024

“What’s a constitution between friends?”……will Greg Kamer retort when inquiring minds want to know. (It’s Kamer, not Kramer….from the TV show).

Kamer is a longtime labor lawyer who has served as the Nevada Commission On Judicial Selection vice-chair for too long. (According to the commission, it is a “judicial body.” )

So, I wanted to know from Kamer why the Commission sent up a single, solitary name for the governor’s consideration on June 6 to fill the Department 14 judge vacancy. This judgeship in our largest county, Clark, has at least 8,000 lawyers.

Let’s go over my previous column on this issue.

The  Nevada Constitution specifies the names of three “candidates, be forwarded to the governor for his selection of one as successor judge.”  [ Sec 6, Article 20(1) & (8)] “When a vacancy occurs before the expiration of any term of office among the district judges, the Governor shall appoint a justice or judge from among three nominees selected for such individual vacancy by the Commission on Judicial Selection” ]

That is straightforward and contains no nuance. Number three (3) is after number 2. It’s hard to mix it up with one(1).

On April 17, 2024, Governor Joe Lombardo announced the vacancy for the Eighth Judicial District Court of Nevada, Department 14. Department 14 became available due to the retirement of the Honorable Adriana Escobar in May.

On May 14, 2024, Chief Justice Elissa Cadish announced that the Nevada Commission on Judicial Selection received one application from an individual to fill the judicial opening in Department 14 of the Eighth Judicial District Court.

Then, the Commission on Judicial Selection convened on May 17, 2024, for an emergency meeting to discuss the one applicant for the vacancy in Department 14 of the 8th Judicial District Court.

The Commission voted to conduct a background investigation and forward the applicant’s name to Governor Lombardo. On Monday, June 3, 2024, the Commission sent the name of Ms. Tina Talim, Esq. to Governor Lombardo.

So what happened to the three  names specified in the constitution………..as  in …… “written in stone.”

Kamer tells me in a group text, “No problem.” We made a rule…….in contravention of the requirement of three.

Sometimes, they say it’s challenging to lasso up three people to send up, so they send up less than that—and have done so on occasions—and have a clear conscience.

This Commission is a joke. There is no consistency; sometimes they send three names, sometimes they don’t like any of the applicants and extend the deadline to gain more applicants, and sometimes they send less than three names. It’s a shit show, and Kamer believes he has the power to eliminate or create a judge.

If they can’t agree on three applicants to send to the governor and can’t extend the deadline to receive more applicants, then that seat should be vacated and placed on the ballot for Nevada voters to decide. Instead, they anointed one applicant to give that person the power of incumbency, making it difficult to unseat them. So yes, the Fix is in!

Veterans In Politics were made aware that the commission, which was supposed to be unbiased, sent the governor a single name from a single application. That means only one person applied for Clark County District Court Department 14, and only one applicant was sent.

We contacted Peter Guzman, a member of the Commission and President of the Latin Chamber. This was done to determine why only one name was sent to the governor when the Consitution said three names should be sent.

Guzman put us in contact with Gregory Kamer, the Commission’s Vice Chair. Kamer asked me, “Why am I so interested in Department 14?” When I confronted him about not being consistent and violating the constitution, he tried to tell me about the rules they made that allowed them to violate the Nevada Constitution.

I attempt to educate him on how to amend the Constitution… Nevada voters must be on the ballot twice to make that rule change, not the commission. He explained that lawyers like to spin things.

After our verbal conversation ended, Kamer then added me to a group text between himself and the following: Peter Guzman, President of the Latin Chamber of Commerce; Katherine Stocks, Commission on Judicial Selection Secretary to the Commission State Court Administrator, Supreme Court of Nevada; Margarita Bautista Supreme Court of Nevada Commission on Judicial Selection Overview.

Here is what was said: the Commission has been violating the Nevada Consitution since 2002.  You can always tell me someone is defensive; they start calling you names. Gregory Kamer should no longer be on the board. In my opinion, he is part of the problem and corrupt!

How could you trust the system when it is fixed? It’s our understanding two board members rejected sending the only applicant to the governor.