Local Campaigns in Court, from Term Limits in Question to Community Concerns about a Judge Seeking Re-Election

Headlines came about as Jenny Brekhus tried to save her mayoral campaign from a term-limit legal challenge to the left by progressive candidate William Mantle, with the frontline councilwoman now awaiting Judge Connie Steinheimer’s ruling.

There is possibly a supply chain shortage of ballot papers looming so a decision should be imminent not to complicate those matters even further.

Meanwhile there are concerns about how another judge, Chris Hazlett-Stevens, is conducting himself for his own campaign.

A recent post on his re-election Facebook page has him posing with employees of Reno’s Municipal Court with part of the caption reading: “I post these updates, not because I am running to retain my seat, but because I am so incredibly proud of the work we are doing and of the phenomenal effort poured into this by our participants.”

A community member is also concerned about donations into the judge’s re-election coffers made by a defense attorney with a pending case before him.

The community member points out Robert Fahrendorf’s law offices gave the judge $1,000 on March 31st (screengrab above), days before one of his current clients, Washoe County Sheriff's Office sergeant Jason Wood, now on administrative leave after his second DUI, was due before Judge Hazlett-Stevens.

The community member is looking into the judicial code of ethics, including sections on impartiality, and the use of court premises for activities not related to legal matters. The person said they are also considering filing an official complaint with our local judicial board. Stay tuned for developments on that story.

Highlights of our Reporting this Week

*Our Last Motel Residents of Reno series featured a former military sky diver on parole who worked for Tesla, before health problems curtailed his re-entry process: https://www.ourtownreno.com/our-stories-1/2022/4/14/the-last-motel-residents-of-reno-part-2-skyler-on-parole-and-recovering-from-a-stroke

*Our Keep Reno Rad section had two features, one about a drag house for Latina queens and another about SUP coming out of the pandemic.

*Our Podcast is with Taissa, a doctorate student from Ukraine by day, gogo dancer by night.

*Our Citizen’s Forum had two contributions: one about the magical 5 Dog Books and its owner, the other an Earth Day plea to stop littering in Midtown.