Opponents: Krueger not eligible

Two candidates for Carson City district court judge say they do not plan to legally challenge opponent Mark Krueger but do not think he is eligible for office under state law.

State law says district judges must have been licensed at least 10 years prior to an election, but Krueger, one of four candidates for the district court seat, has been licensed about eight years.

Krueger has said the law doesn't apply to him because he was licensed in 2000 before the 2005 law went into effect. Krueger did not return calls to Appeal this week seeking comment.

The other candidates, Noel Waters, Caren Jenkins and Jim Wilson, have all been licensed at least 10 years.

Waters, Carson City District Attorney from 1987 to 2003, said he was "a little distressed" to hear about Krueger's interpretation of the law.

Krueger might be exempt if he had been elected before the law took effect, Waters said, but he clearly is not legally eligible to run now.

Waters said he won't challenge Krueger's eligibility, at least during the primary, and will promote his own strengths as a candidate instead.

"I don't think anyone necessarily has some appetite to go butting heads with an opponent because of some fool thing they do," he said.

Jenkins said Krueger is a "very nice man" but she "doesn't see how" he could interpret the law, NRS 3.060, the way he does.

If Krueger "believes eight years is sufficient when the law says 10," she said, that is his right.

But Jenkins, founder of Jenkins Law Office in Carson City and Reno, said she won't challenge Krueger's eligibility and hopes the race can stay "collegial."

Wilson, a private attorney, said he has not studied the eligibility law enough to have an opinion.

If opponents did challenge Krueger, however, it is not clear how they would do it. A candidate's eligibility under current law can be challenged only until early February, though there is a case about the law before the Nevada Supreme Court now.

It argues that Brigid Duffy, a candidate for Clark County district court judge, will have met the 10-year requirement by the time she could take office in 2009, but not by the November election.

John Lee, the state senator who wrote the eligibility law, has said a candidate should have 10 years of experience by the filing date, but Tuan Samahon, a law professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said Duffy should challenge the law.

"My view is that the statute is unconstitutional because it attempts to do by statute what may be done only by constitutional amendment, namely, setting eligibility requirements for state constitutional office," he said in an e-mail.

The nonpartisan primary is Aug. 12, and the general election is Nov. 4. The winner will replace Judge Bill Maddox, who is not seeking another term.

- Contact reporter Dave Frank at dfrank@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.