Sandoval’s First Judicial Pick Troubling

Another in our “Personnel is Policy” series relating to Gov. Brian Sandoval. As you may have read, Nevada’s new governor made his first judicial appointment yesterday, Jerry Tao. A public defender (meaning taxpayer-funded lawyer for alleged criminals), Tao will fill a vacancy on the District Court bench, eliciting this email from one of our subscribers who also happens to be a lawyer:

“Jerry Tao was a chief speechwriter and legislative assistant for Harry Reid. He ran for the Clark County Commission against Republican Chip Maxfield. His campaign contributions were mired in controversy. He made outrageously horrible claims against Chip Maxfield. He is a hardcore Democrat. And he was Sandoval’s choice for judge today? You think you got a conservative governor???”

This is not good. Houston, we have a problem.