UNR grad Cortez Masto has sights on attorney general seat

Catherine Cortez Masto already has one thing in common with Richard C. Stoddard, Alan Bible, Harvey Dickerson, Charles Springer, Richard Bryan, Frankie Sue Del Papa and Brian Sandoval. They are all alumni of the University of Nevada, Reno.

Cortez Masto would like to have something else in common with the group -- to serve as Nevada attorney general.

She is the likely Democratic nominee who will face Republican George Chanos in the 2006 general election. Chanos, a Las Vegas lawyer, has been named by Gov. Kenny Guinn to fill the seat of Sandoval, who is on the verge of being approved by the U.S. Senate for a federal judge seat. Chanos has already said he will run for attorney general.

Cortez Masto, a 41-year-old Nevada native, never has run for office, though she has spent most of her professional career in public service. Among other things, she worked as Gov. Bob Miller's chief of staff, spent three years as a criminal prosecutor with U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C., and served as the assistant county manager in Clark County.

"I loved government work," she said. "It's something that has always interested me. I don't know if that was because of my father always being in politics, but I always loved the public policy side of it ... helping people, that's something that just really interested me."

She didn't have to look far for political role models. Her father, Manny Cortez, served four terms as a Clark County commissioner and more than 13 years as head of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority before retiring in 2004.

"Obviously, he's always been a role model," Cortez Masto said. "He taught me that you need to be honest with people, and they'll respect you. They might not like what you say, but they'll respect you."

And there have been others, as well.

"Gov. (Mike) O'Callaghan was larger than life and had a big impact on my family," she said. "Former (Clark County) D.A. Rex Bell is a good friend of the family. My father went to school, and went into the Army with Congressman (Jim) Bilbray. Sen. Bryan went to school with my parents. It's kind of nice, when you grow up in the community, and my parents grew up here too, people know what kind of family you come from."

Cortez Masto has quietly been making a name for herself since graduating cum laude from Gonzaga University School of Law in 1990. She was admitted to the Nevada Bar that year and spent the next year as a clerk for longtime Clark County Judge Michael J. Wendell, who she said was also a great influence on her life.

"He had great judicial temperament," she said. "I just learned from him how to be an attorney ... how to deal with people."

She joined Gov. Bob Miller's staff in 1995 and ran his Las Vegas office before being named chief of staff in 1998. It was while on Miller's staff that she met her husband, Paul Masto, a U.S. Secret Service agent, who today is second-in-charge of the Secret Service's Las Vegas office.

Her time in the governor's office was followed by three years as an assistant U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., where she prosecuted drug and victims' rights cases. She returned home to Las Vegas in 2002 and was hired as assistant county manager for Clark County, the fastest-growing county in the country.

It wasn't until Sandoval was nominated for the federal court that she started considering a run for attorney general.

"There was never any (political) position I was interested in other than being attorney general," she said.

The first call she made was to her parents, Manny and Joanna, who were, as always, supportive.

She then placed some calls to state Democratic leaders, including U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, Bryan, Miller, Del Papa, U.S. Rep. Shelly Berkley, who were also supportive. Cortez Masto resigned from the county several weeks ago and has been gearing for the campaign ever since.

Whether she can follow her fellow UNR alums into the attorney general's office remains to be seen. That will be up to the voters in November 2006. Political pedigree or not, she knows she will be judged on her own merits.

"Obviously, the scrutiny is there for you personally," she said. "That's something to be expected. It also allows me to highlight some of the areas and issues that I think are important for the state. I'm looking forward to it."