Cotter interview #2 with John Potter

This is an interview with Cotter Conway, who is running to be a full-time judge in the Reno Justice Court. He currently serves as a court referee and has experience in specialty courts for treating the mentally ill and drug-addicted. He wants to continue improving the court system and ensure that laws are applied fairly. The court is very busy with over 35,000 annual filings and Conway wants to address the backlog of cases. He also emphasizes the importance of treating DUI offenders and finding solutions for the homeless population. Mason Valley, 99.1 FM COT for Reno, Tahoe, and all of Northern Nevada. Hello friends, welcome back. Welcome back. John Putter, live and local. I have a guest of this segment. Folks, Reno Justice Court is the busiest, limited jurisdiction court in Northern Nevada with more than 35,000 annual filings. Cotter Conway was honored to be appointed by the justices of the Reno Justice Court to be the first ever court referee where he presides over misdemeanor citations, contested civil infraction hearings, small claims trials, and other civil matters. He also presides over the DUI court whenever the presiding judge is available. And right now, he is running to be on the bench full time for Reno Justice of the Peace, Department 1. Cotter Conway, thanks for showing up here today. Thank you, John. How's the campaign going? It's going very well. I attended a number of things this week. I attended the ribbon cutting for the CARES campus, which is a multimillion dollar project. Yeah, I saw pictures, and it looks like a multimillion dollar project. Yeah, it's a nice facility. I got to tour it, and I think it's a great step. We've got to keep finding ways to deal with the homelessness population. We can't have them in our parks, obviously, but we also have to have a solution for them. We've got to find them stable housing, and we've just got to keep working in that way. So you're not a just stick-to-the-bench guy. You're out there looking for solutions to reasons why people show up in court. Yeah, and I think we have to do that. And when I started practicing law, it was all kind of that was what it was. You went in, you did something wrong, you got punished, you went in, you got a decision. Over the years, though, we've seen the advance of specialty courts to deal with treating the mentally ill or treating the drug-addicted individuals. And you have eight years' experience in those specialty courts. I do. But, yes, I was assigned to the co-occurring disorder court in the Reno Municipal Court for eight years. You are judge pro tempore. What is that? That's like a substitute judge. So I've been doing that over the last eight years. I did that in Incline, Sparks, both justice and municipal, and, of course, now I do it quite a bit in the Reno Justice Court. So basically for Washoe County and Sparks? For Washoe County, that's correct. City of Sparks, perhaps. Yes, City of Sparks. Court referee, what do you do in that position? Well, the court referee was a position that's been available since, I think, 1980s. It's never been used, but recently we're supposed to have six judges. They've had five. So over the last four years, we basically have had five judges, and I think that's a big reason why I was brought in was to kind of help fill that void until that position is filled and we're back up to full strength at six. And talk about experience. You have been or are now, I don't know, deputy public defender in Washoe County? I was a deputy public defender in both the public defender's office and the alternate public defender's office when it was established in 2009. I did that for 15 years, and I've been in private practice for the last 15-plus years. So in your campaign, in door-to-door whatever, what have people been telling you? What do they want in a Reno justice of the peace? That's a really tough question because a lot of them give you the same response, which is, God, I hope I'm never in front of you, which I think is a normal response. And I try to tell them, well, make sure that you're then voting on behalf of your friends and family who might want a good judge in there. So a lot of them are mostly concerned about that the laws are being applied fairly, that I think a lot of the ones I talk to want that Constitution to be upheld, things like that. So I think that's what they're interested in, but it's weird because a lot of times they don't really know what they want out of a judge because they hope to see one. Well, in this race, you rule when it comes to experience. Let's look forward. If you're elected, what are some of the first things you want to do, Cotter, as Reno Justice of the Peace Department 1? Well, any changes? I'm not looking at any major changes offhand. I want to continue to improve what we have. We have specialty courts. We want to continue working with those and helping the public. I think we want to continue to deal with the civil infraction law, which came into place in 2023. We're still adjusting to that because that deals with citizens. We all have probably had a traffic ticket in our life, and we want to make sure that we're being treated fairly when we come before the court when we're dealing with those instances. So to be honest, working with the clerks and all the staff at the Reno Justice Court, it's an amazing court. We just want to keep that experience going forward. We want to keep improving where we can, and we want to have a court that's there for the citizens of Washoe County. I don't know about Reno, Washoe County in this situation, but what I hear about courtrooms in the USA, just about everywhere, so backed up. What's the situation locally for that? How is it? We are definitely a very busy court, as you read at the beginning. We're, I think, the number three busiest court in the state. 35,000 annual filings. Is that a year? That includes criminal cases, traffic cases, civil cases. Gosh. So it's a lot, and it isn't going down. It might not necessarily be going up, but it's maybe fluctuating from year to year, but I don't see it going down. So, you know, we need to make sure we have experience in that courtroom to make sure that we can keep up with the backlog. So what's your passion? What is your prime motivation? What is your mission when you become a justice of the peace? What's foremost in your mind when it comes to that job? Well, I want to continue to do the job I've been doing as a part-time judge, basically. I want to continue to serve the public, continue to bring them justice and apply the laws that are handed down by our legislature and continue to do the job that I've been doing. Judges seek a peaceful resolution of legal conflicts. That's easier said than done, right? Yes, it is. That's very true. We've got some unreasonable people who live in town here. Is there a method to the badness there? For me, what I've found works is to have a discourse with the people that come before you. In other words, don't just listen to this and go, that's my decision, walk off the bench. I think they want an explanation. That's my impression of a typical judge. But how personal can you get to people who appear in court? You don't just get off the bench and chat with them. How does it work? I've found that I can sit there and talk with them and explain my decisions, explain what I'm looking for, especially when I do small claims. I'll tell them, here, I'm trying to find out why you are seeking this amount, for example. And then I might turn to the defendant and go, well, tell me why you didn't pay this amount or why you owe this amount or why you don't owe this amount. And then even when we get to the point of the decision, I tell them why I'm reaching the decision I'm reaching. How many cases have you presided over in the past year? In the past year, let's put it this way, I preside over at least two small claims cases a week. I'm on the bench all day Friday doing traffic and citation cases because it's not just traffic, but it also could be like someone cited for a battery or cited for drinking alcohol in public, those types of things. So there's other misdemeanor citations that aren't traffic-related. DUI court's got to be busy. DUI court, so I noticed you mentioned that. Just so you know, I've done it a couple times, but I don't do it as much as I would have liked. They've moved me more over to do the criminal calendar during that time instead of doing DUI court. But it is something I'd like to do more of. You know, it is my controversial impression that this DUI problem that we have in northern Nevada, this game just rolls on. Insurance companies make money on it. Lawyers make an awful lot of money on DUI. You know, there's no real crackdown that I can see that, you know, the bars that we have seem unfettered. I don't know. That's an impression I have. Whatever happened to Mothers Against Drug Drivers? It's like I haven't heard or seen them for years. Do we still have a MADD in this area? I don't know that we have a MADD in this area. I know that we have set up probably one of the things they have to do is a victim impact panel. So we've set that up. That victim impact panel in other jurisdictions was run by MADD. I don't think it's run by MADD here. You know, I don't know what the answer is other than, you know, unfortunately, especially in, you know, a casino town like Nevada, there is drinking. There is issues like that. A bit too much. Yeah. I just think something's got to be done. When I say insurance companies make money, they raise the rates, and this is their excuse for raising the rates. Lawyers have got to be making a fortune on DUI. It's like every other TV commercial is a lawyer ad. And I would agree. I made some money off as a DUI lawyer as well, and I know there's other lawyers out there that do the same thing. It is a busy practice. I don't know if there is an answer other than to continue to treat those that want the treatment, because a lot of the DUIs, they're alcoholics. They have a problem with substance abuse. It's not just, oh, this day I'm going to go drink and drive. Usually it's people that do it all the time. And we just need to continue to be out there trying to treat these people, trying to give these people an option, because in the end, we want them off our streets. We don't want our citizens endangered by drunk drivers. You have, I got your flyer here. It looks like you have two slogans, Cotter Conway, the right experience, and also connect with Cotter. Connect with Cotter. How serious are you about connecting with you? How can people connect with you? Well, people can, if you have the flyer, but otherwise you can contact me on Conway4Judge.com. You can contact me in that manner. You can also contact me by phone, 775-230-7384. I also can take calls on 775-530-2412. And people who have contacted me, I have responded. I want to answer their questions. You have an e-mail, too. It's Cotter at Conway4Judge.com, which is also your website, Conway4Judge.com. That is correct. And that is another way for them to contact me, and I have been contacted at that e-mail address. Well, good luck in this election coming up here. Thank you. Appreciate it. One minute, final pitch, Cotter. I'm just going to say, you know, the slogan that I have is the right experience, the right choice in November. So I just hope that everyone will get educated about what I have to offer and get to the polls in November. All right. Thank you, my friend. Thank you. And I'll be watching this race.