By Rolando Larraz
Las Vegas Tribune
When we founded the Las Vegas Tribune twenty-three years ago, we made ourselves the promise that we would not let anyone interfere with our mission, regardless of personal feelings or friendship. We assured ourselves that our friendship and our loyalty would be to the people of Nevada, especially to the people of Las Vegas, which is where the newspaper originated, and while the newspaper was printed, we were proud to be “the downtown newspaper” during the era of Oscar Goodman as mayor.
We have never been afraid to go against the waves; we have never been afraid to be “the other side of the coin” or to be singled out. When Oscar Goodman announced his candidacy for mayor of Las Vegas, we threw our support two hundred percent in favor of the so-called “mob lawyer” and responded to an editorial from the daily newspaper entitled “Anyone But Oscar” with our own “No One But Oscar” and stayed loyal to him up to the present day because we believe the former Mayor Goodman always had the best interest of our city at heart.
When everyone was hiding from Las Vegas Attorney Jackie Glass when she decided to run against a judge who was the favorite of most of the local attorneys, we supported her and faced some of the local attorneys who were disappointed that the Las Vegas Tribune had endorsed a person who was running against “their friend,” but later was seen sitting with the elected judge at the same table.
We are not two-faced, we are not hypocrites; we stand tall in our beliefs and defend anyone who has the best interest of our community at heart or anyone who is being abused or betrayed by injustice or by abuse of power.
When everyone was afraid to accept the fact that Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish were not guilty of the charges they were facing, we were the only newspaper that raised its voice to proclaim their innocence; whether they realized that or not was not our concern, and we were able to sleep in peace at night.
When the killers of Raul Moran were let free by our former friend the Clark County District attorney Steve Wolfson, we stood firm against such injustice and stood up for Raul Moran, even if we were the only ones doing so.
Just a few weeks ago Las Vegas Tribune published an article by Alexandra Cohen pointing out the corruption of the detectives in Vice and Narcotics, Intelligence and Organized Crime Units.
Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline, acting like their useless counterparts, the Nevada Insurance Commission and the Public Utility Commission, which are always away from the people they are supposed to defend and represent, have taken time, energy and effort to attack,
offend, and demoralize a great public servant like Judge Melanie Andress Tobiasson who is far from being “a threat to the public.”
Her only fault was being a mother for defending her daughter to the max from a group of organized criminal wannabes.
Going by what we have read in other media outlets and information we have gathered it seems like that little group of criminal wannabes was
targeting young family members of judges and other police officers that were not part of their “defenders” or part of their alleged clique.
Regardless of what the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline may have said, strong public sentiment believes that the issue is wrapped
in the tentacles of the vice unit of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline considers Judge Melanie Andress Tobiasson a “threat to the public.” How dare the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline insult the decent people of Las Vegas just to bow to the corrupt group of so-called police officers of Vice and Narcotics operating under the false identity of protector of the public when they spend most of their shift in a popular restaurant on the Strip hustling the working ladies of the night.
THREAT TO THE PUBLIC is when a sitting judge with 99 judicial complaints against him sentences a defendant to double the time because the Spanish-speaking defendant MAY commit the same crime after he finishes his time. Where was the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline when now-retired judge Douglas Smith, AKA Doug Smith, sentenced a young Cuban defendant, Dagmar Diaz, who appeared before him to serve a twenty-five-year unfair sentence?
Where was the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline when the same judge, Douglas Smith, revoked the bail on another Hispanic man and
told him it was because he did not like his “tone of voice” when the defendant thanked the judge before leaving the courtroom?
We hate to see Judge Andress Tobiasson leave the post that she so excellently exercised on behalf of this community. We would love to see her fight for what is rightfully hers and stand tall to honor the choice of the people who elected her to the bench.
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