Term: January 1, 2007–January 5, 2015
Biography
Catherine Cortez Masto, the daughter of Joanna and Manuel “Manny” Cortez, was born March 29, 1964, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her mother was of Italian descent, and her father’s parents were Mexican immigrants. Her father, who died in 2006, attended Nevada Southern University as a pre-law student and worked nights as a parking attendant. In 1991,
he became the chairman of the board of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors
Authority. In 1976, the voters elected
him to the Clark County Commissioner the first of four terms. Instrumental in helping the city grow as a
major tourist destination, Cortez was responsible for greenlighting the city’s
most famous slogan, “What happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas.”[1]
In 1986, Cortez Masto
graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with a degree in finance, and became
the first in her family to graduate from college. In 1990, Cortez Masto graduated with a Juris Doctor from Gonzaga School of Law
in Spokane, Washington; was admitted to the Nevada State Bar; and clerked for
Judge Michael J. Wendell for a year. Wendell,
who had been on the bench for twenty years, served as a role model to Cortez
Masto—she told the Gazette-Journal, “He had great judicial temperament . . . I
just learned from him how to be an attorney . . . how to deal with people.”[2]
In 1995, Cortez Masto
began her career in politics when she joined Nevada Governor Bob Miller’s staff. In the late 1990’s, when she was chief of
staff for Governor Miller, Cortez Masto met her husband, Paul Masto—a former
United States Secret Service agent—when they were tasked with coordinating
logistics for President Bill Clinton’s visit to Las Vegas.
From 1999-2001, Cortez
Masto lived in Washington DC and worked as an assistant United States attorney,
focusing on drugs and victims’ rights cases. In 2002, she moved back to Nevada
and became the Assistant County Manager for Clark County.[3]
In 2005, Attorney
General Brian Sandoval’s appointment as a federal court judge created a vacancy
and an opportunity for Cortez Masto. In
2006, she resigned as Assistant County Manager and began campaigning to become
the next Nevada Attorney General. On
November 7, 2006, the voters elected her as Nevada’s 32nd Attorney
General.
Cortez Masto said
“[t]here was never any [political] position I was interested in other than
being the attorney general . . . I thought it was time to step up and take a
leadership role and steer the ship to bring attention to those issues and find
solutions to the problems.”[4] Cortez Masto made the following issues her
priorities--elder abuse, sex trafficking, methamphetamine epidemic and drug
distribution, and domestic violence. She
spearheaded the statewide Methamphetamine Working Group to fight the use,
manufacturing, and distribution of meth in Nevada. She believed that the effort
to fight drugs required the combined approach of prevention, treatment,
legislation, and law enforcement. Cortez
Masto helped pass new laws to crack down on meth manufacturers and restrict the
sale of materials used to make the drug, and her efforts led to a significant
decrease in the use and distribution of meth in Nevada.
Cortez Masto’s grandparents
were targets of fraud, an experience she told Gonzaga University’s law blog “was
heartbreaking.”[5] In early 2007, she pushed the Nevada
legislature to give the Attorney General’s Office jurisdiction to investigate
elder fraud and abuse cases, and in May, the Governor signed into law Assembly
Bill 226 which created a special unit within the Attorney General’s Office to
prosecute crimes against seniors.[6] She wanted to ensure that seniors were
educated and aware of common scams, such as Medicare fraud, so they could avoid
becoming victims.
Cortez Masto also advocated
for women and children, especially concerned about human trafficking. In 2013,
she sponsored a bill making human trafficking a felony crime in Nevada, and the
bill also gave victims the right to sue their traffickers. The prison sentence
of those convicted of human trafficking was lengthened, and it expanded the
state’s sex offender registry by requiring human traffickers to register as sex
offenders. Additionally, another bill
passed in 2013 that set up a fund for victims of human trafficking. Cortez Masto invested in programs to address
violence against women—a team she created to review the domestic violence
fatality rate and provide recommendations to reduce deaths released a report
recommending specific actions for law enforcement, district attorneys, and
local legislators to combat domestic violence.
In 2010, Cortez Masto’s
Office also led the fight on foreclosure fraud in Nevada by creating the
Mortgage Fraud Strike Force. She was one of the first attorneys general to investigate Bank of
America, accusing the company of raising interest rates on troubled
borrowers. Although Bank of America
denied any fault, in 2012 they settled the lawsuit for $750 million for lien
reductions and short sales.[7]
In another well-known
case, Sevcik v. Sandoval, Cortez
Masto defended the state of Nevada in the lawsuit, that challenged Nevada’s
denial of same-sex marriage as prohibited by the state’s constitution and
statutory law. Cortez Masto and the
state initially defended Nevada’s same-sex marriage ban, however, the state
abandoned its defense of the ban after the ruling by the United States Court of
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.[8]
Cortez Masto, who
served two terms as Nevada Attorney General, was term-limited from running
for re-election. When United States Senator Harry Reid decided not to run for
re-election in 2016, he endorsed Cortez Masto as his successor. On November 8, 2016, Cortez Masto became the
first woman elected to represent Nevada in the Senate and the first Latina elected
to serve in the Senate.[9]
Election of 2006
On November 7, 2006, Cortez
Masto was elected as Nevada’s 32nd Attorney General, and of the 574,975 votes
cast, Cortez Masto (Democrat) received 339,465 (59.03%) votes to Don Chairez’
(Republican) 204,816 (35.6%) votes and “None of these Candidates”’ 30,694
(5.3%) votes.
Election of 2010
On November 7, 2010,
Cortez Masto was re-elected as Attorney General, and of the 704,332 votes cast,
Cortez Masto (Democrat) received 372,011(52.8%) votes to Travis Barrick’s (Republican)
251,269 (35.7%) votes; Joel F. Hansen’s 54,980 votes (7.8%); and “None of these
Candidates”’ 26,072 (3.7%) votes.
Election of 2016
When United States
Senator Harry Reid decided not to run for re-election in 2016, he endorsed
Cortez Masto as his successor. On
November 8, 2016, Cortez Masto became the first woman elected to represent
Nevada in the Senate and the first Latina elected to serve in the Senate
.[11]
In the Senate race, as
reported by the
New York Times, Cortez
Masto (Democrat) won 521,994 (47.1%) of the votes to Joe Heck’s (Republican) 495,079
(44.7%) of the votes. “None of
these candidates”, Tom Jones (American Independent), Tom Sawyer (Independent),
and “Others” received a combined number of 91,221 votes (8.2%).[12].jpg "Masto being sworn in as US Senator")
Office Administration and Duties
The 2007 Nevada State
Legislature added the following duties to the Attorney General’s job:
- The
Attorney General will recover civil penalties from those found guilty of abuse,
neglect, exploitation or isolation of an older person, pursuant to NRS 200.5099
or 200.50995. (Statutes of Nevada 2007, Chapter 224, Section 15, Page 745).
- The
Attorney General shall deposit any money collected for civil penalties,
pursuant to NRS 200.5099 or 200.50995 in equal amounts to:
- (c) A separate account in
the Fund for the Compensation of Victims of Crime created, pursuant to NRS
217.260, to provide compensation to older persons who are abused, neglected,
exploited or isolated in violation of NRS 200.5099 and 200.50995; and
- (d) The Account for the
Unit for the Investigation and Prosecution of Crimes Against Older Persons.
(Statutes of Nevada 2007, Chapter 224, Section 15, Page 745).
- The
Attorney General may investigate and prosecute any person who intentionally
makes false or misleading statements to activate the Statewide Alert System for
the Safe Return of Abducted Children. (Statutes of Nevada 2007, Chapter 143,
Section 1, Page 428-429).
- The
Attorney General acting pursuant to NRS 125A.565 may seek a warrant to take
physical custody of a child if during a child custody proceeding, the court
finds that the evidence establishes a credible risk of abduction of the child.
(Statutes of Nevada 2007, Chapter 81, Section 16, Page 233).
- The
Attorney General shall act as the attorney for the Real Estate Division of the
Department of Business and Industry in all actions and proceedings brought
against or by the Division. (Statutes of Nevada 2007, Chapter 441, Section 155,
Page 2260).
The 2009 Nevada State
Legislature added the following duties to the Attorney General’s job:
- The
Attorney General shall provide legal counsel to the emergency team that is
designated in an executive order of the Governor to respond to a public health
emergency or other health event. (Statutes of Nevada 2009, Chapter 98, Section
15.5, Page 368).
- The
Attorney General or his designee is the Chairman of the Advisory Committee to
Study Laws Concerning Sex Offender Registration. (Statutes of Nevada 2009,
Chapter 116, Section 5.4, Page 427-429).
- The
Attorney General, on the request of the State Fire Marshal or on his own
motion, may bring an action in any court of competent jurisdiction in the name
of the State of Nevada to enjoin a violation of the section stating that the
sale or distribution of novelty lighters is prohibited. (Statutes of
Nevada 2009, Chapter 323, Section 1, Page 1416).
The 2011 Nevada State
Legislature added the following duties to the Attorney General’s job:
- The
Attorney General shall act as the ex officio Chair of the Substance Abuse
Working Group that created within the Office of the Attorney General and shall
provide such administrative support to the Substance Abuse Working Group as is
necessary to carry out the duties of the Working Group. (Statutes of
Nevada 2011, Chapter 89, Section 1, Page 365-366).
- The
Attorney General. (Statutes of Nevada 2011, Chapter 89, Section 1, Page 366).
- The
Attorney General may organize or sponsor one or more multidisciplinary teams to
review the death of the victim of a crime that constitutes domestic violence
pursuant to NRS 33.018 if a court or agency requests the assistance of the
Attorney General. (Statutes of Nevada 2011, Chapter 161, Section 1, Page 734).
- The
Attorney General shall administer the Account for Tobacco Enforcement in the
State General Fund. (Statutes of Nevada 2011, Chapter 214, Section 5, Page
932).
- The
Attorney General shall not accept any gift, grant or donation from any
manufacturer of tobacco products or any other manufacturer. (Statutes of Nevada
2011, Chapter 214, Section 6, Page 933).
The 2013 Nevada State
Legislature added the following duties to the Attorney General’s job:
- The
Attorney General may petition a district court for an order requiring a person
arrested for an offense for which a biological specimen must be obtained
pursuant to this section to provide a biological specimen through a cheek swab
or by alternative means, if the person will not cooperate. (Statutes of Nevada
2013, Chapter 252, Section 13, Page 1059).
- The
Attorney General may investigate each potential instance of identity theft or
crime reported pursuant to subsection 4 of NRS 432 and prosecute in accordance
with law each person responsible for any identity theft identified in the
investigation. (Statutes of Nevada 2013, Chapter 323, Section 1, Page 1519).
- The
Attorney General will serve as a member on the Task force on the Prevention of
Sexual Abuse of Children. (Statutes of Nevada 2013, Chapter 260, Section 2,
Page 1152).
The
Attorney General may:
(d) Investigate and
prosecute any alleged technological crime.
(e) Pursue the forfeiture
of property relating to a technological crime in accordance with the provisions
of NRS 179.1211 to 179.1235, inclusive.
(f) Bring an action to
enjoin or obtain any other equitable relief to prevent the occurrence or
continuation of a technological crime. (Statutes of Nevada 2013, Chapter 218,
Section 1, Page 822).
The
Attorney General shall:
(a) Appoint a subcommittee
of the Nevada Council for the Prevention of Domestic Violence created by NRS
228.480 to serve as the Governance Committee for the Victim Information
Notification Everyday System.
(b) Consider nominations by
the Council when appointing members of the Governance Committee. (Statutes of
Nevada 2013, Chapter 50, Section 1, Page 167).
[1] Sears, Jocelyn, “9 Things You Might Not Know About Catherine Cortez Masto,” MentalFloss, January 17, 2017. http://mentalfloss.com/article/91019/9-things-you-might-not-know-about-catherine-cortez-masto.
[2]Reno Gazette-Journal, October 23, 2005, pg. 7.
[7] Rosenblatt, Joel. "Bank of America Settles with Nevada Attorney General Masto”, February 9, 2012. Bloomberg Business. Accessed July 26, 2017.
[8] Ford, Zack. "Nevada Abandons Its Defense of Same-Sex Marriage Ban", February 11, 2014. ThinkProgress. Accessed February 5, 2016.