Challenge to Gammick?

Washoe County District Attorney Richard Gammick, who has run for reelection without serious opposition in the past, may be facing a problem next time, and it comes from his traditional allies.

Affluent residents of Incline Village, known for an extreme brand of conservatism similar to Gammick’s own, are talking about helping fund a candidate against him. Their grudge stems from their long-running and successful fight to prove they were being over-assessed on their property taxes by a former county assessor.

Gammick is legal counsel for the assessor and also for the Washoe County Board of Equalization and the Washoe County Board of Commissioners. The Incliners argue that because these offices were at odds over the assessments, Gammick could choose who he would represent and call in independent counsel for the others—and he chose to represent the Washoe County Assessor’s Office, the principal adversary of the Incliners.

“Now the question that comes to mind is, why would you, the district attorney of Washoe County take the side of the Washoe County Assessor against the Washoe County Board of Equalization in favor of the Washoe County Assessor (R. W. McGowan) on an appeal … ?” asked Incline resident William Silcox in a letter to Gammick. “Why didn’t you … take the side of the Washoe County Board of Equalization, (hence the citizens of Incline Village and Crystal Bay) instead of the Washoe County Assessor?”

Possible candidates against Gammick include Roger Whomes, who served as one of Gammick’s criminal deputies and later as a public defender.