LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The signs are popping up all over, big, blue and emblazoned with a simple message in white text: "Soft on crime Cannizzaro."
It's an odd attack to make on a former Las Vegas chief deputy district attorney, someone who has personally prosecuted criminals and put people in jail.
But in an increasingly nasty campaign that's being waged almost exclusively on TV airwaves, it's also an example of the political axiom of turning a strength into a weakness.
Cannizzaro said people have even confused those signs for her own. (She has not deployed any of her own campaign signs in this race.)
"I want to address that because it is absurd to me to be called soft on crime," Cannizzaro said. "I am a longtime career prosecutor. I am a former gang prosecutor, so I've handled some of the most heinous crimes that you can imagine here in our state, to protect our community, and that's something that I am very proud of."
WATCH: Nicole Cannizzaro denies being "soft on crime"
Cannizzaro grew up in Las Vegas, got her undergraduate degree from the William S. Boyd School of Law at UNLV and joined the Clark County district attorney's office. She was also elected to the Nevada state Senate, and currently serves as majority leader.
She said in the Legislature, she's worked on legislation to crack down on fentanyl trafficking, child exploitation and ways to keep police officers on the beat. And she touts law-enforcement endorsements from police groups at both ends of the state.
"I have earned that support because I have fought to make sure that this is a safe place to live," she said.
Part of the criticism comes because the Legislature increased the amount of goods that had to be stolen before a person could be charged with a felony, part of a spate of bills designed to reform the criminal justice system. Gov. Joe Lombardo has criticized that law, saying Nevada's felony-theft threshold was higher than in neighboring California, where shoplifting without consequence became epidemic.
Cannizzaro said she voted — along with most other members of the Legislature — on a bill to crack down on organized retail theft. Her work on that bill led to an endorsement from the Retail Association of Nevada.
She also said the issue of retail theft was not confined to Nevada nor related to a specific law.
"I think what we're seeing is a nationwide issue. This is not unique to Nevada," she said. "This is not because Nevada passed a particular law. This is a problem you're seeing across many states."
Breaking with Ford
Cannizzaro's prosecutor background also led her to break with her party's candidate for governor, incumbent Attorney General Aaron Ford.
Ford put the case of Norman Smith, convicted of robbery and voluntary manslaughter, before the state pardons board, with a request to modify Smith's sentence on the robbery charge. (Ford said that despite bringing the request, he would have voted no on the modification.)
But Cannizzaro said she would not have made the request at all.
"I would not have made that decision," she said. "I am a former gang prosecutor. I take these sorts of cases very seriously, and that just isn't something that I would have put forward as a recommendation."
Still, Cannizzaro stressed that she didn't fault Ford for making the ask, even if she wouldn't have done the same.
"Our attorney general made very clear that he would not have voted for that, right?" she said. "He did his job as attorney general, putting forward a case for consideration by the entire board, but he and I are on the same position on this: He said he would not have voted for it and I would not have, either."
Immigration enforcement
As President Trump's administration continues to crack down on undocumented immigrants with an aggressive deportation agenda, Cannizzaro said if elected, she'd insist on proper process.
"We have seen that there are rogue, lawless immigration and customs enforcement agents that are terrorizing communities throughout the United States, coming after families, coming after hardworking folks who sometimes are themselves the victims of an immigration system that, at the federal level, is broken," she said. "And so I think it is incredibly important that, No. 1, we make sure that anyone who is operating within the state of Nevada is operating under Nevada law, and that they're not above the law or think that they're above the law because they came here under the auspices of the federal government."
Cannizzaro said people in the country illegally who commit crimes should still be afforded due process.
"I fundamentally believe that we can afford people due process," she said. "You're accused of a crime, you are owed defense counsel. You are owed your day in court. You are owed a court and a judge that is going to treat you fairly, that is going to allow you to exercise your rights. And if you are convicted of that crime, and there are deportation or immigration proceedings thereafter, let that proceeding take place. It does not mean we need to be cruel."
No word from GOP campaign
Channel 13 has repeatedly reached out to campaign managers for Republican nominee Adriana Guzman Fralick, a Northern Nevada attorney who defeated Douglas County Commissioner Danny Tarkanian to win the nomination.
Our requests for an interview have been ignored, however.
Like Cannizzaro, Guzman Fralick is a Boyd Law graduate. She served as general counsel to former Gov. Jim Gibbons, assistant general counsel to the Public Utilities Commission and chairwoman of the Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board.
She's been endorsed by Lombardo, who is campaigning for a second and final term in the governor's mansion.
