Neal vows fight for city wards

Tuesday, May 20, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- State Sen. Joe Neal, the senior black member of the Nevada Legislature, said he will fight for a state law to expand the Las Vegas City Council by two wards in order to give minorities a greater chance of being elected.

Neal said will "go to the mat" over this one.

His vow may be necessary after the Senate Government Affairs Committee voted Monday in favor of a public vote on the issue rather than a law decided by legislators.

A public vote is supported by Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones. She and three council members appeared before the committee last week to argue against any legislative action. If two more wards in largely minority areas of Las Vegas are needed, let the people decide, they argued.

"I'm not opposed to adding seats," Jones said Monday. "My concern is when you deal with issues of representation, only the voting public has a right to decide."

She said the May 27 agenda of the council includes an item to put the expansion on the ballot next year.

After the Government Affairs Committee vote, Neal, D-North Las Vegas, said, "I'm highly pissed off at the Senate action. When minority people make an appeal to this Legislature to do something to help them have a voice in government, they say you have to go to the people for an election.

"They are not sending the tax bills to a vote of the people." Neal's reference was to the decision to allow the levying of a one-quarter cent sales tax by county commissions without an election.

"The only thing the people were asking is that they have representation in city government and if they can't appeal to this Legislature to do it, who can they appeal to?"

Two black members of the City Council, Frank Hawkins and Ken Brass, were defeated in the municipal elections in 1995. Neal said by adding two wards, it would insure at least one minority and possibly two to the council.

The redistricting of the city wards would include districts with large black or Hispanic populations, he said.

Neal originally introduced Senate Bill 38, which said the council may add seats. It passed the Senate but the Assembly amended it to make the expansion mandatory. Jones said she supported the original Neal bill.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said he felt the bill should go to a conference committee to hash out the differences. Voting against Raggio were Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, and Ray Shaffer, D-North Las Vegas.

The bill now goes to the full Senate to decide whether to agree to the Assembly amendment. Neal said the vote on the floor would be close. "You know Raggio tends to pull those Republicans together," Neal said, referring to the 12-9 majority Republicans enjoy in the Senate.

It was clear, Neal said, that the city did not want to increase the number of wards to give minorities a voice in government.

"They (Las Vegas city officials) are going to have a difficult time with me on out if this is going to be the game they are going to play. I am going to the mat with them on this one."

Jones said the "foundation of democracy" is permitting the public to decide issues of representation.