Sheriff’s war chest at $405,000

Wednesday, Aug. 26, 1998 | 10:40 a.m.

Clark County Sheriff Jerry Keller has raised far more campaign money than his eight competitors in his bid for a second four-year term this fall.

As of Tuesday's campaign finance filing deadline, Keller amassed $405,951, well ahead of Chuck Lee's $244,991 and Bobby Hitt's $178,543.

The largest share of Keller's largess, more than $170,000, came from the gaming industry. Those contributors included $10,000 each from Coast Hotels & Casinos Inc., Hilton Hotels Corp., MGM Grand Inc., Primadonna Casino Resorts, Rio Suite hotel-casino and Mirage hotel-casino.

He also received $5,000 each from Boyd Gaming Corp., Caesars Palace, California hotel-casino, Bally's Las Vegas, Circus Circus Enterprises, Fiesta hotel-casino, Fremont hotel-casino, International Game Technology, Stardust hotel-casino, Station Casinos, Golden Nugget Inc. and Treasure Island. Luxor Las Vegas also gave Keller $5,159.

The sheriff also has spent $345,134, about half of which has gone toward television advertising.

Lee, a former homicide detective, borrowed $170,000 for this race. Much of the rest came from small businesses. Of his $225,365 in expenses, about $50,000 was spent on television.

Hitt, a retired Metro lieutenant, also borrowed $41,250 to run his campaign. His largest contributors included All Jobs Employment ($4,800), Cleveland Motors ($4,000), El Cortez hotel-casino ($3,500), Peccole Ranch Chevron ($5,000), Dr. Sheldon Freedman ($5,000), and Harrow Corp. ($6,000).

Hitt has spent $162,140, including $71,082 on television.