Former mayor of Henderson eyes LV post

Erin Neff

Friday, Jan. 22, 1999 | 10:40 a.m.

Former Henderson Mayor Cruz Olague on Thursday announced he has added his name to the growing list of candidates vying to become mayor of Las Vegas.

If elected, Olague said he intends to be a full-time mayor without outside interests and wants to concentrate on environmental issues.

"My No. 1 issue is people's health," said Olague, 64, who was Henderson mayor from 1973 to 1975. "There's so many health problems attributed to the environment."

Olague said he has been watching the political scene and eyeing a run for office every since moving to Las Vegas from Henderson 22 years ago.

He is a part-time convention consultant who said he has stayed away from political life because of illnesses of his wife, Dorothy.

Although a long-time Republican, Olague said he registered as a Democrat after the recent mudslinging in national politics.

Olague is married with five children, the youngest of whom is 18 and lives at home.

Among his biggest accomplishments as Henderson mayor, he says, was championing the sale of land that became the Green Valley development.

Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones has announced she will run for a third term. Former Clark County Commission Chairman Jay Bingham and former Las Vegas Councilman Steve Miller have also announced their candidacies for the position.

Still, Olague says he has as good a chance of winning the May primary and subsequent June election as any of his opponents.

"I think I'm going to win," Olague said. "When I ran for Henderson City Council (in 1971) everybody said I didn't have a chance and I won."