Wednesday, June 9, 1999 | 10:52 a.m.
North Las Vegas voters sent a mixed message Tuesday by retaining a longtime councilman whose campaign emphasized more of the same but also electing to the council a woman who has promised major change.
In an extremely close four-way race for two seats, voters relegated first-term Councilwoman Paula Brown to last place. Brown, like Councilman William Robinson who retained his seat, saw the city on the right track and promised in her campaign to stay the course with little in the way of change.
Replacing Brown will be Shari Buck, a city planning commissioner whose campaign called attention to many deficiencies and promised to lead the way toward new approaches.
Buck is already looking ahead to June 30, the day she takes the oath of office.
One of her first goals is to institute regular meetings between the City Council and the Planning Commission, on which she has been serving for the past year. One of her chief criticisms was a lack of cooperation and communication between the Planning Commission and City Council.
"I also made a promise that in the older part of town we were going to clean things up," the 38-year-old lifelong resident and substitute teacher said about the area where she was raised.
Mayor Michael Montandon, who along with Councilwoman Stephanie Smith attended Buck's victory party, said he was excited about the council's future. Montandon had thrown his support behind Buck after Ron Long, a 39-year-old partner in a landscaping business, came in fifth in the primary.
Robinson garnered 28.7 percent of the vote with 3,108 ballots, while Buck came in with 25.3 percent, or 2,740 ballots, according to unofficial election results. Newcomer Marcia Blake received 23.5 percent, or 2,548 ballots, while Brown trailed with 22.4 percent, 2,435 ballots.
The 59-year-old Robinson attributed his re-election to being responsive to the voters over his past 16 years in office.
"The voters had faith in me," Robinson said.
The mood in Brown's headquarters changed dramatically from jubilant to somber as results poured in showing her trailing the other candidates.
An emotional Brown said she blamed the upset on the lack of voters turning out at the polls.
About 16 percent of the city's 33,024 registered voters cast ballots compared to 17.5 percent in the primary. Brown had estimated about 20 percent would show up at the polls.
"You just never know," the 51-year-old told her volunteers. "We did all we could. It just wasn't meant to be."
Long, who attended Brown's party along with Smith, also was surprised by Brown's loss.
"I'm surprised as I was after the primary," he said. "It proves there are a lot of anti-incumbent votes out there."
Which may account for Brown's loss and Buck's victory. The two incumbents only earned about 40 percent of the vote in the primary that was made up of a field of 13 candidates.
Brown's campaign manager, Mark Kincaid, said her loss was the result of mudslinging from camps other than that of Robinson, but both Buck and Blake claimed they ran clean campaigns.
Blake, who initiated an unsuccessful recall of Brown last year, said despite her personal loss, she achieved her goal of removing Brown from office.
"I beat a candidate that raised $175,000 when I raised $5,074," the 26-year-old women's shoe department manager said. "That proves that money cannot buy votes in North Las Vegas."
Robinson spent a little more than $129,000 on his campaign for the position that pays about $25,000 a year, while Buck raised a little more than $45,000 comparatively.
There is a strong possibility Blake may make another bid for office.
"I'm not going away," she said.
Neither Blake nor Brown expressed any desire to call for a recount.
This was the last municipal election in North Las Vegas in which the candidates were elected strictly at-large.
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