Boggs McDonald in contention for City Council seat

Erin Neff

Friday, May 28, 1999 | 11:21 a.m.

Follow any of the Las Vegas municipal candidates around at public functions and you'll begin to see a familiar face in the crowd shaking hands and commenting on city issues.

Lynette Boggs McDonald, a former Miss Oregon, is enjoying every bit of this political pageant as she runs a strictly behind-the-scenes campaign for a City Council seat.

If Arnie Adamsen loses June 8 in his bid for mayor, he will be forced to resign his seat on the council, due to an ordinance passed earlier this year by the board.

Adamsen said he has no intention of seeking appointment to his seat if he loses. His term expires in 2001.

"I am running," Boggs McDonald said last week when asked about her appearance at numerous campaign functions.

"I've made my wishes known to every member of the council," Boggs McDonald said during an interview Thursday at UNLV, where she is director of marketing and community relations.

McDonald is no stranger to city issues, having spent three years -- from 1994 to 1997 -- as assistant city manager.

Several other Ward 2 residents with political aspirations, including planning commissioner Michael Mack; zoning board member Mark Solomon; Thomas and Mack Center associate director Steve Stallworth; Nevada Power Co. executive Tony Dazzio and developer Mark Fine have also expressed some interest in the seat.

City Hall sources, however, say McDonald has enough support to win the appointment.

Mayor Pro Tem Michael McDonald, who is not related to Boggs McDonald, said she is his first choice for the position.

"She's a brilliant mind," McDonald said.

Boggs McDonald has a degree in marketing from Notre Dame University and a master's in public administration from UNLV.

Her first job was as a newspaper reporter in Wichita Falls, Texas, where she won an award for writing about an elderly farmer whose land flooded as a result of the federal government's miscalculations in constructing a dam.

The farmer lost his farm and his home and, shortly after the story ran, committed suicide.

"I always carried that empathy with me in trying to solve community problems," Boggs McDonald said.

But as an assistant city manager, her job was to implement policies set by someone else.

"The only way you can make a difference is if you are the one to drive the policy," said Boggs McDonald, 35, who is married and has a 4-year-old son.

Boggs McDonald, who as Miss Oregon took part in the 1989 Miss America Pageant, moved to Las Vegas in 1991 to work for the University of Nevada School of Medicine.

Her sister, Paula Boggs, was a White House attorney in the Reagan administration and now is general counsel for Dell Computers in Austin, Texas, and a supporter of Gov. George W. Bush's bid for president.

Boggs McDonald shares many of her sister's Republican views, although she did switch to the Democratic party for an unsuccessful run for the Nevada Assembly.

She said she believes she would bring to the council experiences from both the private and public sectors. Boggs McDonald served for 18 months on the Southern Nevada Strategic Planning Authority, and said if appointed, she would be the city's only link to that process.

"I'm ready to hit the ground running," she said.