Sanchez, Weekly still in driver’s seats

Erin Neff

Friday, Nov. 12, 1999 | 11:05 a.m.

Although Mayor Oscar Goodman was successful in delaying two appointments to the Las Vegas City Council last month, sources say the extra time won't play any role in changing the outcome.

Those familiar with the appointments -- now scheduled for Wednesday -- say city employees Lawrence Weekly and Orlando Sanchez have the three votes needed to win the coveted new Ward 5 and 6 seats.

"Nothing's happened to change the outcome," said one city employee familiar with the council. "In fact, Lawrence and Orlando may have a better chance now."

Before the Oct. 20 council meeting, Goodman learned that Councilman Michael McDonald's choices for the seats -- Weekly and Sanchez -- were on the verge of winning the appointments.

In a startling 11th-hour move culled from his years as a lawyer, Goodman narrowly secured a vote to hold the item to seek an ethics opinion. Goodman asked the city's Ethics Review Board whether appointing two city employees to the council without a two-year cooling off period would violate a city code regulating lobbying.

Weekly, 35, works as Councilman Gary Reese's ward liaison and Sanchez, 36, is the city's manager of Building Services.

The review board ruled last Thursday that appointing city employees to the council may appear troublesome but is not forbidden by either law or per se conflicts of interest.

Goodman had argued that a city employee who immediately becomes a council member might, for example, have trouble objectively deciding the budget of his former department.

The review board's decision opened the door for Weekly and Sanchez, and may help salve concerns Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald raised about appointing two city employees to the post.

Boggs McDonald has said all along that she had concerns about filling both seats with city employees. The ethics ruling, however, coupled with the process to interview candidates, has helped alleviate her fears.

"Another issue evolved for me going through the process," Boggs McDonald said. "The public sector employees, whether they work for the city or the county or Metro, were the strongest."

Uri Clinton, 27, a lawyer and Clark County mediation specialist is Weekly's strongest opponent in a field of about 12 vying for the Ward 5 seat.

Planning Commissioner Michael Mack, 36, who also owns several pawn stores and boutiques, is considered the closest threat to Sanchez's campaign for the Ward 6 seat.

Councilman Larry Brown had reportedly sided with Goodman's choices of Clinton and Mack prior to the Oct. 20 decision to hold off on the vote.

In an interview last week before going out of town, Brown would not comment on the pending vote, except to say that he has disliked the power politics at play over the seats.

"All along, I've said the people really should get to decide," Brown said.

The City Council finds itself in a superconductor of charged emotions, powerful lobbying and political division due to a state law passed this past session.

The Legislature required the council to expand by two seats if voters approved such a measure in June. After the ballot measure passed, the city began the process of redistricting from four to six wards.

The new districts take affect Jan. 1, 2000 -- because by law, the city cannot redistrict in an election year.

The law, sponsored by state Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, required that the council appoint its new members.

Boggs McDonald said that in a "perfect world" the voters would have gotten to decide.

"I really think we need to go to the Legislature and get the charter changed to all elections in these cases," Boggs McDonald said. "I've hated this whole process, everything from the threats to the lobbying to the people moving; it's disgusting."

If the appointments were put to a vote of the people, the support Mack has generated in the new Ward 6 would likely be enough to put him into office.

His chance for the appointment diminished when he decided to move from his home in Ward 2 to the new Ward 6 in the city's northernmost region.

Michael McDonald and Reese called him a "carpetbagger" and Boggs McDonald said she has problems with people who move to win a seat. Furthermore, Mack had initially opposed her when she was seeking the Ward 2 appointment this spring.

In an interview Mack said he believes the ethics ruling adds to the mounting wall standing in his way. But if he loses the appointment, he said he will probably run for the seat in 2001.

Although next Wednesday's outcome remains uncertain, one aspect of the vote is somewhat predictable -- it won't be unanimous.

Goodman has said he will vote for whomever he feels is the best candidate irrespective of the unanimity others believe is needed to welcome a new council member onto the board.

"I'm not concerned about unanimity," Goodman said.