Suspicion reigns at City Hall

Erin Neff

Tuesday, Sept. 28, 1999 | 11:37 a.m.

The Las Vegas City Council on Monday took another formal step toward adding two new wards to the city amid calls that its decisions on both the map and the coming political appointments were premeditated.

Mayor Oscar Goodman denounced such assertions at the council's Recommending Committee meeting, claiming the creation of the two wards has nothing to do with the appointment of council members to represent them.

"When I hear talk of leading candidates, it's the same kind of rumor going on with (talk of Metro) deconsolidation," Goodman said, denying claims that anyone is a front-runner for appointment.

Yet minutes later, Goodman said the council will both certify the new ward map and appoint council members at its Oct. 6 meeting, raising questions if the two are really separate.

"I think the public's view is it all fits together," said Gary Peck, president of the American Civil Liberties Union in Nevada. "It's very difficult to disentangle the two issues."

A handful of residents and community leaders who attended Monday's public hearing on the proposed addition of Wards 5 and 6 also thought the pending appointments were being made in a secretive way.

Suggestions by Councilman Michael McDonald that two city employees, Lawrence Weekly and Orlando Sanchez, would make great council members, immediately sent those two into the public arena as front-runners.

Coupled with McDonald's previous statements about Weekly and Sanchez are comments made by both he and Councilman Gary Reese that they do not want to appoint someone who moved into the proposed district in hopes they could win the appointment.

That helped put Weekly in front for the Ward 5 seat and gave Sanchez some support for the Ward 6 seat. Planning Commissioner Michael Mack has since edged into contention with Sanchez as letters supporting him flood into the council offices where he has been holding numerous meetings.

Still many believe McDonald's anti-carpetbagger comments hurt Mack's chances since he moved from Ward 2 into the proposed Ward 6 for consideration.

Liz Carrasco, speaking on behalf of a coalition of 38 Hispanic groups, said having diversity on the City Council isn't limited to race.

"I also mean with the word diversity is having people chosen from within the community and not just in City Hall," Carrasco said, referring to Weekly and Sanchez. "What it looks like is cronyism at best and in-breeding at worse," Carrasco said.

McDonald denied Monday that he had made up his mind.

"I haven't interviewed anybody," he said. "We can't put anything together until the map is certified."

Certifying the map, however, will take place Oct. 6 -- the same day Goodman said the appointments would be made.

The timing begs a question. How will appointments be made in less than seven business days if minds aren't already made up?

Peck said some callers to his office claim the appointments are some form of cronyism and that the process hasn't been open.

Reese bristled at the allegation, asking "How should we do it?"

Many council members preferred holding a special election to decide the two council representatives. However, the state Legislature passed a law during this past session that required the council to appoint two new representatives by Jan. 1, 2000, if voters approved expansion of the board.

Voters did approve that ballot measure June 8, and the council was forced to redraw the ward boundaries and construct new offices in City Hall. The appointments are the final piece of the political puzzle that has been brewing locally and in Carson City for about 18 months.

The map reapportionment expert Fred Kessler drew for the city has essentially remained unchanged from the original draft unveiled Aug. 6. The council, acting as the Recommending Committee, amended one precinct of the map at the request of Councilman Larry Brown.

Brown asked that precinct 3006 be moved from Ward 2 to Ward 4. That precinct has 818 registered voters. Brown, the Ward 4 councilman, said the move would create better continuity among neighborhoods.

Lynette Boggs McDonald, the Ward 2 councilwoman, did not object to the amendment.