County races enliven primary

Saturday, Sept. 2, 2000 | 3:51 a.m.

Because Nevada incumbents rarely get defeated in preliminary election contests, Tuesday's statewide primary is not apt to create many political tremors.

Two Clark County Commission races and a state Senate battle are the ones most likely to grab Wednesday's headlines.

But many Democrats have no partisan primary races and will be able to vote only for such nonpartisan offices as Clark County School Board trustees, Family Court judges and justices of the peace.

That's a major reason why county Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax expects voter turnout to be only about 25 percent, roughly the same as in 1996 and 1998.

"I don't see any indication it will be any different," Lomax said. "An awful lot of voters have only one or maybe two (partisan) races they can vote for, and it's really hard to know what judge to vote for."

It also doesn't help that Election 2000 has been "boring" for its lack of issues, said UNLV political science department Chairman Ted Jelen. He said the national political parties normally set their agendas by the end of the two presidential conventions, but that has not been the case this year. The trickle-down effect, he said, are statewide and local races with few partisan issues.

"Nationally health care is tied to Democratic candidates," Jelen said. "They would like to make it a front and center issue. Republicans would rather talk about taxes and restoring honor to the White House."

All eyes locally will be on the county commission District B contest between Democratic incumbent Commissioner Mary Kincaid and challenger Stephanie Smith, and the commission District C battle between incumbent Republican Commissioner Lance Malone and challenger Chip Maxfield.

The match between Kincaid, a former North Las Vegas city councilwoman seeking her second term, and Smith, a current councilwoman and former state assemblywoman, has been one of the nastiest of the primary season. Most of the heat has been initiated by Smith supporters through mailers that accused Kincaid of being insensitive toward children and beholden to developers.

One flier, complete with photographs of wounded and ill children, was in response to a Kincaid vote against putting a children's hospital bond issue on the November ballot. Kincaid said she voted to delay the proposed bond issue in order for the matter to be studied in more detail.

Smith also attacked Kincaid for accepting a $10,000 campaign contribution from Wal-Mart after the commissioner voted against a union-backed ordinance that banned full-sized Wal-Mart supercenters. Kincaid has said she voted against the ordinance because she did not believe local government should regulate retailer competition.

In defending her own integrity Kincaid has accused Smith of lacking knowledge about county issues. Smith said she believes District B needs more parks and better roads.

Former Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones, senior vice president of communications for Harrah's Entertainment Corp., said a poll from her company last month showed Kincaid about 20 percent ahead. But Jones said Smith has a chance if the Culinary Union, angered by Kincaid's Wal-Mart vote, does a good job getting its members to vote for the challenger.

"The most interesting race to watch is the Mary Kincaid-Stephanie Smith race," Jones said. "That is where the Culinary Union is putting all their effort. If Culinary can get voters to the polls, they can affect that race significantly."

But Jelen said there is reason to believe Culinary will not be as active in this election as it was in 1998, when the union helped re-elect Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. The reason is that Sheldon Adelson, the controversial owner of the Venetian resort who ran television advertisements against Culinary-backed Democrats two years ago, is not a factor this year.

"The 1998 campaign gave me healthy respect for the effectiveness of organized labor," Jelen said. "Labor has shown itself to be very formidable here, which is somewhat of a surprise because this is a right-to-work state. But there is no Sheldon Adelson in this race. You don't have Adelson running commercials in an attempt to buy the commission."

The other commission race worth watching involves incumbent Malone. The former Metro Police officer got hit with an anonymous mailer that accused him of breaking a promise to Station Casinos by voting to permit construction of a competing neighborhood casino.

The state Gaming Control Board has since filed a complaint against Station Casinos and is seeking to fine the company up to $600,000 for allegedly failing to control one of its executives accused of trying to discredit Malone.

But Malone's ethics and honesty have also been called into question by Maxfield, chairman of the Lone Mountain Citizens Advisory Board and co-owner of Southwest Engineering. Maxfield has chided Malone for failing to disclose his acquaintance with a candidate the commissioner recommended for a McCarran International Airport concessions contract.

Malone has admitted "making mistakes" during his first term but also has defended his overall record. He is reminding voters that he helped build the first county park in his district, with a second park now being planned. Las Vegas Beltway construction and improvements to U.S. 95 are other accomplishments cited by Malone.

But while the commissioner claims his opponent lacks a platform, Maxfield has said he wants to build more parks and institute a quality mass-transit program.

Jones said her company sees that race about even.

"Lance is trying to say, 'Look, I've done my job,"' Jones said. "You wanted the beltway, I got the beltway. You wanted parks, I got the parks. That's because voters in that race are saying, 'What have you done for me?"

District 4 state Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, also is attracting attention in a Democratic primary contest that includes challengers Uri Clinton and Christopher Montanez.

Neal, a state Senate maverick since 1972 and a failed gubernatorial candidate two years ago, is a staunch civil rights advocate. But he started getting into hot water with fellow Democrats when he suggested the state should negotiate for benefits should the federal government decide to ship the nation's high-level nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

More recently, Neal has taken on the gaming industry by leading an initiative to increase the gaming tax paid by the largest resorts in order to help fund education and other needs.

Neal's chief primary opponent, attorney Clinton, has drawn support from the gaming industry because of the tax initiative. But Clinton also has distributed a flier with comments from retiring Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., and former Gov. Bob Miller that compliment Clinton for being opposed to nuclear waste shipments to Nevada. Bryan and Miller have said, however, that they have not endorsed either Clinton or Neal.

Clinton has accused Neal of being unresponsive to his constituents. But Neal's campaign signs state that he is "Unbossed, Unbought."

Jones, who defeated Neal in the 1998 Democratic gubernatorial primary before losing in the general election, said a Harrah's poll showed the state senator with a slight lead over Clinton. But she said Neal is vulnerable on the nuclear waste issue.

"That's his Achilles' heel," she said. "If you push that issue, he gets in trouble."

The primaries involving seats in Congress are not expected to produce any fireworks. Former Rep. John Ensign faces nominal competition in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, and is expected to meet Democrat Ed Bernstein in the Nov. 7 general election.

Bernstein lags in polls behind Ensign but hopes to be helped by television advertisements commissioned by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Health care has been the biggest issue in that race.

State Sen. Jon Porter, R-Henderson, is heavily favored to win the GOP primary in Congressional District 1 that also involves candidates Jim Blockey and Nancy Price. Porter is expected to face Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., in the general election for the seat that represents portions of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson.

"It's fairly important for both Porter and Bernstein to establish credibility as early as possible," Jelen said.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., who represents the rest of the state in Congressional District 2, also has nominal opposition in his GOP primary and is considered a lock to win re-election in November.

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