Valley incumbents cruise to victory

Diana Sahagun

Wednesday, April 4, 2001 | 11:22 a.m.

Challengers across the Las Vegas Valley learned Tuesday night about the power of incumbency.

The only incumbent in the valley's four city council primary races who must compete in the June 5 general election is Councilman John Rhodes of North Las Vegas.

All other incumbents won their races outright as only 45,344 voters or about 12.4 percent of the 366,959 eligible to cast ballots turned out. Candidates who picked up more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary were declared winners, thus avoiding the general election.

In Las Vegas, where 23,148 voters or 11.6 percent turned out, three council members who had been appointed to the board less than two years ago won by wide margins. Lynette Boggs McDonald, Lawrence Weekly and Michael Mack can move forward knowing they have solid support in their wards.

The primary featured races in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Boulder City.

The Boggs McDonald camp, which gathered Tuesday night at Angel Park golf course, began celebrating an hour after the polls closed, confident that the early numbers showing a wide margin over challenger Mark Solomon would hold. The Ward 2 contest drew 12.7 percent or 5,003 voters.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman dropped by her campaign party and received a standing ovation.

Goodman presented the councilwoman with two shiny boxing gloves and a red silk robe with the name "Mama" emblazoned on the back.

After dressing in her new costume, Boggs McDonald did a victory dance with the mayor to the music of the movie "Rocky" and to the rap song "Mama Said Knock You Out."

"I guess we delivered a KO (knock-out) tonight," said Boggs McDonald, who was appointed to the council in July 1999.

Goodman remarked that the City Council has never been stronger and that Boggs McDonald's victory ensured accountability, integrity and ethics for the next four years.

The councilwoman said she will work to put in the infrastructure for the 40 percent of her ward that is not yet built, and team with such agencies as Metro Police and the Las Vegas Fire Department to make sure new neighborhoods have their needs met before residents move in.

Las Vegas City Councilman Michael Mack received 64.13 percent of the vote in his race against community activist Louise Helton. About 14.9 percent or 5,369 voters turned out in that Ward 6 race.

Mack downplayed the nearly $600,000 he raised for the election, pointing instead to his door-to-door campaigning.

"There has been a lot of talk about how much money we raised, but where we really won was with the grass-roots effort," Mack said at his headquarters near Ann Road and U.S. 95.

Last week Mack donated $12,500 of his campaign funds to extend Salvation Army's shelter program for 22 homeless men. Boggs McDonald, City Councilmen Lawrence Weekly and Larry Brown each donated $2,500 of their campaign funds.

Helton raised about $30,000 for her campaign but agreed with Mack that money was not the main factor in the election result.

Weekly snagged the highest majority of votes of the three appointees, beating former City Councilman Bob Nolen with 77 percent of the vote.

In the Ward 5 race, 4,493 voters cast ballots or almost 18 percent of those eligible.

Weekly said he campaigned on what he had accomplished in the past 15 months.

"I stayed focused on what I had accomplished and did not run a negative campaign." Weekly said. He pointed to the city's partnering with the Andre Agassi Foundation, downtown redevelopment, affordable housing, social services, and child care as areas in which he made contributions.

In North Las Vegas, where 7,783 voters or about 20.7 percent turned out, Mayor Michael Montandon celebrated winning his second term by beginning to remove his 420 campaign signs.

Montandon said plans to put more police officers on the street, build more fire stations and work with the developers who purchase the first chunk of 7,500 acres of Bureau of Land Management land that has been annexed into the city.

Stephanie Smith retained her Ward 3 seat by getting 50.7 percent of the vote.

None of the five candidates in Ward 1 received a majority, leaving two-term Councilman Rhodes to face off against former Planning Commissioner Robert Eliason in the general election.

In Henderson, two-term City Councilman Jack Clark beat his opponent with 77.53 percent of the vote. Only 8,166 voters, or 8.9 percent, cast ballots in the election.

Henderson voters will still have a chance to vote in June on two ballot questions, which would raise taxes to fund libraries and public safety.

In Boulder City, first-term councilman Mike Pacini took 71 percent of the total vote to win another term to the Boulder City Council. Newcomer Andrea Anderson captured 61 percent to win election to the second available council seat. There were 3,966 voters who cast ballots for two of the six candidates running for city council. That was a 41.3 percent turn out.

Boulder City voters also rejected the salary raises of $5,000 for councilmen and $8,000 for the mayor.

Mesquite saw the highest turn-out percentage in the county. In the city races there, 50.4 percent of those eligible or 2,281 voters cast ballots.