Kincaid leading Smith in campaign fund-raising

Kris Hill

Wednesday, March 28, 2001 | 10:59 a.m.

North Las Vegas Councilwoman Stephanie Smith, who last November lost her bid to unseat County Commissioner Mary Kincaid, now finds herself behind Kincaid's son, Mark, in a race to keep her council job.

Smith, who is running for her second term representing Ward 3, spent more money than she raised in the campaign finance reporting period ending March 22, pulling in nearly $67,000 in contributions but spending more than $73,000 on her campaign.

Mark Kincaid received $82,619, including two separate contributions from Station Casinos that added up to more than $8,000. Kincaid also received $5,000 checks from the Fiesta hotel-casino and Project Disbursement Group.

The campaign finance reports were due to the city clerk Tuesday.

Smith's largest contributions were $3,300 apiece from Republic Services of Southern Nevada and Republic Environmental Technologies, and a $3,000 gift from the Bellagio hotel-casino. She also received support in smaller amounts from the International Association of Firefighters Local 1643, the Culinary Union and Local 711 PAC.

The amount of money raised by other North Las Vegas municipal candidates ranged from nothing to more than $240,000, according to the campaign finance reports.

Mayoral candidates John 3:16 Cook and Mayor Mike Montandon raised the least and the most money, respectively, for their campaigns as of March 22. Cook indicated on his report that he hadn't received any campaign contributions and that he spent $10 on six homemade signs.

Montandon received $244,255 in campaign contributions dating as far back as last spring. His largest contributions were $10,000 each from Coast Resorts, Quorum International and Station Casinos. The mayor spent $150,000 for a variety of expenses, including dozens of campaign signs throughout the city.

Meanwhile, Ward 1 City Council incumbent John Rhodes reported $96,698 in contributions, the largest, $8,706, coming from Becker Enterprises. Rhodes has used a little more than $91,000 to cover the cost of his campaign.

Both Montandon and Rhodes raised tens of thousands more than any of their challengers.

Municipal Judge Warren VanLandschoot, who has three opponents, received $61,557. VanLandschoot spent about half of the money in his campaign treasury.