Political notebook: Lawmakers probe contested election

Erin Neff

Friday, Dec. 13, 2002 | 9:41 a.m.

Taxes and budgets are dominating government discussions statewide, but some lawmakers have been acting more like private eyes than accountants.

Among the first orders of business the Assembly will take up in February is an election challenge in the Assembly District 37 race in Clark County. Marcus Conklin, a Democrat, won by 134 votes over Republican Francis Allen.

A woman later filed a complaint alleging 160 of the votes in the race were illegal because the voters did not live at the appropriate address in the district for the required 10 days before the election.

But Assembly Democrats are already beginning to undermine the complaint in hopes of winning bipartisan support to quash it. Democrats control the Assembly 23-19.

So far 70 of the votes identified in the complaint have been determined to be legal votes because the voters with new addresses would have been instructed to vote in the old precinct under state regulations.

Assuming those 70 votes are thrown out of the complaint, the 90 votes remaining would not be enough to change the outcome of the election.

Some lawmakers are actually spending time interviewing some of the voters highlighted in the complaint, including one identified by private investigator David Groover through an interview with a neighbor as suffering from dementia.

One lawmaker contacted a relative of the voter with the alleged dementia and learned that while the man suffers from kidney disease, he still understands what he is doing on a ballot.

In 1995, challenges to two Assembly Democrats, Chris Giunchigliani and Jan Evans, were thrown out in bipartisan fashion.

Whipped out of Ways?

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., is moving up the leadership ladder within her party in the House of Representatives.

But the role she received this week, regional whip, may be a consolation prize in lieu of the seat she covets, on the powerful Ways and Means Committee.

As one of 24 regional whips, Berkley will be responsible for lining up votes on issues in the next Congress, which begins Jan. 7. She is responsible for "whipping" up the votes from 25 colleagues from Southern California, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado.

New House Minority Leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, initiated discussions about the Democratic Party's political strategy during a two-day caucus meeting in Washington, D.C., this week.

Berkley previously had the ear of Rep. Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., who stepped down as House minority leader after his party's pitiful showing on Election Day. Gephardt had reportedly promised Berkley a spot on Ways and Means.

The regional whip title could be Pelosi's way of reaching out to Berkley without reaching too far.

Re-elect Santa

City sidewalks, busy sidewalks dressed in holiday style. In the air there's a feeling of municipal elections.

At least if you walk along North Rancho Drive, that is.

Las Vegas City Councilman Lawrence Weekly has put up his "holiday greetings" sign, complete with a red bow and a not-so-subtle reminder of the spring elections right around the corner -- "From Lawrence Weekly, Ward 5, the People's Choice."

Municipal Court Chief Judge Toy Gregory beat Weekly to the signs by a few days, but without using his name in any clever holiday imagery. Gregory just hopes to keep any would-be challengers at bay.

Filing opens next month for the April primaries.

Not a lawyer, yet

County Commissioner Erin Kenny may have failed the bar, but she certainly learned in law school that when you lose at something, there's always an opportunity to sue.

Kenny, apparently angry that she was outplayed and outwitted -- and ultimately will be outlasted by Bruce Woodbury, threatened to sue the county.

Woodbury, you might recall, trumped Kenny in a masterful political move over a 300-home housing project near the airport that Kenny's friends and political contributors, Kummer, Kaempfer, Bonner and Renshaw, were pushing.

On Dec. 4 the commission approved a non-conforming zone change that allows the project to be built below McCarran International Airport's noisiest and busiest flight path. Woodbury voted for the project, despite his opposition to it, so that he could later ask for a reconsideration.

Only officials who vote with the majority on a decision can choose that option.

After the vote and after learning of Woodbury's move, Kenny called County Manager Thom Reilly and also requested reconsideration.

But Reilly scheduled the reconsideration for January, not for December, which Kenny had requested.

So, what's a budding lawyer to do? Sue. At least that's what a trio of county officials say. They say Kenny threatened a lawsuit this week, allegedly claiming she was the victim of sexual discrimination as Reilly picked a male commissioner over a female commissioner. Kenny did not respond to calls seeking comment.

Sun reporter

Adrienne Packer contributed to this report.