Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Columnist Jeff German: DA race is a tough one to call

In politics nothing is more comforting to the voters than knowing that a candidate has experience.

This year both major party candidates in the race for district attorney, Mike Davidson and David Roger, are campaigning on their experience.

But whose experience is the best fit for the county's top law enforcement job?

Davidson's 4 1/2 years as assistant district attorney under the retiring Stewart Bell? Or Roger's 15 years as a high-profile prosecutor in the office?

On the campaign trail, Davidson has billed himself as the only candidate with experience supervising the office's 135 attorneys. Roger has pointed out that he's the only one who has put away bad guys.

That's the tough choice facing the voters on Nov. 5.

Do we want a guy who understands budgets and knows how to run a large and complicated office? Or someone who has looked a killer in the eye in court and shared tears with the victim's family afterward?

We know who the cops on the street want. The Las Vegas Police Protective Association, which represents 2,100 Metro officers, last week endorsed Roger, the guy in the trenches.

"The district attorney's primary function is to prosecute cases," PPA boss Dave Kallas says. "Why would you want anybody but a prosecutor in there?"

But the political experts say this is anybody's race to win.

"I think it comes down 50-50," says longtime consultant Kent Oram, who does not have a horse in this race. "It's great to be a prosecutor, but if you're not an administrator, what happens to the office? Somebody's got to watch the staff and make sure it works."

Don Williams, another veteran strategist not involved in the race, says Davidson, a Democrat, may have the best credentials because of his breadth of experience in the office.

There is, after all, much more to the job than prosecuting criminals. The district attorney has an entire civil division that hands out legal advice to county officials, collects child support payments for mothers and recovers bad checks for businesses.

Williams, however, believes that on Election Day the voters may be more likely to choose Roger, a Republican they've seen in action on television.

"The guy who's been in the courtroom is everybody's image of a district attorney," Williams says. "It's too bad we don't have one guy with both of their qualifications. That would be the perfect district attorney."

Ted Jelen, who chairs the Political Science Department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, says Roger will have a much easier time connecting with the voters than Davidson.

"It's a simple point to make that you've been in court and have put people in jail," Jelen says. "All you need is a T-shirt and a bumper sticker."

And don't underestimate the power of being associated with the most well-publicized murder case of all time in Las Vegas. Convicting the two people charged with killing Ted Binion has brought Roger much name recognition.

But in the debates so far, it is Davidson who has shined the brightest. He has appeared more prepared and articulate on the issues facing the office. He has rattled off statistics with ease and talked with authority as a member of the current leadership team.

Roger has discussed the criminal side of the office with much enthusiasm, but he has looked uncomfortable talking about the civil side. On those occasions he has left the impression that he'd rather be in a courtroom speaking to a jury.

Both men square off at 8 p.m. Thursday on Las Vegas ONE in their first televised forum together, so the public will get a good look at the two candidates.

Whether the debates make an impression on the voters Nov. 5 remains to be seen.

"So few people watch the debates," says political consultant Billy Vassiliadis, who ran Bell's two campaigns. "Both of these guys are polished and very smart. I don't sense either one is going to say something outlandishly stupid.

"At the end of the day, it's going to come down to who runs the better campaign and who's the most likable."

There is no formula for guessing who the voters like the most in the district attorney's race.

In 1994 Bell was a defense lawyer who defeated a career prosecutor. In 1986 his predecessor, Rex Bell, who is not related, was a career prosecutor who defeated a defense lawyer.

This year we have two prosecutors running against each other, one with experience as an administrator and the other with experience in the trenches.

"We have a race in which we can't make a mistake," Williams says. "Whatever we do, we can't screw it up."

That may be comforting, but it doesn't help us make up our minds.

Shall we flip a coin?

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