Veteran prosecutors to battle for district attorney’s post

Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2002 | 11:13 a.m.

Two veteran prosecutors will square off in the November general election in the race to become Clark County's next district attorney.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, a Republican who has been involved in several high-profile criminal cases, and Assistant District Attorney Mike Davidson, a Democrat who oversees the office's civil division, each coasted to overwhelming victories in their primaries Tuesday.

Independent American candidate Joel Hansen, who did not have a primary opponent, also will be on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Roger, a member of the district attorney's Major Violators Unit, defeated fellow Chief Deputy District Attorney Abbi Silver by a 65 to 35 percent margin following a hard-fought race. Silver accused Roger during the race of being in the pocket of topless nightclub owners who helped bankroll his campaign -- a charge Roger denied.

Davidson seemed to have an easier time defeating his Democratic challenger, Las Vegas lawyer Dawn Allysa Hooker, also by a 65 to 35 percent margin. Hooker did little campaigning during the primary.

Both Roger, 40, and Davidson, 48, said they didn't expect to see the bitterness and negative campaigning that marred the Republic primary repeated in the general election.

"Mike Davidson is a gentleman," Roger said. "I expect him to run a clean campaign."

Davidson, who also has accepted contributions from strip clubs, said he has no plans to attack Roger for taking money from the clubs.

"It's not an issue with me," he said.

Davidson said he plans to stress his experience in the next two months as one of retiring District Attorney Stewart Bell's top two managers in the office.

Roger has no experience as a supervisor, he said.

"He's got a great resume for the job that he's got," Davidson said. "But only one of us has been in a leadership and management position in the office and in this community."

Roger, who has received much notoriety as the lead prosecutor in the well-publicized Ted Binion murder case, said his victory over Silver demonstrated that he has strong public support.

"They understand the importance of having a career prosecutor as their next chief law enforcement officer in Clark County," he said. "I've been a prosecutor for 15 years, and my opponent has never prosecuted a single case. That doesn't make him a bad lawyer. It simply means he would have a difficult time leading 130 prosecutors in the office."

Roger and Silver together spent more than $600,000 in their primary battle.

Silver, 37, who oversees the district attorney's domestic violence/stalking unit, accused Roger in the latter months of the campaign of a conflict of interest by accepting $45,000 in contributions from strip club operators.

Roger denied a conflict, but he returned the money after learning that the district attorney's office was helping craft a new county ordinance regulating lap dancing at the topless clubs.

In the last three weeks of the race, attorneys for two adult club operators, Rick Rizzolo of Crazy Horse Too and Mike Galardi of Jaguars, accused Silver of being hypocritical in her attacks on Roger.

The lawyers said their clients, who contributed to Roger's campaign, were approached by Silver or her representatives for donations. But Silver denied asking for topless club money, and she accused the operators of lying. She ran television ads again denying that she had solicited any strip club contributions.

Roger said the voters in the end rejected Silver's tactics.

"I don't think the voters like negative campaigns," he said. "I guess the proof is in the pudding."

But Roger said he expected to remain friends with Silver.

"Abbi is an asset to the office," he said. "We have to set aside the negative things that came out in the primary and work together to make this community safe. Abby was a friend before this campaign and I suspect we'll be friends after it, as well."

Silver said she was disappointed with her loss, but expected to remain friends with both Roger and Davidson, one of whom will be her new boss after the general election.

"We're all on the same team," she said. "I wish them both the best."

Silver said she won't endorse either candidate.

"The voters will decide who they want for district attorney, and I'll have no problem working for either one of them," she said.