Three LV Council incumbents cruise

Judy Odierna

Wednesday, April 9, 2003 | 11:21 a.m.

Three out of four incumbents, including Mayor Oscar Goodman, cruised back into office Tuesday, retaining their seats on the Las Vegas City Council.

Councilman Michael McDonald, who was outpolled by political newcomer Janet Moncrief in Tuesday's primary election, failed to complete the sweep. McDonald and Moncrief will square off in the June 3 general election.

Goodman and Councilmen Gary Reese and Lawrence Weekly were re-elected easily, collecting well over the required 50 percent of the vote in their races.

"I am honored and overwhelmed," Goodman told a crowd of supporters on Fremont Street Tuesday night after receiving a record 85.7 percent of the vote. "I appreciate your support, and I promise to work harder the next four years than I did the last four years to make this the best city in the world."

The wins came with a low voter turnout. Only 34,200 -- or 18 percent -- of the more than 191,700 registered voters in Las Vegas cast ballots.

The task that lies ahead for the three incumbents does not appear as easy as their victories. They will begin their four-year terms by tackling a city budget shortfall expected to be $8 million to $10 million.

Veteran political strategist Don Williams said the budget is the main challenge facing the council this year.

"With an $8 million shortfall they are just not going to be able to do anything," Williams said. "They won't have any money to put into anything. The most important thing they have to figure out how did they get upside down and what are they going to do to make sure that these shortfalls don't continue?

"If don't make progress, they might not be there next time."

Reese said he recognizes the difficulties that lie ahead.

"I really think the next four years are going to be really hard," Reese said. "We had it easy the past eight years with the budget. Money is so important, and we're going to have to figure out what we can and can't do."

Goodman trounced little-known challengers Joe Falco, Tom McGowan, Carlos Poliak, Edward R. Schmitt and Allan "Big Al" Smith.

On Tuesday 29,356 voters cast ballots for Goodman. The percentage, though not the number of votes, set a city record. In his 1999 victory Goodman received 32,765 votes, or 63.8 percent.

In the 1995 election, Jan Jones easily defeated six opponents by collecting 71.8 percent of the vote.

Weekly defeated his two opponents, Gene Collins and Jefferson Lee, with 72.3 percent, or 3,093 votes. Reese, who was expected to have the toughest race, easily defeated Fernando Romero and Keith Vanderwyst with 81.6 percent, or 2,932 votes.

Weekly said before city officials make the tough decisions on the city budget, they must keep on eye on what happens with several key bills in the Legislature. One proposal submitted by Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, would take future property tax revenues from local governments and give them to the state.

"Right now our future is in the hands of what the Legislature does," Weekly said. "Until the Legislature (makes its decisions), it's too premature to talk about what we'd like to see happen."