Columnist Jeff German: McDonald has time on his side

Tuesday, April 29, 2003 | 11:14 a.m.

If Councilman Michael McDonald is looking for quick action from the secretary of state's office on his complaint against opponent Janet Moncrief, it's not going to happen.

Secretary of State Dean Heller said Monday there's a good chance he won't decide whether to pursue an investigation into alleged campaign violations by Moncrief and others tied to her campaign until after the June 3 municipal election.

"We're not concerned about timelines," Heller said. "We have to give an opportunity for those accused in the complaint to respond before we decide to investigate."

It will take weeks, not days, before Heller completes that process and is ready to make his decision.

But then McDonald and his seasoned campaign handlers, even though they asked Heller to act with the "greatest dispatch," probably knew the case would get off to a slow start when they filed the complaint on Friday.

All they had to do was look at how long it has taken Heller to sort out alleged campaign reporting violations by John Hunt, last year's failed Democratic candidate for attorney general. Hunt's Republican opponent, Brian Sandoval, filed a complaint against Hunt after the September primary, but Heller, having trouble getting witnesses to cooperate, still is nowhere near completing the probe.

Sandoval, it turned out, really didn't care whether Heller resolved the allegations against Hunt prior to the November election. He ended up using the unsubstantiated accusations to muddy up Hunt on the local airwaves and catapult himself to victory.

In that same vein, McDonald, having finished a stunning second in the April primary to the little-known Moncrief, now has a chance to use his complaint as campaign fodder to gather similar momentum the last month of the race in Ward 1.

McDonald and his campaign manager, Jim Ferrence, have accused Moncrief and one of McDonald's defeated primary opponents, Peter "Chris" Christoff, of conspiring with others to smear him in a variety of ways -- including the use of questionable hit pieces not officially tied to Moncrief's campaign.

Both challengers have denied the allegations, but any time a candidate is accused of playing dirty, it has an impact on the voters.

In this case, McDonald has a special reason to attack Moncrief's integrity. He has to make up for his own ethical lapses, which in all likelihood contributed to his poor primary showing.

If McDonald can make his opponent look bad, then he doesn't look so bad.

At the same time, his complaint probably will discourage his detractors from using any underhanded tactics against him as the general election draws near. Too many people are watching now.

So take all the time you need to decide whether to investigate, Mr. Secretary of State.

Councilman McDonald already has gotten plenty of political mileage out of this complaint.