Lawmaker to take on embattled Kincaid- Chauncey

Thursday, Dec. 4, 2003 | 11:15 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Seven-term Assemblywoman Vonne Chowning, D-North Las Vegas, says she will not run for re-election and instead will seek a seat on the Clark County Commission.

Chowning, a Realtor, is going after the post held by Commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey, who faces federal charges of political corruption.

"I feel the people in District B need a representative who will truly give them the truth and clean government," said Chowning, who grew up in Henderson and has lived in North Las Vegas since 1977.

She said she had been considering running for the County Commission before the "turmoil" erupted that involved allegations of payoffs.

District B encompasses most of North Las Vegas and runs from Owens Avenue north to Logandale and Overton. It stretches from Sunrise Mountain west to Rampart Boulevard.

Kincaid-Chauncey said Chowning's candidacy would not affect her own campaign for re-election.

"I think Vonne has done an excellent job in the Legislature and I have known her for a long time and I have tremendous respect for her," Kincaid-Chauncey said this morning. "But I intend to win the election. And I don't expect it to be an easy election."

Kincaid-Chauncey said she knows she will be found innocent of the charges against her, but said she hoped the decision would come before her campaign begins.

"Hopefully I will be able to address those issues," Kincaid-Chauncey said. "It would be very helpful I think if I could do that before the election."

She said she expects most voters to trust her innocence. Regardless, she said she'll run a clean campaign.

Chowning estimates she will need $200,000 to $250,000 for the race. She has less than $20,000 left over from Assembly campaigns and current fund-raising efforts. She said that money can be used in the contest for the County Commission.

The assemblywoman said she has a strong campaign team in place.

"It's always been an uphill battle for me," she said in reviewing her seven terms in the Legislature.

She said the decision not to run for re-election was "hard because of my allegiance to the Legislature."

Chowning has never missed a vote in her 14 years in the Legislature, she has been chairwoman of the Assembly Transportation Committee for five sessions and a member of the Ways and Means Committee that develops the state's budget.

She said her service on the Ways and Means Committee, will give her a "tremendous advantage" in dealing with the Clark County budget. And she is familiar with the transportation needs of Southern Nevada, she said. As chairman of the transportation committee, she has been a staunch opponent of repealing the law that requires motorcycle riders to wear helmets.

In the 2003 Legislature she was listed as the primary sponsor of bills to require passengers in taxicabs in Clark County to wear seat belts; to provide for the issuance of "United We Stand" special license plates; to revive the deadline for suits by women who are damaged by silicone breast implants and to make an appropriation to Clark County to provide mental health services in Laughlin.

A former schoolteacher, Chowning is listed as the main author of bills to create a state board to oversee rent increases in manufactured home parks; to increase payments to permanently, totally disabled people and to require car dealers to provide documents in Spanish to potential buyers.

Filing for the commissioner's seat will open in May. The primary election will be in September, with the general election in November.