Teen helpers may be issue in Moncrief case

Sito Negron and Ed Koch

Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2003 | 10:48 a.m.

A grand jury in Las Vegas is taking testimony in the investigation into Ward 1 Councilwoman Janet Moncrief's campaign finance reports, with the latest twist being the possibility that she misreported thousands of dollars in payments made to teens working as "street teams."

Tony Dane, a Moncrief campaign consultant, testified before the grand jury Thursday, he said. Grand jury proceedings are secret, and he would neither confirm nor deny that the issue of paying the teen campaign workers came up nor would he discuss any other aspect of his appearance.

Dane told the Sun that to the best of his recollection, an average of 27 children, ages 12 to 18 -- many of them old enough to have driver's licenses -- earned $7 an hour, working an average of 14 hours on weekends over 12 weekends last spring, handing out Moncrief fliers.

They were given lunch breaks, with Moncrief paying for lunches at places such as Wendy's, Applebees, which Dane said she reported.

Dane said he believes Moncrief made a bookkeeping error, reporting the money she gave him to pay the teen campaign workers under the consulting and polling category instead of the compensation for volunteers column.

He said the mistake is probably the result of her grouping all of checks she gave Dane as being consulting work because he worked as her consultant.

"With this many kids out walking, everyone, including your opponent knows about it," Dane said. "Because of that, you are not going to intentionally try to hide something. Ms. Moncrief had never run for office before. And with a lot of things going on at the same time, you can make these types of mistakes.

"She wasn't overseeing the kids who were out walking. I was. I don't see where she would benefit from trying to hide it," he said.

Moncrief could not be reached for comment.

Jerry Hafen, supervisor of the Las Vegas office of the state Division of Investigations, said he could not discuss grand jury proceedings. He did say that the investigation involves campaign contributions and how they were reported.

He said there was no specific time frame for grand jury proceedings.

"It would go on for months, but I anticipate we'll be done with this within the next two months," he said.

As for whether Moncrief would be issued a subpoena, he said, " I would imagine at some point she'd receive notice to appear before the grand jury."

Moncrief defeated incumbent Michael McDonald, whose campaign manager, Jim Ferrence, filed a state complaint against her, alleging that she did not properly report fliers that were mailed on her behalf. Later, people who said they were behind-the-scenes workers on her campaign also claimed violations of state campaign finance laws.