Council candidates add to disclosures

Judy Odierna

Wednesday, May 28, 2003 | 9:47 a.m.

Two Las Vegas City Council candidates accused of under-reporting their campaign contributions are showing additional money spent in the second wave of campaign reports.

Janet Moncrief, who faces incumbent City Councilman Michael McDonald for Ward 1 in Tuesday's general election, reported receiving almost $55,000 in donations and in-kind services during the reporting period from March 28 to May 22. That compares with about $12,000 she raised for the primary.

Moncrief outpolled McDonald in the primary, and McDonald's campaign has since alleged that she has spent more on mailers than the contributions she reported. McDonald's campaign also has alleged that the third candidate in the primary, Peter "Chris" Christoff, and others sent mailers on Moncrief's behalf.

Christoff, who lost in the primary, reported $9,400 raised in the last reporting period, all of it loaned by him.

McDonald's campaign manager Jim Ferrence earlier this month filed a complaint with the Secretary of State's office saying Christoff, political consultant Tony Dane and former Stratosphere owner Bob Stupak were funding Moncrief's campaign by sending out false mailers under unlisted political action committees and that Moncrief was not listing the thousands of dollars in contributions it would take to put out such mailers.

In the campaign finance report due Tuesday, Moncrief said she spent $46,156 and has $942 left. She says she knows her numbers don't add up and says she may have made a mistake.

Among her contributions was a $2,000 donation from Christoff, $5,000 from the Trinidad Surgery Center, which Moncrief helps to run, and $5,000 from Golden Coin. Moncrief reports paying Dane $2,045 for polling and phone calls.

Ferrence said he thinks there is still money unaccounted for.

"Clearly there's still another $40,000 to $50,000 missing between those two reports," Ferrence said.

Moncrief has repeatedly denied any relationship with Christoff. She said his check came in the mail.

Though he came in second in the primary, McDonald has a considerable financial lead over Moncrief, receiving an additional $163,000 in contributions to add to the $232,000 he had at the start of the reporting period. McDonald said he spent $294,850, leaving him with more than $101,000 left.

McDonald's largest donations this period came from Plise Development and Construction with $10,000; Republic Services of Southern Nevada, $3,800; and $3,300 from Republic Disposal Urban Maintenance Processing Company and Republic Environmental Technologies.

McDonald also received $5,000 each from Boulder Station; Laurich Properties Inc.; Timothy Poster; Thomas Breitling; Santa Fe Station Hotel and Casino; the Developers of Nevada; Robert Black; Desert West Development; Coast Hotel and Casinos Inc.; David Harris and Ad America.

Municipal Court Dept. 6

In the Municipal Judge Department 6 race, candidate Abbi Silver had a financial edge over opponent Bill Henderson. Silver started off the second wave of her campaign with more than $66,000 in the bank and raised an additional $30,000 in contributions, totaling more than $90,000. At least $9,000 of that was from in-kind contributions. She has spent more than $57,000 of that total.

Some of Silver's top contributors include $1,500 from David Z. Chesnoff; $2,000 from Golden Gaming; $1,000 from MGM MIRAGE; $1,000 from Charleston Heights Development Co.; and $2,764 that Silver loaned to herself.

Henderson started off the period with only $13.75. He received $12,968 in contributions including $7,540 he loaned to himself. He has spent all of it.

Municipal Court Dept. 1

In the Municipal Court Department 1 race, incumbent Toy Gregory added $100,925 to his standing balance of $57,410, for a total of $161,785. Gregory spent $111,881.

Gregory's top contributions came from Jack Galardi, $1,000; his son Mike Galardi, $5,000; Ricbar LLC, $5,000; Coast Hotel and Casinos, $5,000; and Gragson and Associates, $5,000.

His challenger Denise McCurry started off the cycle with a debt of $9,237. She received $7,319 in contributions, including $2,866 of in-kind donations. McCurry said she spent more than $22,000 and was $315 in debt.

Mayor

Despite his challengers raising little to no money, Mayor Oscar Goodman added another $77,475 to his bank of $317,254 in the reporting period. Goodman spent $168,931 leaving him with $226,167.

Some of Goodman's top contributions came from Coast Casinos Inc., which donated $10,000, and Coast Hotel and Casinos Inc., which also donated $10,000. Ewing Investments gave $3,000; the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors gave $5,000; the Andre Agassi Trust gave $5,000; The Developers of Nevada gave $4,000; Thomas Waddell gave $4,000; and the Lodge at Tenaya gave $5,000.

City Council

Councilman Lawrence Weekly raised an additional $58,000 to add to his war chest of more than $143,000. Weekly said he spent more than $146,000, leaving him with more than $55,000 at the close of his report.

Weekly's top contributions were $5,000 from Ad America Inc.; $2,500 from Building Q, LLC; $2,500 from Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors; $2,000 from G.C. Wallace Inc.; $3,000 from KB Home Nevada Inc.; $3,300 from Republic Services of Southern Nevada; $3,300 from Republic Disposal Urban Maintenance Processing Co.; and $3,300 from Republic Environmental Technologies.

Councilman Gary Reese received an additional $37,525 to add to his $151,825. He said he spent $147,199, leaving him with $42,325. Reese received $3,500 from the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors; $3,000 from PBS&J; $2,000 from G.C. Wallace Inc.; $3,000 from Durango Lodge; and $3,000 from KB Home Nevada Inc.; $3,500 from the Stratosphere Gaming Corp.; and $2,000 from Palm Mortuaries.