Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

McDonald walks to get out the vote

Age: 38.

Occupation: City Councilman and consultant for Alpha Omega Strategies.

Endorsements: Las Vegas Police Protection Association; Las Vegas Police Managers and Supervisors Association; Culinary Union Local 226; Southern Nevada Central Labor Council; LasVegas Firefighters Association; City of Las Vegas Employees Association; North Las Vegas Police Officers Association; Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs; Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce; Las Vegas Protective Association Civilian Employees; Nevada Nurses' Alliance; Latin Chamber of Commerce; Southern Nevada Builders and Construction Trades Council ;Service Employees International Union; Police Officer Association for the Clark County School District;Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters; Asian Chamber of Commerce;State Employees Association.

Las Vegas City Councilman Michael McDonald leans against a door at the James Downs Towers, a senior housing center, writing a personalized note on one of his campaign fliers.

He doesn't like to just leave a brochure without talking to the possible voter.

After being linked to a major political corruption scandal in the final weeks of the general election campaign and being outpolled in the primary by newcomer Janet Moncrief, McDonald needs every vote he can get on Tuesday to retain his seat.

Many of those voters who didn't turn out in April live at the senior complex McDonald was walking through. McDonald's camp said his supporters thought he was a shoo-in during the primary, but now, as McDonald walks door to door, the supporters promise him they will get out and vote this time.

"What's this I hear about this lady beating you?" asked Grace Ralston, 65. "You better win this, or I'm going to hurt you."

McDonald hears a lot of praise for his accomplishments on the council, and he hears concerns about Moncrief and her move into Ward 1 to run for the seat.

"Can you do all this without being in this precinct?" Vivian Egle, 67, said.

According to McDonald, who has lived in the ward all his life and has a reputation for providing constituent services, the answer is no.

"It's not only the people involved, but it's what they stand for," McDonald said. "Moncrief has talked about putting in neighborhood casinos and I'm against that."

After the primary shocker, McDonald's camp took aim at Moncrief and her character. Jim Ferrence, McDonald's campaign manager, filed a complaint with the Secretary of State's office saying Moncrief and primary candidate Peter "Chris" Christoff, along with former Stratosphere owner Bob Stupak and political consultant Tony Dane, were the masterminds and financiers behind numerous negative campaign fliers that were not listed in campaign finance reports filed by the candidates and political action committees.

Moncrief has denied the allegations and has called the complaint a "desperate move."

McDonald said that because of the fliers and for other reasons, Moncrief will appeal to a certain amount of people.

"But I'm out there reminding everyone of what I've helped do for the ward," he said. "I have fought, scratched and bled to keep the neighborhoods independent and to form associations and to empower the neighborhoods."

McDonald cites several projects he helped get into the neighborhoods such as a new Wal-Mart at a formerly vacant lot at the Westland Fair mall at Charleston and Decatur boulevards; re-paving streets in Meadows Village in 1998 and 1999; and setting up the Meadows Village Task Force and the Alta Drive Improvement Project, which resulted in putting curbs, gutters, sidewalks and lights in areas that did not have them. The improvements were done at the request of the surrounding neighbors, who approved becoming a special improvement district to pay for the project themselves.

Moncrief has charged that the Alta project showed that McDonald was only concerned about helping out the more affluent parts of the city.

McDonald says those allegations frustrate him the most.

"The person who put that out there obviously doesn't live in the ward or follow what we do in politics," McDonald said.

Linda Smith, chief development officer for Opportunity Village -- the Southern Nevada nonprofit organization that serves people with intellectual disabilities -- says McDonald not only has helped her organization, but he's gone beyond the realm of his council duties.

"We're always getting calls that come from left field and it's because McDonald has dropped our name as a deserving charity," Smith said. "Those are things done behind the scenes, not for a photo opportunity. He's a great representative of Ward 1, and I'm sure it's not only Opportunity Village that feels the impact."

McDonald said he got interested in the political process when he was a police officer running Metro's Community 89109 project, which aimed to clean up the area with that zip code.

He said requests from seniors to set up a similar program in their area pushed McDonald to run for office in 1995 against then-incumbent Frank Hawkins Jr. and 13 other opponents. McDonald made it to the general election against Hawkins and won with more than 60 percent of vote.

McDonald was re-elected in 1999, defeating four challengers in the primary by taking more than 50 percent of votes.

But shortly after his re-election, McDonald became engulfed in political turmoil that has clouded his political career since. He butted heads with Mayor Oscar Goodman, at one point secretly taping a private meeting with Goodman in 2000. The incident infuriated Goodman, who called McDonald "a piece of garbage" and a "sleazeball." McDonald lost his ceremonial title of mayor pro-tem and he faced several ethics complaints and a recall attempt.

The complaints alleged McDonald worked behind the scenes to urge his council colleagues to buy the financially troubled Las Vegas Sportspark. The northwest Las Vegas facility was owned by McDonald's employer, Larry Scheffler, at Las Vegas Color Graphics. McDonald abstained on the vote.

A city Ethics Review Board and the state Ethics Commission ruled that McDonald broke ethics laws. The state board imposed no sanctions. The city board authorized its special counsel to file malfeasance charges, which a district judge dismissed.

McDonald says he walked his ward after the ethics battles and apologized to his constituents.

But earlier this month McDonald was listed, along with several other politicians, in an FBI search warrant prepared in a corruption probe. Agents were looking for any payments to the politicians from the Galardi family -- owners of Cheetahs and Jaguars strip clubs.

McDonald acknowledged that since he has been in office he has been paid by Mike Galardi to be a consultant on zoning and land planning issues. But McDonald has said repeatedly that he is not a target of the investigation.

McDonald said he believes his supporters will see past the reports that link his name with the raids and will see the positive changes he has helped to make in their neighborhoods.

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