Evidence weighed in Moncrief case

Sito Negron

Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2004 | 11:10 a.m.

The grand jury hearing evidence regarding allegations of campaign fraud against Las Vegas Councilwoman Janet Moncrief adjourned abruptly Tuesday afternoon as prosecutors consider "additional evidence."

The earliest the grand jury could reconvene is next Tuesday, officials said.

Conrad Hafen, who is handling the case for the Nevada attorney general's office, would not comment on the nature of the evidence.

"Right now what we're saying is we adjourned and are considering looking into additional evidence. Hopefully at some point we will pick up the process," he said.

The grand jury began hearing witnesses at 8:30 a.m., beginning with Moncrief campaign manager Tony Dane. After about two hours the grand jury recessed for 10 minutes, then called Steve Miller, the former Las Vegas councilman. Miller worked on Moncrief's campaign, although during the race he denied being part of her election team.

Dane would not comment as he passed reporters in the cramped hallway leading from the nondescript grand-jury room. It was at least the second time he had appeared before a grand jury on this matter. He previously testified in December.

Miller would not discuss the specifics of his testimony, but came out of the room saying, "it seemed like an eternity. The mood is dead serious ... My hands are cold and sweating. They're never like this."

He was interviewed for almost two hours, after which grand jurors recessed for lunch. All refused to comment, going so far as to avoid eye contact with reporters.

After lunch, the grand jury returned for about 10 minutes, then recessed. Still in the hallway waiting to be interviewed when the jury recessed were Betty Schulte, a former Moncrief aide at City Hall who declined comment, and a man who was believed to be Jeff Evans, the California printer who Miller and others have said printed campaign fliers at the heart of the case. Officials would not confirm nor deny the man's identity.

Those complainants -- Miller and Peter "Chris" Christoff, who was not called to the grand jury Tuesday -- have said that they worked on various fliers that either attacked incumbent Michael McDonald or attacked unions and purported to come from McDonald.

In addition, Dane told the Sun in December that the Moncrief campaign used teenage workers but did not report the payments. He would not say whether that was at issue in the grand jury proceedings.

Together, the amounts alleged to have been underreported in Moncrief's campaign are in the $100,000 range.

Speculation about where Moncrief -- a registered nurse who ran as a political outsider, and made much of walking her district knocking on doors in her scrubs -- might have received the money has centered on wealthy casino figure Bob Stupak, whom she has described as her boyfriend.

Stupak would not comment Tuesday on whether he funded Moncrief's campaign, or had any other relationship with her.

"The only thing I can tell you is this, and this is a quote: 'Have a nice day,' " Stupak said.

Moncrief referred comments to her lawyer, Richard Wright. Wright's office said he was out of town and unavailable Tuesday.

Moncrief was served with notice Feb. 12 that the state intended to seek an indictment.

The campaign reporting issues began in April, when Jim Ferrence, McDonald's campaign manager, filed a complaint regarding Moncrief's contributions. The complaint alleged that Moncrief and others in her campaign engaged in a "deliberate conspiracy of deception, illegal mailings, vast underreporting of expenditures and other unlawful acts."

Ferrence said last week that he's "looking forward to seeing where the $100,000 that she spent and never reported came from."