County website features officials’ campaign reports

Kirsten Searer

Friday, Jan. 16, 2004 | 9:29 a.m.

Caesars Palace gave Clark County Commissioner Rory Reid two Celine Dion tickets in 2003 valued at $300 -- meaning they probably weren't stage-side seats.

Commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey took about $146 in gifts from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority in 2003, including a belt buckle, a stuffed toy and a "Jack Daniels sampler" valued at $2.

Candidates and officeholders filed their first campaign contribution and finance information of this election season on Thursday.

The campaign contributions and expenses reports, available on the Clark County website, detail how much candidates raised in 2003, including leftover money from previous campaigns.

The financial disclosure statements, filed on the secretary of state's website, tell where candidates work and what gifts they received in 2003.

The documents don't reflect the large sums that some candidates are hoping to raise for the 2004 election -- fund-raising won't peak until much closer to the September primary and November general election.

But the records tell which candidates are hoping to get a headstart. Jerry Tao, for example, a Clark County prosecutor running against County Commissioner Chip Maxfield, already has raised $187,615, including a $150,000 loan he said he gave himself using his home equity loan.

Tao said he loaned his campaign the money last year because he needed funds before contributions started to come in. While he is a prosecutor now, Tao said he has money saved from his previous job as a corporate attorney.

"I used to make a six-figure salary back in the day," he said.

Maxfield has about $233,298 in cash on hand, according to his report. His contributors include Station Casinos, which gave him $20,000 in June. Station Casinos lobbied the County Commission for a tower on their newest hotel in Summerlin.

Tao said the money shows "how close" Maxfield is to developers; Maxfield said he worked on the deal with the hotel that appeased residents.

"I'm the one who helped broker the deal to establish it with what my constituents want," Maxfield said. "I think this is a testament of who and what I am."

Other documents show that Assemblyman Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, who is planning what will likely be an expensive challenge to Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, has about $44,428 in cash on hand. Beers said earlier this week that he expects the race to cost about $200,000.

"I may be outspent, but I won't be outwalked," said Beers, who said he has already started knocking on constituents' doors.

Rawson's report has not yet been filed on the Internet, but his campaign had a fund-raiser scheduled for Thursday night and is organizing its own grass-roots movement, said political consultant Steve Wark, who is helping Rawson's campaign.

Another finance disclosure statement shows that Kathy McClain,D-Las Vegas, is now working as a consultant. She was fired from her position in Clark County after an investigation found that she filed for sick days while she was serving in the Legislature.

Statements for two other elected officials fired from their jobs in the double-dipping scandal -- Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas, and Kelvin Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas -- are not yet posted on the Internet.

To view the documents, go to the Clark County website (redrock.co.clark.nv.us/campaignfinance/) or the secretary of state's website (ethics.state.nv.us/forms.htm).