County names panels to write initiatives

Wednesday, July 7, 2004 | 9:37 a.m.

The Clark County Commission on Tuesday named people to the committees that will write arguments for and against initiatives on the November ballot.

Two advisory issues go on the ballot in the fall. One would ask the Legislature to stop passing "unfunded mandates" along to local governments in the form of responsibilities without funding. The second would, if passed, ask the Legislature to add a quarter-cent sales tax to fund 1,700 more police throughout Clark County, including almost 1,300 Metro Police.

For the police funding question, the commissioners picked Curtis Alexander, a Clark County Comprehensive Planning Steering Committee member, Assistant Sheriff Ray Flynn and retired Air Force airman and private security guard Richard Thomas to write the supporting argument.

Retired Air Force Col. Jerry Johnson, retired insurance claims superintendent Donald McDonald and legal assistant Kathryn Njus are to write the argument against the measure.

On the unfunded-mandate issue, which would be similar to another initiative passed overwhelmingly in 1992, the supporting arguments will be written by: Margarita Rivera-Wharton, a community organizer; Adrienne Rosenberg, director of the Jewish Family Service Center; and Las Vegas attorney Richard Sipan.

The opposing argument would be written by former Clark County Assistant Manager and lobbyist Mike Alastuey and Carole Vilardo, president of the Nevada Taxpayers Association.

Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax, who recommended committee members to the county commission, noted that Alastuey and Vilardo do not necessarily oppose the unfunded-mandate initiative. He said the two agreed to write the opposition argument because no qualified volunteers came forward.