Union grills commission candidates

Thursday, May 20, 2004 | 10:58 a.m.

Candidates for the Clark County Commission turned out for the first mass forum Wednesday, an "interview" with county government and health care workers.

Two issues dominated the questions from about 250 members of the Service Employees International Union Local 1107 who attended the forum: the issue of the community's growth, and the increasingly thorny relationship between unionized government employees and county government management.

The union also used the forum as an opportunity for a spirited defense of their collective bargaining rights and their contributions to the community.

A majority of candidates for the five seats in play this November attended the meeting, although only two of the five incumbents -- commissioners Mary Kincaid Chauncey and Lynette Boggs McDonald -- attended.

Jane McAlevey, the local's new executive director, said this was the union's "endorsement interview hearing." The union, which represents 12,500 workers split between the county and associated government agencies and the region's private hospitals, is the second largest in Southern Nevada.

McAlevey said this year's election would be critically important for the union members -- locally, statewide and nationally.

"There may be no more important election year than this, not just in Nevada, but everywhere," she said.

She noted that some local media have attacked the wages and benefits received by government workers. Those reports have mirrored the arguments of county management, which says that the growth in county wages is stripping the county's ability to hire new workers to keep pace with population growth.

"Our workers work incredibly hard," McAlevey said. "Public sector employees not only don't make too much, they make too little."

None of the candidates challenged the union on the issue. All said they stood with the union to work for a better community and, when they could, boasted of union roots and in some cases existing membership in the union.

In District B

"My entire family were strong union members," said Assemblywoman Vonne Chowning, a Democrat running against incumbent Kincaid-Chauncey.

"I pay union dues, just like you do," said Assemblyman Tom Collins, a Democrat running for the same seat.

Kincaid-Chauncey and her opponents did not mention the incumbent's indictment last fall on federal corruption charges. She noted, however, that she had "the advantage or disadvantage of being the only incumbent" among her challengers.

Kincaid-Chauncey, who has not received high marks from local union leaders, said her father was a union organizer and she was for seven years a member of the Culinary Union.

Grant Claycomb, a political outsider, told the crowd that he is an active member of the SEIU local.

All four of the candidates said they supported collective bargaining.

On growth and the tax base, the candidates struck a conservative tone.

"Growth has been good for all of us, but growth must slow down," Chowning said. "Growth is not paying for itself."

Kincaid-Chauncey said the issue of growth was "a very complex question."

"Stopping growth means stopping jobs, and we can't afford that," she said.

In District C

Jerry Tao, a Clark County deputy district attorney and Democrat running against incumbent Republican Chip Maxfield, was the only District C candidate at the forum. He appealed to the union for support, arguing that the financial and service problems in local government are not the fault of county workers.

He pointed to co-workers in his office, including an advocate that works with rape victims who testify in trials.

"Is she part of the problem, or part of the solution?" Tao asked. "Everybody in this room is part of the solution to the problems in this county. Unions are not the problem. County workers are not the problem."

In District D

State Sen. Joe Neal faced off against county public works employee Jesus Carlos Moreno, a union member, in their challenge to fellow Democrat Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates.

Neal has attracted attention for his call for a moratorium on new casino construction, a call he made again Wednesday night. He suggested that a moratorium would control the region's difficulties with the pace of growth.

"You don't have to be an expert to see what growth has done," he said. Neal said that the region's 35 million annual visitors are stretching local government resources thin.

"You don't have to worry about Joe Neal getting support from the hotels, 'cause I'm not getting any," he told the crowd.

In District F

Assemblyman David Goldwater, a Democrat running for the seat held by newly appointed Commissioner Boggs McDonald, told the union members that he would work to slow growth and protect union government jobs.

"The quality of life that I enjoyed in this town when I was growing up is being threatened," he said, by air pollution, traffic and public safety lapses. He pledged to protect collective bargaining and keep the county's University Medical System strong.

Political outsiders Bob Taylor, a Democrat, and John "Rob" Bishop, a Republican, pledged support for UMC workers and better land-use planning, respectively.

Boggs McDonald, a Republican, said she is concerned that the union and county management have developed an adversarial relationship.

"We all want the same thing for our community," she said. "There seems to be a tension of adversarialness that I personally believe is unnecessary."

Boggs McDonald said she would work to ensure the union was at the table for decisions affecting the future of Clark County.

The union conducted a straw poll of its members on the commission candidates, although the results were not immediately available. Hope Hesch, a union steward at the private Sunrise Hospital, said the forum and the straw poll are important because this year's race will determine the future of UMC and indirectly, the future of the region's health care.

Criticism of unions and union wages is coming from many sectors and the unions have to fight back, Hesch said. She noted that the Clark County Commission is arguably the most important elected board in the state.

"Our whole way of life is being attacked," she said. "The power is in the commissioners. They need to listen to our needs."