Moncrief recall organization ready to turn in signatures

Dan Kulin

Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2004 | 8:49 a.m.

A group working to kick Las Vegas Councilwoman Janet Moncrief out of office was expected today to turn in more than enough signatures to force a recall election as soon as Jan. 1.

Those leading the recall effort have said they want a change because of charges that the freshman councilwoman falsified her campaign finance reports, and because they feel she has failed to block unwanted development.

Moncrief has represented Ward 1 on the council since June 2003, when she received 58 percent of the vote in defeating incumbent Councilman Michael McDonald.

She had been working to thwart the recall petitioners. Moncrief said she paid a California company $750 to deliver phone messages to 17,000 Ward 1 voters on Friday, and she knocked on about 100 doors over the weekend, asking people not to sign any recall petitions. She plans to go door-to-door again tonight, only now she will ask for her constituents' votes.

"I wanted to represent the people of Ward 1 and I feel like I am," she said. "It's a sad day. ... But I'm ready to campaign. I'm not going to give up."

Moncrief and Billy Rogers, whose Southwest Strategies company collected the signatures, said the recall election will probably be in January, assuming the signatures make it through the verification process. That process -- which involves the secretary of state, the Clark County registrar of voters, and the city clerk -- includes several deadlines for different counts and checks of the signatures, and so makes it difficult to say exactly when the election would be.

Rogers said his group collected about 2,700 signatures on the recall petition by going door to door in Ward 1 from Nov. 13 to Nov. 22. The group needs 2,106 signatures from registered Ward 1 voters to force the recall.

Rogers' group was hired by a group of Ward 1 citizens calling themselves the Committee to Recall Janet Moncrief, which is being led by resident Larry Anspach.

Another group called the Ward 1 Cleanup Team, and led by resident Lee Haynes, has collected about 1,900 signatures on its recall petition. Haynes said he would stop collecting signatures for his recall petition if Anspach's group turns in their petitions today.

Anspach said the alleged campaign finance fraud "was a big part" of the reason his group decided to work to get Moncrief out of office. But he said there were also "many other issues in the neighborhood."

He cited failure to stop a rezoning that allowed local developer Irwin Molasky to build a Social Security building in a residential corridor along Buffalo Drive, just north of Oakey Boulevard. Members of Anspach's neighborhood successfully sued the city to overturn the zoning decision.

But Anspach said former Councilman McDonald would have been able to kill that proposal at the council level.

Moncrief said that while McDonald was able to block some smaller office buildings proposed for the same site, she said this time was different because Molasky is a powerful local developer.

Moncrief also said the indictment is not a good reason for a recall.

"What happened to innocent until proven guilty? ... And I'm so innocent," she said. Moncrief has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Moncrief's case is scheduled to go to trial Feb. 7, but she also has a court date on Dec. 15, when her attorney will argue to dismiss the case.

Anspach would not say how much his group has paid Southwest Strategies to collect signatures on the recall petition, although that amount will become public when the group files its financial reports.

If it is determined that the recall petition has enough valid signatures to force a recall, there are two ways the election can proceed.

One is if a challenger emerges. To be on the ballot, a person must gather the same number of signatures from voters in the ward as it took to force the recall election. If there are one or more candidates, the ballot will not mention the recall, but will simply have Moncrief's name and title on it, along with the names of the challengers.

If no challengers emerge, the ballot will offer two choices: "for recall" or "against recall."

If Moncrief is recalled, the City Council will decide whether to appoint someone to the position or to have a special election.

Anspach said his group would probably unite behind a candidate to replace Moncrief. He would not say who that might be; although he did say he would not run.

"A lot of us really wanted Michael McDonald to run again, but he said he wouldn't," Anspach said.

Haynes said a local union representative asked him to collect signatures to make City Council Ward 5 liaison Kelly Benavidez a candidate.

Haynes said he has already collected about 500 signatures on a petition to put Benavidez a recall ballot.

Benavidez has said she isn't part of that effort and didn't know who might have put her name out as a candidate.

Vicki Quinn, an activist who has fought for increased access to public buildings for the handicapped, has also been mentioned as a possible candidate. Quinn said Monday she was "giving it a lot of thought" and would probably make her decision once Anspach's group turned in their petitions.