Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Buck, Collins go head to head

On paper, Tom Collins appears to have a lopsided advantage over his Republican opponent in his race to take the Clark County Commission District B seat.

Collins is the Democratic candidate in a commission district that as of Sept. 19 had 11,000 more Democrats than Republicans among its active voters, according to county records. Collins also is a small-business owner, a former union member in a labor stronghold, and an Assemblyman in a legislative district nearly completely enclosed within the commission seat's boundaries.

But his opponent, North Las Vegas Councilwoman Shari Buck, says she is not threatened by any of that. Buck says she has the experience in local government, a track record of support from many union members and Democrats in her own district, and issues to hit Collins with -- among them, his past brushes with the law.

Buck was elected to the North Las Vegas council in 1999 and is in her second term. A former substitute teacher, Buck has crowded her schedule with other boards and positions: She is a member of the Regional Transportation Commission, the Regional Flood Control District and the Southern Nevada Water Authority, a board that has become a critical venue for the debate over the region's future as water shortages collide with the rapid pace of growth.

"I know I can take my experience to the county and be a benefit there," Buck says. "Having served for the last five years in local government, I understand the job of local government."

But Collins has plenty of experience in public office too. He served 10 years in the Legislature and has served with various other boards and commissioners, including a seven-year stint with the North Las Vegas Planning Commission.

On the issues, Collins and Buck are not far apart. Both have taken a cautious approach to the plans forwarded by the Southern Nevada Water Authority. Both cite the growing pains of the region's continued population boom.

"My platform is very simple," Collins says. "More cops, more parks and more trust."

Buck also supports more parks and police, as well as a stronger land-use planning process.

"The key is to do the planning so the neighbors will know what is happening," she says. "I think growth is, from what I understand, slowing down a little on its own. I think that's the big question: When growth slows down, how do we prepare for it?"

Dan Hart, an advisor to Buck's campaign, says the Democratic voter registration advantage that Collins enjoys is negated by Buck's terms on the North Las Vegas city council and the nature of the commission office.

"If you look at the history of county commission races, they are far less partisan than other races," Hart says. "People treat these offices as they probably should, like municipal offices. Their primary concern is the day-to-day operation of county offices."

Buck has received Democratic support when running for the nonpartisan North Las Vegas seat, he says.

"Democrats are used to voting for Shari Buck," Hart says. "There's no question there is a Democratic registration advantage in that district. I just don't think it matters as much.

"I think the voters of that district are going to vote for the best candidate, whether it's Democrat, Republican or some other registration."

Like other county commission races the issues are sometimes taking a back to the sometimes rancorous charges and counter-charges coming from both campaigns.

Already, the District B race was notable for a bruising five-way matchup in the Democratic primary.

Collins defeated four contenders, including incumbent Commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey, with more than 63 percent of the vote.

Kincaid-Chauncey was struggling against a federal indictment 14 months ago on multiple public corruption charges stemming from an alleged votes-for-cash deal with a Las Vegas strip club owner.

In campaign literature, Collins asks voter if they are tired "of reading about investigations, indictments, accusations and confessions of public officials?" He notes that he will not take donations from strip clubs, opposes strip clubs and adult businesses near residential areas, and he advocates for greater financial disclosure for public officials.

Assemblywoman Vonne Chowning, who ran against Collins in the primary, brought up Collins' legal history. She noted that his given name is Clarence, that he has a drunk-driving arrest in his background, and that he was involved in brawls that led to two misdemeanor battery convictions.

Collins says the arrest for allegedly driving while drunk did happen, but he was never convicted in the 1992 incident, and the fighting charges are two decades old. He and Gary Gray, Collins' campaign manager, say the rehashing of long dead issues is simply mudslinging. charges is evidence of mudslinging.

"I'm absolutely convinced, and so are most observers of this election, that Shari has for the last three months launched a vicious whisper campaign," Gray says.

Buck insists her campaign is not behind an effort to bring up the charges.

"That's not us," she says, but adds that other people might be distributing the information on Collins. "He's got some people out there that definitely have problems with him."

Buck campaign worker Judy DuBois also says the Republican effort is not behind an attempt to focus on Collins' legal troubles, and produced a script for the campaign's telephone campaign that does not mention Collins.

Hart says the charges are not secret and have been in the newspaper in prior campaigns.

Gray says voters have to consider that they come from a decade or more ago.

"This is all old news," Gray says. "These are things that happened as much as 15 years ago."

He says Collins' drunk driving conviction involved a serious accident.

"He knew the Lord had given him a second chance, and he's tried to make the best of it. He held his job as a lineman, which is a very dangerous job, and held it for 18 years. He's been married for 35 years. He's had his own business for 10 years.

"This is a very solid, steady guy," Gray says. "He just used to cowboy up a bit."

Collins hits back, charging Buck with moving into the commission district to capitalize on Kincaid-Chauncey's legal problems.

Buck says that is not so, that she moved into her home in District B 18 months ago -- four months before the indictment was unsealed -- in an effort to move away from a problem neighbor.

Her old home was in Kincaid-Chauncey's district until realignment in 2002, Buck says. She also charges that Collins briefly moved into the city of Las Vegas in 1999 as part of an effort to win an appointment to a vacated city council seat.

Gray says the charge is true, but out of context. Collins rented a house across the street from his home for one month, a move that would have put him in the city council district. But Collins changed his mind and withdrew himself from consideration, he says.

Pete Ernaut, president of R&R Public Affairs, a company that has worked for both Republicans and Democrats but has no stake in the District B race, says the scales appear to be very evenly balanced in the commission contect.

"I think Tom Collins and Shari are both great candidates," Ernaut said. "Shari has held office in that area for some time. I would imagine that it's going to be a very close race. I wouldn't be surprised if either one of them won."

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