Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Commission candidate wants federal tax returns revealed

Clark County Commission candidate David Goldwater on Thursday presented his federal income tax returns for the last two years and called for restricting campaign contributions to commissioners.

Goldwater's moves challenge incumbent Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald, a Republican who was appointed to the District F seat in March. Goldwater, an assemblyman and the Democrat running for the partisan seat, produced media accounts of Boggs McDonald calling for full disclosure of financial interests by political leaders.

"My opponent, Lynette Boggs McDonald, and I don't agree on much, but we do agree on this: Public disclosure is important," Goldwater said from the offices of Marco Consulting Group, the financial consulting firm for which he works.

He noted that three former and one current commissioner have been indicted in an alleged cash-for-votes swap involving a Las Vegas strip club owner.

"Never in the history of our valley has it been more important for public officials to hold themselves to a higher standard," he said.

Goldwater's tax returns, filed jointly with now ex-wife Michelle Goldwater, show the couple had an adjusted gross income of $186,478 in 2002 with a tax bill of $37,608, and income of $199,701 in 2003 with a tax bill of $35,633.

Michelle Goldwater's return showed that she made about $12,000 from Greenspun Media Group in 2003. Greenspun Media Group is owned by the Greenspun family, which also owns the Las Vegas Sun.

Boggs McDonald and her campaign manager Ryan Erwin said the commissioner and former Las Vegas city councilwoman would not be releasing her income tax returns.

"Her position is that the law clearly states what financial disclosures for particular offices candidates must make, and she has done that," Erwin said. "This is a David Goldwater campaign stunt and he wants to get as much free media as he can."

Boggs McDonald, who did not release her income tax returns in her unsuccessful bid for Congress in 2002, released a short statement that said she would not do so in this campaign either.

"Nevada election law is clear. Candidates for and Members of the Clark County Commission are required to file financial disclosure statements. I have fully complied with the law and filed those documents in a complete and timely manner.

"Those disclosure documents are public record and are available at the county elections department," she said. "This is just another attempt by Mr. Goldwater to avoid talking about his own poor record."

Goldwater's move comes the same week as the Boggs McDonald campaign launches a new television buy that brings up the assemblyman's 2002 arrest for driving under the influence; charges, eventually dismissed, of sexual harassment filed by Republican lawmakers in Carson City; and a decade-old bar brawl.

Goldwater said his initiative is not in response to the Boggs McDonald advertising blitz.

"I am trying to give people something to vote for," he said. "I'm not perfect but I've got nothing to hide."

Goldwater also said that if elected, he will push for a county ordinance that would bar commissioners from accepting campaign contributions for the first three years of the four-year terms. A similar proposal has come from Assemblyman Tom Collins, a Democrat who is running for the District B commission seat.

Goldwater said restricting the time to make contributions to commission candidates "will make challengers and incumbents compete on a level playing field."

Campaign spending for commission seats now approaches or exceeds $1 million "for a job that pays $60,000 a year," he said. "That doesn't make sense to me."

Goldwater noted that Boggs McDonald has raised significantly more money than he has, a fact he attributed to developers contributing to the Republican because of his slow-growth stance. Boggs McDonald, through Aug. 31, raised almost $877,000 in campaign contributions. Goldwater raised about $224,000.

Erwin, with the Boggs McDonald camp, said his candidate "is always open to talking about campaign finance reform, but the issue should not be driven by a desperate candidate."

"It is always the ones who do not have the public trust to raise the funds that bring the issue," he said. Erwin added that while Boggs McDonald is open to talking about the issue, she would not comment on what he called "a vague concept."

Boggs McDonald, in an interview with the Las Vegas Sun published last month, compared the Democratic Party to "the last plantation in America." She was explaining that the Democrats, who traditionally win the solid majority of black voters, take those votes for granted.

Her comment raised eyebrows and protests from black Democrats.

Last week, Boggs McDonald attended a caucus meeting and apologized for offending anyone but not the statement itself. The caucus' collective leadership in a statement released Thursday said "the analogy was not only unfortunate but plainly wrong."

The caucus "views this comment as inflammatory, gratuitous, offensive, derogatory, and divisive."

But the commissioner still deserves the endorsement, the caucus leadership said.

"While we are disappointed, on balance, we believe that Commissioner Boggs McDonald has made important contributions to our community during her tenure in public office," they said. "It is our finding to sustain the endorsement of Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald. It is our hope that the Commissioner will appreciate the gravity of the caucus' concerns and make every effort to avoid any repeat of this incident."

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