Two hotly contested races boil over during local debate

Dan Kulin

Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2004 | 10:38 a.m.

Two of Southern Nevada's more caustic races took center stage Tuesday night at a debate at Temple Beth Sholom. Republican Rep. Jon Porter traded barbs with his Democratic challenger, Tom Gallagher, and Republican Clark County Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald wrangled with challenger Assemblyman David Goldwater, D-Las Vegas.

Porter took particular exception to Gallagher's accusation that the congressman's family benefited from an insurance-related bill Porter supported.

Gallagher, the former chief executive of Park Place Entertainment, now Caesars Entertainment, said Porter's family benefited from a Medicare reform bill and said the congressman should have at least disclosed that the bill would affect his family's business.

"Tom it's unfortunate that you just don't like to tell the truth," Porter said. "I'm offended you would bring my 26-year-old son into the campaign. ... Leave my family out of this and make sure you tell the truth."

Porter said his son does not sell the type of insurance affected by the bill, which he said was group business health insurance. Gallagher maintained Porter's son does sell that type of insurance.

Boggs McDonald and Goldwater got off to an amicable start, with Goldwater pouring a cup of water for Boggs McDonald when she briefly lost her voice during her opening statement. But that was about it for the niceties between the two candidates, who quickly returned to the accusations that have been a hallmark of this race.

Goldwater said it is time for a change in culture on the county commission, saying he would be demanding of developers.

"The culture of build it and worry about it later ... Those days are over if you vote for David Goldwater," he said.

Boggs McDonald painted herself as an experienced local government official, and defended her attacks on Goldwater's past behavior, which has included a bar fight more than 10 years ago, a drunken driving incident and allegations of sexual harassment.

"I believe character does matter," she said.

About 130 people attended the debates at the temple in Summerlin, which also were to include face-offs for two other races.

Incumbent District 2 Assemblyman Garn Mabey, R-Las Vegas, debated Democratic challenger Geoffrey VanderPal.

But incumbent District 13 Assemblyman Chad Christensen, R-Las Vegas, did not show up for his scheduled debate against Democrat Justin Jones.

The Porter-Gallagher debate almost didn't happen as well. Porter's office had said the congressman wouldn't be able to attend, but then notified debate organizers Tuesday morning that the congressman would come after all.

Porter said he was concerned Congress would still be in session Tuesday, but it turned out Congress wrapped up its work on Saturday, his aides said.

The incumbent congressman called accusations he was trying to avoid debating Gallagher just part of the "silly campaign season," and said he was not ducking a face-to-face meeting with his challenger.

Gallagher said he was "delighted Congressman Porter changed his mind and decided to come tonight," and said he was hopeful Porter will meet him for two more debates.

Tuesday night Porter said he was proud of the strong Las Vegas economy and housing market, and he listed several funding allocations he said he's been able to get from the federal government. He added, though, "I don't like to brag about the things I've done. ... It's hard for me to talk about these things."

Porter also repeated attacks against Gallagher, saying Gallagher only recently moved to district and that last year Gallagher used an Incline Village address for donations to George Bush.

Gallagher said: "I've never seen such negative and false attacks as I've been experiencing."

He also said that Porter has long known that Gallagher has resided in Southern Nevada since he came to work for Park Place.

Gallagher further criticized Porter, saying the congressman supported bills that encourage more nuclear power plants that create radioactive waste, increasing the need for a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.

Porter said Gallagher worked for a law firm that counted the nuclear power industry as a client, but Gallagher said the firm only began working for the industry after he left.

The two candidates gave differing views on the war in Iraq.

Porter said the U.S. needs to continue fighting in Iraq to avoid fighting terrorists in Nevada.

Gallagher said that while we can't leave Iraq now, in hindsight the Iraq war was a mistake.

Both candidates said it was important for the U.S. to support Israel.

The Boggs McDonald-Goldwater debate began with a discussion about the importance of dealing with growth.

Boggs McDonald cited ongoing work on master development plans for the surrounding areas as important for future planning and to let residents know what might move in around them.

She later said her biggest accomplishment was working on the development plan for Summerlin West.

Goldwater said because of growth "our quality of life is being threatened," and said he would work to slow growth, not stop it.

The assemblyman also said that if he were on the commission, a recent fatal traffic accident at Desert Inn Road and Hualapai Way would not have happened because he would have forced the developer to put a traffic signal at that intersection before extensive development in that area.

He also referred to Boggs McDonald's recent position on the Station Casinos board of directors when he said that if neighbors came to him to complain about a proposed neighborhood casino, he wouldn't have to tell them he had a conflict.

Boggs McDonald said she is working with casino companies to convince them to give up some of the existing allowances they have for casinos planned for the area around the Las Vegas Beltway.

Goldwater also complained about how negative the race between him and Boggs McDonald has become.

"I'm not a perfect person," Goldwater said, adding that he was in a fight 13 years ago and has learned from that and a drunken driving incident. But he called allegations of sexual harassment a "ridiculous lie." He also presented Boggs McDonald to copy of the 2003 Legislature's $833 million tax bill and challenged her to find the section that raised the cost of movie tickets, as commercials have alleged.

Boggs McDonald said all of her statements about Goldwater are backed up with references to news articles or other documents.

She added that "character does matter" because past behavior is an indicator of future behavior.

"If the shoe fits you have to be able to walk in it," Boggs McDonald said.

Goldwater said those issues have not kept local police and firefighters from endorsing his candidacy.

The two candidates for District F did agree on the need for more affordable housing in the county.

Boggs McDonald said maybe the Bureau of Land Management should set aside some land to sell at a discount that would be used solely for affordable housing.