Ineligible regent hopeful urges vote

Stephen Curran

Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2004 | 9:39 a.m.

A Board of Regents candidate ruled ineligible last month for violating the state's residency requirements launched an automated direct-dial effort last week to encourage people to vote, just not for him.

The calls, which carry a recording of ousted District 13 candidate Mark DeStefano, were initiated Friday, less than a week before his deadline Thursday to respond to a Nevada Supreme Court order to show cause for his appeal.

The recordings do not encourage listeners to vote for a particular candidate, he said.

"It's the right thing to do," DeStefano said. "People should still vote. Obviously I won the primary, and I want to make sure all those people vote for their second choice so they don't feel disenfranchised."

Ryan Erwin, a spokesman for November Inc., a consulting firm representing DeStefano, estimated the drive will cost between $4,000 and $6,000, based on a cost of roughly 8 cents a call to registered voters in the district.

Erwin said he was unable to better pinpoint the cost until he knows exactly how many calls were made.

District Judge Lee Gates ruled in October that DeStefano was ineligible to run in District 13, saying the candidate did not actually live in the district.

DeStefano had argued he had a right to designate his cabin in Lee Canyon in District 13 as his primary residence, although he testified he had never slept in the house, which he bought in March. Instead, he sleeps in his five-bedroom home in Queensridge, which is in District 7.

The ruling came after three regent candidates, James Dean Leavitt, Matthew Berkus and Jim Germain, filed the complaint in August.

Leavitt complimented DeStefano's effort.

"I think it's classy that he would do that," Leavitt said. "Obviously he hopes that the appeal will work."

Leavitt placed second in the primary and faces third runner-up Gloria Sturman in the general election.

Sturman, however, said the phone drive is possibly an effort by DeStefano to create the perception he is still in the race.

"I know he left his (campaign) road signs up, but I don't know for sure what motivated him to do this," she said. "I'm sure there are other motives to it."

Sturman said she did not believe DeStefano's case would succeed in the state Supreme Court.

DeStefano, meanwhile, said he was focused only on winning the appeal.