Boggs McDonald wants Goldwater to pull TV spot

Monday, Oct. 25, 2004 | 9:38 a.m.

Clark County Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald and the man who wants her job, Assemblyman David Goldwater, traded verbal punches Friday in what has become a daily sparring match for the District F candidates.

Boggs McDonald, a Republican who was appointed to the commission in March, demanded that Goldwater yank a television ad that suggested she is taking campaign money to pay off personal debts. She said her lawyer, John Mowbray, is making the same demand of local television stations carrying the ad.

The ads contain "slanderous and defamatory allegations" and a "reckless, blatant and malicious disregard for the truth," she said. "Goldwater, my opponent, has basically lied to the public.

"His desperate attempts to slander me could no longer go unanswered," she added. "We are exploring all legal avenues."

Boggs McDonald, in a press conference, also said that Goldwater while in the Assembly worked to allow teachers to have sex with 18-year-old students and avoided taxing the legal brothels scattered around the state.

The ad that she demanded be taken off the air indirectly suggested she has used campaign contributions to pay off personal debts, which would be a violation of election law. Boggs McDonald played the ad during the press conference.

The ad notes that the commissioner has not released her income tax returns, as Goldwater did last month.

"Is that because she's hiding thousands of dollars more in personal contributions to pay off personal lawsuits? That's highly illegal," the ad says.

Goldwater, the Democrat, declined Friday to comply with the demand to pull the ad.

"Why?" he asked. "She's had $600,000 worth of air time. I've had about $100,000. As soon as I get to $600,000, I'll take it off the air."

He said Boggs McDonald's attack on his record was an attempt to divert attention from her record, a virtual echo of the charges the commissioner lobbed at Goldwater.

"She wants to take something out of context again, of course," Goldwater said. "We have little girls dying at D.I. (Desert Inn Road) and Hualapai (Way) because of Boggs McDonald's style of hyper-growth and she wants to take something I did an paint me as some kind of monster?

"I think the voters deserve something better than this."

Goldwater a few weeks ago demanded Boggs McDonald pull an ad that claimed he supported taxes on movie tickets. Boggs McDonald said she has pulled the old ad and changed the language so that it no longer specifically refers to movie tickets -- but still ties him to last year's tax increase passed by the Legislature.

In her press conference, Boggs McDonald produced copies of federal forms that she said included all of her sources of income in 2002, a response to Goldwater's ad.

She said she had never been a party to a lawsuit except as a listed member of the Las Vegas City Council, her position before her March appointment to the county board.

Boggs McDonald said she will not produce her full tax returns because the law does not require it.

"I have always been in full compliance" with financial disclosure requirements, she said. "If (publicly filing) the federal income tax return was a requirement, I would do it or would decide whether to run."

"I have always felt... that everybody should be held to the same standard."

Goldwater noted that she could have other income sources, but without the income tax returns it would not be possible to know.

"She won't show us her income tax returns, so I guess we're forced to believe her," he said.

Goldwater noted that Boggs McDonald claimed income from a consulting business. The forms indicated the commissioner, as LBM Consulting, received about $25,000 from a pair of health industry businesses.

Boggs McDonald said her consulting company only did business with health care related companies.