Tax dispute, scandals bring down incumbents

Kirsten Searer and Molly Ball

Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2004 | 11:03 a.m.

Apparently remembering last year's divisive tax debate and other political controversies, voters tossed out a handful of high-profile incumbents in the primary election Tuesday.

Democratic Clark County Commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey, who faces a federal political corruption indictment, finished a distant third in her race.

State Sen. Ann O'Connell, R-Las Vegas, and state Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, -- both caught up in the Legislature's controversial tax debate in 2003 -- lost to candidates running anti-tax campaigns.

Political newcomer Joe Heck beat O'Connell with 52.5 percent of the vote. Assemblyman Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, beat Rawson with 56.2 percent of the vote.

Assemblyman Jason Geddes, R-Reno, who voted for the tax increase, the largest in state history, was trailing political newcomer Brooks Holcomb with 63 percent of the vote in Washoe County counted. Holcomb ran an anti-tax campaign.

Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas, who was fired from his Las Vegas Neighborhood Services job after allegations of double dipping while he was in Carson City, lost to Harvey Munford, who took 57.2 percent of the vote.

University system Regent Tom Kirkpatrick finished fourth with just 20.6 percent of the vote in his re-election bid. The Board of Regents spent most of the past year mired in squabbles and questions about its handling of a high-profile investigation.

The ousting of so many incumbents was unusual, said Ted Jelen, professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, "but between the ethical problems some have had and the real acrimony of the last session, it's not all that surprising."

The 2003 Legislature struggled over a package of tax increases that left lawmakers in a stalemate and took two special sessions to break. The tax issue came back this election, with O'Connell, Rawson and Geddes facing challengers who made tax the key issue.

The primary results showed that "there's some polarization taking place within the parties," Jelen said, predicting, "the next session's going to be a real donnybrook."

Joe Brezny, executive director of the Republican Senate Caucus, which lost both O'Connell and Rawson on Tuesday night, said it was unclear what the election means to the state Senate other than change.

"So much has changed within our caucus tonight," he said. "We've lost two of our most senior and most experienced statesmen and that in and of itself will be a huge shakeup. We'll have to follow this through to November and see how it plays out."

Beers said voters were still angry about the tax increase passed last session.

Beers pointed to his win as well -- as the Heck victory over O'Connell, where O'Connell also was portrayed as a tax-and-spend liberal, despite her record of fiscal conservatism -- as evidence.

"Certainly where the theme (of taxes) has been used, it has proven powerful," he said.

As for the ousters of Kincaid-Chauncey and Williams, who were both troubled by ethical lapses, Jelen said they should have expected nothing less.

"The political culture in Nevada is really very puritanical," he said, especially compared to a place like Chicago, Jelen's hometown. Nevadans, he said, are "really very intolerant of even very penny-ante corruption."

He added, "Being tarred a crook is typically fatal in Nevada."