Monday, Sept. 20, 2004 | 9:35 a.m.
In two of the more contentious races this campaign season, the top candidates pushed their own strengths and opponents' shortcomings during debates Sunday night.
Experience was the buzzword emphasized by District Judge Ron Parraguirre and addressed by entertainment lawyer John Mason, who are vying for seat E on the Nevada Supreme Court.
Controlled development -- present and future -- was the hallmark of comments by incumbent Clark County Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald, a Republican, and her Democratic challenger, Assemblyman David Goldwater.
But the Boggs McDonald-Goldwater debate also highlighted differences between the two over the ballot question to fund more police officers.
Both candidates said they support the measure that proposes increasing the sales tax to hire more police.
However, Goldwater said his opponent, as a member of the Metro Police Fiscal Affairs Board, should have been able to fix the problem without forcing police to go to the voters.
Boggs McDonald fired back that that commissioners have to abide by a taxpayers' bill of rights that prevents them from raising taxes without going to voters, "unlike the state" -- a reference to the tax increase package approved by the Legislature earlier this year
Goldwater enjoyed a home court advantage of sorts at the debate, as his father helped found and his brother was married in Congregation Ner Tamid, where the debate was held. The assemblyman said that one of the reasons he is running is because the quality of life he enjoyed growing up in the area is being threatened by uncontrolled growth.
"I don't want to stop growth, I just want to slow it down," he said.
Boggs McDonald, who was appointed to the commission in March, said that with ongoing efforts to develop a new master plan to guide development in the county, "what we are doing today is on the right track."
Boggs McDonald also said she has stood up to developers in the past, including holding up county permits for one to force the developer to abide by a promise to build a school.
When asked what they would do about a casino planned for land next to a school in Rhodes Ranch, Boggs McDonald said the zoning approval for the casino was in place before the nearby land was identified as a future school site.
Goldwater said Boggs McDonald's answer is just what one could "expect from a former Stations board member," referring to the Station Casinos company, on whose board Boggs McDonald served before her commission appointment.
Goldwater pledged to fight allowing a casino next to a school, and later said he might even try to hold the companies' construction permits for other projects to win that battle.
During a brief discussion of the rising cost of pay and benefits for county employees, Goldwater said he would stand by the collective bargaining process.
But Boggs McDonald said "the county is like the Titanic" and added that the county cannot "live beyond its means."
She said the employees' raises should be limited to the Western states cost-of-living figure.
More than 250 people attended the debates, which were sponsored by the Social Action Committee of the Congregation Ner Tamid and the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas.
Parraguirre and Mason faced off in the second round of the debates, which were moderated by Sun columnist and political talk show host Jon Ralston.
Parraguirre, a judge for the past 13 years, hammered away on the experience factor and said the reason he joined the race was because the other candidates lacked experience.
"The job does not come with training wheels," Parraguirre said. "Experience is critical."
But Mason said that as a business lawyer, although he specialized in entertainment law, he has extensive experience in a wide variety of legal areas.
Mason said he decided to run because he was upset about the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the constitutional amendment that required tax increases be approved by two-thirds of the Legislature.
Mason denied that he is a single-issue candidate, but he added that if he were a single-issue candidate, "What more important issue could there be?"
Mason, whose been in private practice since 1971 and in 1999 sold a chain of Blockbuster stores he opened in Northern Nevada, said he's also upset with what he says is the high court's lack of consistency.
Mason said the court has been inconsistent with its rulings on Fourth Amendment cases regarding search and seizure by police.
However, Mason and Parraguirre declined to say how they would have decided a case involving a man who was arrested after refusing to identify himself to police. The case ultimately went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled the man's rights were not violated.
The two state Supreme Court candidates also discussed campaign financing.
Parraguirre said unfortunately fund-raising is part of the equation when a state has an elected Supreme Court.
Mason, who counts himself as a major contributor to his own campaign, said there is a public perception that there is too much outside influence in the court because so much of the money comes from the same sources.
Mason suggested there be public financing for Supreme Court campaigns and said he would abide by the limits of such a financing plan.
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