Moncrief defends herself at City Council meeting

Dan Kulin

Thursday, Jan. 20, 2005 | 9:41 a.m.

With less than a week left in her fight to stay in office, Las Vegas Councilwoman and recall election target Janet Moncrief gave a short speech at the end of the Wednesday council meeting during which she addressed her indictment and pledged her independence from the establishment and special interests.

Also on Wednesday, some Ward 1 voters, including candidate Vicki Quinn, received an anonymous recorded telephone message that attacked candidate Lois Tarkanian, accusing the former Clark County School Board member of taking money from former strip club owner Michael Galardi.

Tarkanian said she couldn't remember if Galardi donated money to her unsuccessful 2000 County Commission campaign, but she said she hasn't taken any money from Galardi since he pleaded guilty to bribing local politicians.

Tarkanian shot back with her own recorded telephone message Wednesday night telling voters so.

Tarkanian said she expected the race to turn negative in the final days. Early voting starts Friday.

Quinn, a friend of her fellow challenger, said the anti-Tarkanian message featured a woman's voice saying "just terrible things about Lois. ... It was very forthright and strictly about Galardi money. It's a hard punch."

Quinn said the message absolutely did not come from her or her campaign.

Quinn said she believed "it came from Moncrief."

"She did the same thing with McDonald," Quinn said referring to anti-Michael McDonald telephone messages sent to voters during his June 2003 campaign against Moncrief.

Moncrief said she hadn't heard the message and said it did not come from her or her campaign. She also said the anti-McDonald messages in 2003 did not come from her either.

"It could be from anybody. It could be from someone in Fresno who doesn't like her husband," Moncrief said, referring to former UNLV basketball coach who also coached at Fresno State.

"Obviously it's from somebody who doesn't like Lois Tarkanian," she said.

Earlier Wednesday Moncrief announced she was going to hold a press conference at 3:30 p.m., but then called it off.

"It was going to be a hit on one of the candidates and I'm just not going to do that," Moncrief said, refusing to say whom she was going to attack or exactly what she was going to say.

But even without the press conference Moncrief did make a public statement related to her campaign.

At the end of the Wednesday council meeting, during the part of the meeting set aside for citizen comments, Moncrief stepped away from her seat on the dais and walked down to the podium where citizens address the council.

During her speech, which lasted maybe a minute or two, Moncrief reiterated earlier comments she's made during the campaign.

The councilwoman said the criminal charges she faces for allegedly filing false campaign finance reports for the campaign against McDonald are the result of selective prosecution. She said the secretary of state's office agrees.

A judge has ordered a February hearing on the matter. Also, the secretary of state's office has released correspondence between it and the attorney general's office in which the secretary of state criticizes the criminal case against Moncrief. The state could have sought civil fines against the councilwoman instead of filing criminal charges.

Moncrief said her indictment was the result of a "lynch mob mentality of hang me first and get the facts later."

Moncrief added that she "will not bend to political pressures" and "will never be in the developers' or special interests' pockets" and will continue to stand up for the residents of Ward 1.

Tarkanian, who was on the Clark County School Board for 12 years, said "I've never heard of a public official taking the public's time to speak ... It's very unusual."

Tarkanian said Moncrief's speech puts the challengers at a disadvantage, and added she may consider asking the city for equal time, referring to the fact that the council meeting is broadcast on the city's cable television station.

The council meeting, including Moncrief's speech, will be rebroadcast on Cox cable channel 2 five times by Election Day Tuesday. Early voting is Friday and Saturday.

Craig Walton, emeritus professor of ethics and policy at UNLV, said Moncrief's use of the council meeting for what was essentially a campaign speech raises " a question about her grip on the electoral process."

"Under the flag of free speech she got free television," Walton said. "It was bad judgment because it doesn't meet the test of campaign fairness."

But Moncrief said all she was doing was exercising her right as a citizen to freedom of speech, and added that Tarkanian or Quinn could have done the same.

"I just wanted to get the truth out," she said.

Moncrief said she asked Val Steed, a chief deputy city attorney if she could give her speech and he said OK.

Steed said he told Moncrief that she could speak during the citizen comments portion of the meeting, but did not know what she was going to say.

Steed and Walton said they don't know of any laws that would prohibit Moncrief from doing what she did.

Quinn said she had no problem with Moncrief giving a speech during the council meeting.