Ward 1 recall election on tap

Dan Kulin

Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 | 11:08 a.m.

FACTS ABOUT WARD 1

Las Vegas Ward 1 City Councilwoman Janet Moncrief faces a recall election on Tuesday against activist Vicki Quinn and former Clark County School Board member Lois Tarkanian. Early voting is today and Saturday. The election is nonpartisan, which means a candidate's political party affiliation will not be identified on the ballot.

Early voting schedule and locations: Today and Saturday -- Las Vegas City Clerk's Office, first floor, 400 Stewart Avenue 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Meadows Mall, 4300 Meadows Lane from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Today only -- Lakes Lutheran Church, 8200 West Sahara from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Saturday only -- Food 4 Less, 3864 West Sahara from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Tuesday, Election Day, polling locations -- All polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and voters may only vote at their designated polling place.

Ward 1 information:

Population: 80,213

Registered voters: 32,457

Council representative salary: $41,884

Term expires in 2007

Almost 20 months ago Las Vegas' Ward 1 city councilman faced an election carrying the baggage of developing scandals and was routed by a political unknown -- nurse Janet Moncrief.

Today, Moncrief is the incumbent under fire -- she faces criminal charges for allegedly filing false campaign finance reports -- as her constituents prepare to head to the polls for early voting Friday and Saturday, or on Election Day Tuesday.

Former Clark County School Board member Lois Tarkanian and Vicki Quinn, a stay-at-home mom who has grabbed headlines in recent years with her activism, are two longtime friends going head to head, to the dismay of many of their supporters, in their bid to put an early end to Moncrief's first term on the council.

But Moncrief said she feels like she is running against Michael McDonald, whom she beat in 2003, again.

Moncrief said she sees McDonald's fingerprints on Quinn's campaign. Quinn's husband, Stephen, served as McDonald's appointment to the city Planning Commission for almost eight years, and Quinn has close ties to the group that successfully petitioned to force the recall election.

Quinn denies McDonald played a part in her campaign, but is happy to be linked to the former councilman who she says was able to do more for Ward 1 than Moncrief.

"He took care of the people and I hope I can be half as good as Michael McDonald," Quinn said.

Quinn and other critics of the councilwoman say McDonald would have prevailed in the fight against a Social Security building now under construction on Buffalo Drive.

The City Council approved the project, which was from prominent developer Irwin Molasky, over the objections of neighbors and Moncrief.

Neither Quinn nor Tarkanian say they would have been able to been able to block the project, but Moncrief's detractors say the matter showed Moncrief's ineffectiveness.

But Moncrief said she did all she could to stop the project, but couldn't prevail against Molasky.

Moncrief's fellow council members have largely been mum on the recall and matters related to it. But former City Councilwoman and current Clark County Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald said that if Michael McDonald was still on the council when Molasky's project came for a vote, "I don't agree that you would have necessarily had a different outcome."

But she said McDonald would have been better at letting the other council members know how he felt about the project early on.

Boggs McDonald, no relation to Michael McDonald, served on the council with Moncrief for about 10 months before being appointed to the County Commission.

"One of the fundamental mistakes she made was she operated as an island. But everybody has to be able to count to four to be successful," Boggs McDonald said, referring to the fact that at least four council votes are needed to approve anything.

"At the beginning if there was a controversial project in her district we didn't even know what her thoughts about it were," Boggs McDonald said. "But I think today, or when I was leaving, she had a lot more communication with the rest of the council ... It was like night and day."

Larry Anspach, who was active in both the recall petition and a lawsuit that sought to block Molasky's project, said the outcome of the Molasky project matter showed Moncrief "doesn't seem to know how to work with the other council members ... she doesn't seem to be able to get things done."

He said it was one of the main reasons for the recall petition.

In general, Moncrief's critics saw the matter as an example of her not being able to live up to what they had come to expect from McDonald.

McDonald was known for taking care of the constituent concerns, and describes himself as a "pothole councilman."

"One thing about Mike was you could call him and he could respond, and he was effective that way," said Tarkanian, who recalled a time when she called on McDonald to have some potholes in front of Wasden Elementary School repaired.

McDonald also pushed through changes to Alta Drive that made part of the road curvy and added sidewalks and street lights where there weren't, which came about in part because of an accident involving Quinn's sons.

Quinn had been asking for sidewalks along that stretch of Alta, which happens to be close to both her and Tarkanian's homes, and then on Oct. 30, 1999, her sons were struck by a car when they were alongside a part of the road that didn't have sidewalks.

After that, "Mike promised it to me and it was done," Quinn said about the sidewalks.

Moncrief says she has been responsive to constituents' concerns.

She said her office has handled and settled more than 460 requests or complaints from citizens since she took office, and that of the more than 600 council votes on matters related to Ward 1 since she took office she has lost only three -- all to powerful local interests.

In those three instances Moncrief was unsuccessful in her efforts to stop the city from giving part of a downtown alley to attorney John Moran; revoke a liquor license for a strip club that a the time was partially owned by Michael Galardi, who had admitted to bribing some Clark County commissioners; and Molasky's Social Security building.

Moncrief also said that during her time on the council she was able to increase the required distance separations between payday loan businesses.

And if retained by the voters, Moncrief said she will push for either a moratorium on new billboards or an increase to the distance requirements between billboards.

But Moncrief says the biggest issue in the recall election is the charges she faces for allegedly filing false campaign finance reports from her campaign against McDonald.

"If this indictment hadn't happened there would be no recall," she said.

Anspach called the criminal charges the "straw that broke the camel's back."

Moncrief said she understands her victory over McDonald had more to do with people not wanting to return him to office than electing her.

McDonald had weathered ethics charges and then just before that election, McDonald's name surfaced in connection with FBI raids of local strip clubs owned by Galardi. McDonald, who worked as a consultant for Galardi, was not indicted. However, since then Galardi has pleaded guilty to bribing some now-former Clark County commissioners.

Moncrief was a political unknown when she beat McDonald. She had just moved into the city and Ward 1 so she could run in the election, and hadn't voted since moving to Nevada 13 years earlier.

"No one knew my name and no one knew anything about me," Moncrief said. "I was a candidate to remove Michael McDonald from office and I understand that."

McDonald said, "She didn't beat me on my record as a councilman, she beat me because of lies, innuendos and rumors."

Not so, says Doug DeMasi, 43, a lifelong Ward 1 resident and owner of a car repair shop. He supported Moncrief in her campaign against McDonald and still supports her.

"I thought it was time for a change then, and now I think her voting record shows she votes for what's best in the ward. I think her ethics are impeccable and the indictment, it doesn't hold any water," he said.

Moncrief says she has been helped by recent developments surrounding the criminal charges she now faces. A judge has ordered a hearing to look into whether Moncrief was a victim of selective prosecution, a contention Moncrief has repeated frequently in recent weeks.

Also, recently released correspondence between the secretary of state's and attorney general's offices show Secretary of State Dean Heller's office was critical of the decision to charge Moncrief criminally. The state could have instead sought to fine Moncrief.

But while Moncrief was an unknown two years ago going up against an embattled incumbent, in this election the embattled incumbent faces two challengers with strong ties to the area.

Tarkanian served on the School Board from 1989 to 2000, then ran unsuccessfully for County Commission in 2000, and her husband is well-known former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian.

Tarkanian said she ran for the School Board because she thought she could help improve the schools, and gives a similar reason for deciding to run for City Council.

"I have the experience and I've been under fire," Tarkanian said. "I feel I would be the better person in there now. She does not seem to understand the ward and its problems. I believe I know this ward well because I represented most of it as a school board member."

During her time on the School Board Tarkanian pushed for the creation of the school police, teaching foreign languages as early as kindergarten, and establishing the public education foundation, which provides money for scholarships and special programs.

Tarkanian doesn't have any specific programs or laws she would push for if elected to the council, and neither does Quinn.

Quinn is perhaps best known for her work to increase handicapped accessible seating to UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center. Quinn realized there was a lack of good handicapped seating there when her son Stephen, who uses a wheelchair, attended a game in 1999.

Quinn's efforts were eventually successful, and now there are 10 permanent seats for the handicapped on the floor of the Thomas & Mack Center.

Quinn was also active in forming the group "Moms on a Mission," which fought against adult charges and sentencing for a teenager who was behind the wheel in a deadly November 2003 drunken driving accident that killed three teens.

Even though Quinn didn't know the teenagers involved in the accident at the time, she said, "I was so personally devastated by that accident because I have teenagers ... That same accident could have happened to any of us."

Quinn says the success of her activism shows she can bring people together and work to find positive solutions to problems.

Being able to fill out the final two years of a council term, she says, will give her the opportunity to see if she can be successful in City Hall and determine whether she would run again.

"It's a great opportunity to see if I'm good at it and to see if I like it," she said.

Quinn and Tarkanian are friends, and have talked about how giving Moncrief two opponents might help Moncrief, because they will likely divide some of the anti-Moncrief voters.

The challengers said they agreed not to attack each other, a pledge apparently broken when the Quinn campaign distributed a statement pointing out Tarkanian took a campaign donation from Molasky during her County Commission race.

Quinn now calls that statement "my biggest mistake ... I think I hurt Lois' feelings and I didn't mean to."

Anspach said he and other Ward 1 residents are divided over whether to support Quinn or Tarkanian.

"Lois Tarkanian's being on the School Board, she has dealt with government issues and other elected officials. Vicki Quinn doesn't have that experience but she might bring a fresh perspective and she's a real fighter," he said.

"I like both of them," he said, adding that he still wasn't sure on Thursday who he will vote for. "But if anything this is helpful to Miss Moncrief because they will split the vote."

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