Montandon challenger emerges

Dan Kulin

Thursday, Jan. 27, 2005 | 9:36 a.m.

The man hoping to unseat North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon officially launched his campaign and took his first swing at the incumbent on Wednesday.

Andres Ramirez, 26, filed as a candidate for North Las Vegas mayor on Wednesday, and also delivered a letter to the city attorney's office complaining that Montandon has campaign signs on public property, which would violate city code. He said some Montandon campaign signs were on some fences around washes.

"Clearly, Montandon feels that he is not beholden to the laws that govern our city," Ramirez said in a prepared statement.

Montandon said one of his campaign volunteers is driving around the city looking for any of his campaign signs that are on public property, and will move them if they are. The mayor said a volunteer has put up campaign signs for him and didn't know if any were on public property.

Montandon said he doesn't think the sign placement accusations are a big deal.

"He's just firing a shot to tell me he's going to be as annoying as possible," Montandon said. "I have nothing to gain by not playing by the rules.

City Code Enforcement Manager Sheldon Klain said candidates' signs pop up on public property in every election. He said that when his office discovers signs where they shouldn't be, they call the candidate and ask that the signs be moved. Klain said that while technically a candidate could be cited for the code violation, he's never heard of a North Las Vegas candidate being cited for that reason.

Klain also said he was unaware of the mayor having any signs where they shouldn't be.

Ramirez also criticized Montandon for the mayor's claims about a drop in the city crime rate. Ramirez said the city has not hired enough police officers. He also alleged there is much tension and divisiveness on the city council, and he accused the mayor of campaigning for the Republican opponents of Democrats Sen. Harry Reid, Rep. Shelley Berkley and Assemblyman Kelvin Atkinson. That hurts the city's relationship with powerful elected leaders, Ramirez said.

Montandon said he has not campaigned for anyone except for himself, and said he thinks Ramirez is trying to bring partisan politics into the nonpartisan city race. Montandon is a Republican and Ramirez is a Democrat.

The mayor also said that while there are healthy disagreements among council members, there is no general discord or tension like Ramirez claims. The mayor also noted that the council members usually vote unanimously on most items that come before the council.

On crime and the police, the mayor said that violent crime has gone down 20 percent compared with last year, and when accounting for the increase in population, the crime rate is actually down 31 percent.

Montandon said he doesn't think the city could hire new police officers any faster.

"We literally add them as fast as we can," he said. In recent years the city has added dozens of new officers, and plans are to continue doing so in future years.

Montandon is seeking a third term as mayor, which because of term limits would be his last if he wins re-election.

Ramirez unsuccessfully ran for the University Board of Regents in 2002.

Ramirez is a consultant who said he specializes in strategic planning and research for companies that work with the government or are regulated by the government. He said he was previously a lobbyist in Washington, D.C., and worked as a legislative aid to Reid in 1996 and 1997.

Other candidates who filed on Wednesday to run in the spring elections included Boulder City Councilman Mike Pacini and North Las Vegas City Councilman Robert Eliason who both filed to run for re-election; and Mathew Harter, who filed as a candidate for Las Vegas Municipal Court, Department 5, where he will face at least the incumbent Judge Cedric Kerns.

The candidate-filing period runs through Feb. 4.

The cities' primary elections will be held April 5, with early voting from March 19 to April 1.