Thursday, March 3, 2005 | 10:52 a.m.
Two candidates in the crowded Ward 6 Las Vegas City Council race have troubles with the law in their past, according to a Sun investigation.
Steve "Devil Dog" Sanson has a domestic battery conviction stemming from an October 1997 incident with his then-wife. They subsquently divorced.
And Steve Ross was arrested and charged in 1991 with domestic battery involving his then-wife. Ross says he did hit her, but the charge was dismissed.
Ross also paid a fine for tampering with a vehicle without the owner's permission and other charges were dropped related to an incident in which Ross tried to steal a car part from a neighbor's vehicle in 1983. Ross was 20 at the time.
Both candidates say their actions were wrong and that they have learned from the past.
They are among 11 candidates vying for the Ward 6 seat on the council heading into the April 5 primary election. Early voting begins March 19. A Sun investigation of police records turned up no criminal reports for any of the other candidates.
The other candidates are:
As for Ross, he said his November 1991 domestic violence case "was a defining moment" in his life.
"I re-evaluated who I was as a man, a father and a husband," Ross, now 42, said. "That was the worst moment in my life. And I knew I had to make some changes."
He said he wound up going back to church, where he is now an active member, and he has since remarried.
Sanson, 37, is a manager for the Fronteer (CQ) Yellow Pages, and a former Marine who has chosen to have the nickname "Devil Dog" appear on the ballot as his nickname. Devil Dog is a common nickname for Marines.
According to Sanson, in October 1997 he and his now ex-wife got into an argument over a racial comment made by her daughter. Sanson is black and his then-wife is white.
Sanson said his then-wife had him pinned against a bathroom sink and he pushed her so he could leave their home.
"I pushed her to get away. I was wrong to push her and I recognize that," he said.
A Metro Police report filed on the incident tells a different story, however. According to that report, the allegation was that Sanson came home after being out drinking and became violent after the woman refused to "have relations" with him. Sanson stood by his version of the incident, and added that he has never seen a police report from that night.
Sanson pleaded no contest to one count of domestic battery and was ordered by the court to attend an anger management program, which he said he did.
Sanson and the woman, who was his second wife, were divorced in 2003. He is now engaged to Heidi Hanusa, a marriage and family therapist, who came to Sanson's defense Monday.
"It was out of character for him," Hanusa said.
The two have been living together since they got engaged about seven months ago, she noted, and "there's no violence or even verbal abuse."
Sanson, who has three teenage children, said he expected his conviction to be raised during the campaign.
"But I'm human and I don't run from my mistakes," he said.
Ross, who is general manager of Keleeco Electric, a commercial electrical contracting company, said he, too, expected his past transgressions to be raised during the campaign.
"Before I chose to run I sat down with my children and my wife and we discussed this, that people would exploit my past for their gain," Ross said. "They said, 'You've changed your life.' They said, 'Go for it.' "
Ross said the incident involving his neighbor's car was "a high school prank" and "a stupid thing to do," which he attributed to his youth at the time.
Ross, a Porsche fanatic, received an old Porsche from his father as a high school graduation present. In July 1983 he was trying to steal an angle drive, which he said is a cable that connects the speedometer to the transmission.
"I got caught under the car with a wrench and a flashlight," he said.
Ross was charged with possession of burglary tools, which was dropped, but he was convicted of tampering with a vehicle without the owner's consent.
But it was Ross' other run-in with the law that he said changed his life.
In November 1991 Ross faced domestic violence charges for hitting his then-wife.
"It was one time. I lost control of my temper," Ross said.
The charges were dropped after he met with a judge.
The domestic violence was "a mistake and because of that mistake I grew to be a much better husband, a much better father and a much better son," he said.
Ross said he went to counseling and soon began attending church again. Now Ross is an associate bishop in his ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
He has also been involved with his children's extracurricular activities in Boy Scouts, and as a Little League coach.
About eight years ago, Ross married "the girl I had a crush on since the third grade," Kelli. He has since adopted her children, and together they have five children ages 16 to 21.
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