New map prevents challenger from running

Friday, Nov. 11, 2005 | 7:39 a.m.

For the second time within four years, a potential challenger to North Las Vegas Councilwoman Shari Buck could be redistricted out of Buck's Ward 4.

In 2002 Bill Dolan, the former president of the Hidden Canyon Homeowners Association, was forced to move into an apartment to run against her -- unsuccessfully -- after a redistricting plan left his previous home outside the ward.

With the City Council preparing to approve a redistricting map for the 2007 municipal election, another looming challenger, North Las Vegas Planning Commission Chairman Jay Aston, similarly finds the proposed boundaries have cut him out of Buck's ward. Instead, he will be placed into Councilwoman Stephanie Smith's Ward 3.

Aston, who lives southeast of Clayton Street and Wasburn Road, south of the Eldorado master planned community, said he finds the proposed redistricting interesting. Perhaps, he said, the council is sending him a message to run for Smith's seat in 2009 because she is term-limited out of office.

"If anything was done, it wouldn't surprise me," said Aston, who talked with Buck in July about a potential bid against her. "I would be frustrated if they went out of their way to draw the line around my neighborhood for her (benefit)."

Buck stressed that she and other council members had nothing to do with drawing the new districts either in 2002 or this year. She did not even know the new proposed ward boundaries, she added, until the map was completed.

The city hired retired Wisconsin Judge Frederick Kessler to redraw the ward boundaries. In doing so, he corrected a large population disparity of 35 to 40 percent between two districts in high-growth areas and two that include much of the city's minority population in older parts of North Las Vegas.

Council members are elected by all voters citywide but must live within one of four wards. Kessler said beyond balancing the population, his goal in drawing the maps was to give at least three of the wards a chance to capture new growth while also allowing two wards to retain their minority makeup.

"The council members have nothing to do with where the lines are drawn," Buck said. "That's why we hire Judge Kessler because he is so impartial and follows the law."

Kessler said he spoke with Buck and other council members prior to developing his map, but does not recall anyone suggesting where he draw the lines. Although one guide he used was ensuring that incumbents remain in their same ward, Kessler described potential challenger Aston's removal from Buck's ward a coincidence.

"I wouldn't have known who he was," Kessler said."That wasn't a criterion I used. It would be anybody's guess who the potential candidates would be."

In 2004 Kessler drew the redistricting map for Las Vegas that came under criticism when potential rivals to then-Ward 1 Councilwoman Janet Moncrief were removed from the ward. In response, the council opted to delay redistricting until 2006.

In the new North Las Vegas map, Kessler proposes to give Smith more of the Eldorado master planned community and surrounding area, while Buck would receive portions of Aliante that now are in Smith's district.

Even though Buck did not request the change, Kessler said he realized that putting portions of Aliante into Buck's district would "increase her comfort level" as a Republican because it is a heavy GOP area.

In addition, Kessler said, it is desirable to split the two master planned communities -- Aliante and Eldorado -- to diffuse power into different wards, thereby promoting compromise on issues.

In 2002 then-City Clerk Eileen Sevigny drew up the ward maps that Dolan said took a "weird jog" cutting him out of Buck's district.

Dolan said he thought that redistricting change was deliberate and has concerns about what is happening this time.

"This is deja vu," Dolan said. "It just looks awfully suspicious to me."

Unlike Dolan, Aston said, he has no plans to move into Buck's ward to challenge her. Aston, who grew up in North Las Vegas, said he has lived in the neighborhood for about 13 years, the past two in a custom-built house that he does not want to give up.

Aston said he is reluctant to run for the Ward 3 seat because a friend who lives in the district plans to seek the position in 2009.

Brian Wargo can be reached at 259-4011 or at wargo@lasvegassun.com.