Some county races get little attention

Sunday, Oct. 22, 2006 | 8:03 a.m.

The re-election bid by Clark County District Attorney David Roger and a contest to elect a new recorder after the prior one was kicked out of office highlight a second tier of countywide races that will appear on the Nov. 7 ballot.

In contrast to the high-profile races for Clark County Commission and sheriff, a handful of other contests for county offices are playing out with relatively little attention from the press or public.

In the district attorney election, Roger, a Republican seeking his second four-year term, is being challenged by Democrat Patrick Antonio Ferguson, a deputy attorney general.

Before winning his first term four years ago Roger, 45, had been a prosecutor in the district attorney's office for 15 years. He made a name for himself as prosecutor in the nationally watched Ted Binion murder trial.

"I believe a career prosecutor has a commitment to protect the community," Roger said. "I believe the chief prosecutor for Clark County should be a career prosecutor."

The number of trials conducted by the district attorney's office has risen substantially during Roger's tenure. The year before he took over, the office prosecuted 133 jury trials. Under Roger, the office handled 203 trials in 2003, 196 in 2004, 160 in 2005 and 170 so far this year. And Roger has continued to personally try cases.

"We wanted to be more aggressive in trying cases," Roger said. "We're also getting better negotiations as a result of our lawyers not being afraid to mix it up in the courtroom."

Among his accomplishments, Roger cites creation of a career criminal unit that resulted in more convictions for habitual criminal behavior in its first 23 months than in the prior seven years .

One reason he is seeking re-election, Roger said, is a desire to continue working with young lawyers who have joined his staff.

"I want to continue to train them," he said. "I also want to increase the number of people in our special units."

Ferguson, who graduated from high school at age 16, worked as a deputy city attorney in Las Vegas and as a deputy public defender in Mendocino County, Calif., before joining the Nevada attorney general's office in 2003, where he is part of the workers' compensation fraud unit.

Ferguson, 36, said of the district attorney's office: "I've heard again and again how low the office morale is, and that there are a number of people who have left the office. They've had numerous attorney vacancies they have not filled. I want to stop the bleeding I'd like to find out why everyone is jumping ship."

If elected, Ferguson would eliminate what he said is an office policy requiring deputy district attorneys to conduct at least five trials per year to gain promotions and salary increases.

"What you end up with are a bunch of slam-dunk cases going to trial and other cases that are more complex taking a back seat," Ferguson said. "We need to put more responsibility on the team chiefs to make sure that attorneys going to trial are not just handling an appropriate number of cases but handling appropriate cases."

Ferguson said he also would place more emphasis on political corruption and identity theft cases, and would crack down on auto theft, a crime for which Nevada has one of the worst rates in the nation .

Another race on the Nov. 7 ballot - the contest for Clark County recorder - normally attracts little attention, given that the office is a largely custodial post involving the filing and archiving of public records .

But the position grabbed unflattering headlines when Recorder Fran Deane, a Republican, was charged with theft, bribery and misconduct in public office in connection with allegations that she profited from the illegal sale of real estate documents.

Deane, who took a leave of absence in May, was ousted from office last month by District Court Judge Douglas Herndon. She has pleaded not guilty to the 18 felony charges and is scheduled to go on trial April 30.

Fellow Republican Charles Harvey, the assistant recorder, was chosen by Clark County Manager Virginia Valentine to run the office on an interim basis. But Harvey lost the Republican primary in August in his bid for a full four-year term.

The four candidates competing next month are Democrat Debbie Conway, Republican Jim Edwards and independents Gil Eisner and Moshe Comforti.

Conway, the business development manager in the county's finance department for the past 12 years, is running on an "Integrity Matters" platform. Her goals include expediting document filings through better technology, extending office hours, cross-training staff and establishing a citizens' committee to provide input. She also vows to research the possibility of online document filings and to explore alternative means of filing, such as after-hours locked drop boxes and satellite sites.

"What I want to do is enhance the office and take it to the next level," Conway said. "I know that to business people time is money; so I would like to bring in computerized processes such as e-filing to save them time."

As for the impact the charges against Deane have had on the recorder's office, Conway said: "There are a lot of good people there. If people keep their heads down and do their jobs, there won't be need for any negative publicity."

Edwards, who lost to Deane in the 2002 GOP primary for recorder, said that if elected, he will name as his assistant Bob Spencer, who lost in this year's Democratic primary to Conway.

A retired Army master sergeant and Vietnam War veteran who served briefly as a spokesman for the recorder's office, Edwards said he believes the office currently is "badly managed."

One of his priorities would be consolidation of information from various county departments into a centralized database, which he believes would make government more efficient and user-friendly. He also wants to improve the storage conditions of old county documents, maps and microfilms .

And he hopes to improve employee training in part by giving recorder's office workers better access to professional development assistance .

"There's extremely high turnover," Edwards said. "There are very few people that I still recognize when I was there in 2001 and 2002."

He said taxpayers suffer "when you have to train people over and over again."

Eisner spent 30 years in public service, including as executive deputy to the Los Angeles County assessor. He favors satellite document processing facilities, a modern document recording system, document access over the Internet and extended office hours.

"My only agenda is to provide you, the taxpayer, with the highest level of ethics and professional management possible," Eisner says on his campaign Web site.

Comforti could not be reached for comment.

In other countywide races: