NLV’s mayor out to defeat Question 1

By Mike Trask (contact)

Sunday, Oct. 29, 2006 | 7:53 a.m.

North Las Vegas City Council members say they want to stay out of the debate over a ballot measure that will determine how they are elected.

Maybe Mayor Mike Montandon didn't get the memo.

Montandon heads the group - NLVPAC - that is trying to defeat Question 1, under which council members, now elected citywide, would be selected in ward-only elections.

Historically, minorities and the poor favor ward voting, which allows candidates to run for office with smaller campaign budgets by making door-to-door politicking feasible.

In citywide campaigns, costly mass mailers and media ads typically are needed to reach sufficient numbers of voters. That likely will become even truer as North Las Vegas, which has about 200,000 residents, grows to an estimated 500,000 population over the next two decades.

Despite largely staying on the political sidelines, council members have warned that ward voting would divide the city and council.

Some residents, though, argue that council members simply are reluctant to change a system that put them in power.

"It's a little clique trying to stay in power," said resident Josephine Bryant.

With only eight days remaining before Election Day, NLVPAC has mailed out at least two fliers urging voters to vote no.

"Your right to vote for all of your local officials is precious," one reads. "Don't let that be taken away from you."

Nevadans for the American Dream, a political action committee run by state Democratic Party Chairman and County Commissioner Tom Collins, have responded with a flier encouraging residents to change the current system.

North Las Vegas Council members say they are hesitant to discuss Question 1.

"We're not involved," Councilwoman Stephanie Smith said after a two-hour town meeting last Thursday. "The voters will decide."

Montandon, though, apparently wants to help them decide.

His group paid for the sole advertisements trying to persuade residents to retain the current electoral method, in which the city's four council members represent specific wards but are elected citywide. The mayor also runs citywide.

NLVPAC also has donated heavily to Republicans running against Democrats in the state Legislature who sponsored the bill calling for Question 1.

"It was designed to take out Democratic incumbents and to take out Question 1," Assemblyman Kelvin Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas, said of Montandon's group. "That's all it was made for."

NLVPAC donated $10,000 to Atkinson's opponent, Angelo Carvalho.

Montandon did not return phone calls.

NLVPAC, established in July 2005, seeks to "promote good leadership to benefit North Las Vegas," according to documents filed with the secretary of state. Montandon, who cannot run for re-election next year because of term limits, serves as the group's executive director.

The group has donated nearly $80,000 this year to 10 candidates, according to its August campaign finance report.