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Volunteers, from left, Charles Murphy, Evan Donoghue, Cody LeDuff and Steven Johnson listen this month as North Las Vegas mayoral candidate William Robinson reads a letter from a constituent. The storefront office was used by the Obama team in the fall, and Robinson has hired some former staffers of the new president.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Sun Archives
- NLV races come as city arrives at a crossroads (3-21-2009)
- Will local races feel an Obama bump? (3-19-2009)
- At this diner, history noted with quiet reverence (1-21-2009)
- In barbershop, anxiety as results roll in (11-5-2008)
- Six questions for North Las Vegas City Councilman William Robinson (9-15-2008)
Stephanie Smith
William Robinson
Shari Buck
Ned Thomas
John 3:16 Cook
It’s been nearly six months since the Obama campaign used a storefront in North Las Vegas as a field office.
But politics still permeates the place.
North Las Vegas mayoral candidate William Robinson has taken over the strip mall location, with a discount furniture store next door and a Mexican grocery across the parking lot.
He’s also tapped former Obama staffers, including Alison Schwartz, who was Obama’s state political director.
Robinson is banking on the excitement of President Barack Obama’s historic campaign to carry his campaign through the primary by helping him reach some of the nearly 20,000 new voters in North Las Vegas.
The new voters spring from last year’s registration drives, including ones mounted in North Las Vegas, ground zero for Obama’s much-praised field work.
One of Robinson’s opponents, Stephanie Smith, says she has Obama volunteers on her team too.
Me too, candidate Ned Thomas says.
A fourth candidate, Shari Buck, won’t generate any Obama buzz, being the only Republican in the race. John 3:16 Cook, an advocate for the homeless, is also on the ballot.
In Henderson, no candidates have boasted hiring former Obama foot soldiers.
Campaign managers there say the decision stems from Henderson being evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, while North Las Vegas is nearly 60 percent Democratic. In short, Democratic voters have more sway in North Las Vegas than in Henderson.
But Henderson, like North Las Vegas, has seen the effect of political tactics made popular by the Obama campaign.
Elizabeth Trosper, campaign manager for Amanda Cyphers’ mayoral run, says her campaign uses e-mail and Internet videos to reach voters, an idea she borrowed directly from the presidential campaign.
The Obama effect may be playing out, based on at least one measure — the turnout for early voting.
Although the raw numbers are small, voters are voting early in North Las Vegas at a rate three times that of 2005, the last mayoral election. Through the first three days of early voting this year, 1.8 percent of registered active voters have cast ballots, compared with 0.6 percent four years ago.
In Henderson, about 1 percent of people voted so far this year, about the same as in 2005.
Both cities typically have turnouts of less than 15 percent.
“We’re trying to have it carry over,” Ronni Council, an experienced political consultant and Smith’s campaign manager, says of the hoped-for Obama effect. “But the honest answer is nobody knows if it will carry over.”
Historically, there is no correlation between the turnouts in a November election and in the following municipal election.
The one Republican running for the nonpartisan North Las Vegas City Council is dismissing any Obama effect.
Dan Hart, a campaign consultant working for Buck, said that even though Schwartz is helping Robinson, she doesn’t bring any advantage to the campaign in terms of knowing which registered voters to target. The campaigns, he said, are targeting the same voters who voted in the last election, pure and simple.
Thomas said he was advised not to count on the momentum of Obama’s workers carrying into the North Las Vegas race. “I’m hoping that’s not true,” he says. “I’m hoping the excitement in seeing a change at the national level will translate to the local level.”
Robinson’s campaign is hoping the presence of Obama workers will separate him from the crowded pack.
The top two vote-getters will face off in the general election.
The only visual sign of the presidential campaign in Robinson’s campaign office is a small Obama-Biden clock nailed to a wall adorned with news clippings from the city race.
Among the paid Obama workers now campaigning for Robinson is John Gilbert, 26.
He says local volunteers “got a taste for victory” last year and want to have the feeling again.
“The last couple of years, a lot of people have gotten involved,” Gilbert tells his charges during a meeting. “That’s good. It gives us new people to reach out to.”
Robinson, 69, who has been on the City Council since 1983, stands off to the side in his jeans and sweatshirt.
“It’s a great advantage,” he says as the volunteers pick up scripts for home visits. “It’s the excitement they create. It’s the enthusiasm they have.”
If nothing else, the Obama effect means scores of additional volunteers on the streets for Robinson and other candidates.
Volunteer Donny Grayman, an ironworker, prepared to head to the streets and start chatting up voters.
Just as he did for Obama.
“There’s still a buzz,” he says. “This was a red state and we helped change that. Now we’re doing this.”
You can hear more from the candidates for North Las Vegas Mayor this Friday, March 27 on Face to Face with Jon Ralston. We invited all of the candidates to appear for a debate. That show airs at 5:30pm, 6:30pm and 8:00pm on Las Vegas ONE, Cox Cable Channel 19.
Will's campaign workers in the photo look like a bunch of bored young boys. I guess they've learned this angry, blank look from their boss.
This is certainly NOT the fresh new perspective offered by the Obama campaign, and it is ridiculous to make any comparison between Will and Barack. Talk about racial profiling!!!
Will - you have never been nor will you ever be of the caliber of Barack Obama. You offer absolutely nothing to the City of North Las Vegas, and your election to the Mayor's office would be an unmitigated disaster for the city and its residents. You should have retired long ago. Now just go away.
I surprised that a guy as smart as Dan Hart is making a classic mistake in under-estimating Alison Schwartz's targeting skills? When is the last time you read Sun Tzu? You have read Sun Tzu haven't you Dan? Well, to both Dan and Alison - I'd bet Ronnie Council certaninly has!
This race can be called Buck and the Four Dwarfs.
Buck wins by a landslide.
Veterans In Politics ALERT and CALL TO ACTION (please)
A Message from J. "Sage" Bocook Auxiliary Director for Veterans In Politics International (VIPI)
STRIKE ONE:
As you know North Las Vegas Mayoral Candidate William Robinson was scheduled to be on Veterans In Politics Talk Show and didn't bother to show up or to call with an excuse for not showing up at the studio as scheduled. Robinson was scheduled by VIP President/Director Steve Sanson who not only scheduled around Robinson's campaign schedule, but also provided a courtesy reminder call several days in advance of the show.
Again I repeat that William Robinson of North Las Vegas DID NOT show up and did not call with an excuse for not showing up.
STRIKE TWO:
Robinson, and all candidates of Clark County Nevada, was invited to participate in the VIP Candidate Endorsement Interviews. Some candidates traveled over 2 hours to try to earn the prestigious VIP Endorsement. But Robinson, who by now is well seasoned at AVOIDING Veterans, did not show up, did not call, did not send a representative, did not provide any literature about his campaign. Robinson's Campaign Manager Jim Ferrence was also notified.
HERE'S STRIKE THREE:
I happen to live in North Las Vegas; I have received a campaign mailer from Robinson's campaign. It says it is paid for by the Committee To Elect William Robinson, 2417 Mango Bay Avenue, North Las Vegas Nv 89031 with a phone number of 639-6401. Yeppers, I CALLED THE NUMBER. A man answered the phone with "Hello"
To confirm that I had reached the right number I asked "Is this the Committee To Elect William Robinson?"
The man did not answer my question -- nope -- instead he asked "Are you a voter?"
I replied that "I live in North Las Vegas and I am a Registered Voter"
The man then introduces himself "This is Councilman Robinson"
I inform him that I would rather not receive his mailings because he doesn't act like he supports Veterans or Veteran Issues.
He tells me how he "supports Veteran Issues more than most Veterans" do because he had a nephew in Desert Storm who got gassed and is now on a list for a heart transplant, and that he has another nephew in the war now. And he goes on about other family members who had served including an "ex-brother-in-law." He did not refer to a personal military service -- just to others.
He goes on to freely provide me with a "nerve to hit" by saying that "I get angry when people accuse me of not supporting Veterans"
{oooooooooo yeah I want to make him angry now -- after all, he did tell me what makes him angry}
Then I say "This is Sage Bocook, I am one of the Auxiliary Director of Veterans In Politics and co-host of Veterans in Politics Radio Show and I am so glad to have a moment to speak to you directly because, I want to know why you didn't show up for your scheduled interview on our radio show after scheduling & confirming with Steve Sanson, and why you didn't come to our endorsement interviews"
Firstly, he plays that he did not know about being scheduled for the radio show. He said he met "that black guy if that's Steve SaMson that's who you're talking about" at an event and that they talked about the show briefly but that Robinson didn't schedule to be on the show. He goes on to say that if he had scheduled to be on the show he would have been there.
I interrupt to say "You not only scheduled, you also confirmed a couple days before the show that you'd be at the studio"
He comes back with "I don't know anything about that. Somebody's not telling the truth."
I chime in with "I know Steve Sanson and have known him for several years to be an honest and selfless person, all I know about you is that you're a lying politician."
William Robinson does not deserve to be Mayor by entitlement as he thinks he does. I would like to suggest that you make use of his phone number and help him understand that he does not deserve the vote of Veterans. I hope you enjoy your questioning of this guy and that you will post dialog from your conversations for the public to read too.
PS -- can you inform all of your family, neighbors, coworkers, and friends for me please.
J. "Sage" Bocook
Director, Veterans In Politics International -- Auxiliary & Co-Host of Veterans in Politics Talk Show ~ www.alltalkradio.net
wow!
you can just feel the energy coming from those guys in the photo.
every elected official in north las vegas should hang their head in shame because if the INSANE amount of crime in that area, but we all know what they'll do...
they'll all take credit for jobs created ( $8.00 per hour retail jobs ) and how fast the town has grown under their leadership ( 89131 has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation ).