LAS VEGAS CITY COUNCIL:

Advertising heats up Ward 4 battle

In mailers, council hopefuls attack each other’s judgment

By Sam Skolnik (contact)

Sunday, May 17, 2009 | 2 a.m.

SUN FILE PHOTO

Glenn Trowbridge

SUN FILE PHOTO

Stavros Anthony

Trowbridge called union puppet, but calls himself experienced (5-12-2009)
Candidate draws praise but not endorsements (4-5-2009)
One’s a cop, the other has police union endorsement (1-28-09)
Two views of city government, one party (8-5-08)

Archive of Sun city hall stories

Las Vegas City Council Race

If voters are to believe the negative campaign fliers attacking both candidates in the Ward 4 Las Vegas City Council race, their choice is stark as early voting begins this weekend.

Stavros Anthony, a Metro Police captain and higher education system regent, is, according to his opponent, the king of bad judgment, as reflected by incidents in which he flashed his badge to try to get an airline ticket upgrade, and in which he proposed allowing teachers and staffers to carry guns on college campuses.

Las Vegas Planning Commission Chairman Glenn Trowbridge is, according to the Anthony campaign, little more than a “puppet in a pocket” of the police union, which bucked convention and came out for Trowbridge, and of unions in general.

Anthony also hints that Trowbridge has agreed to be part of the Oscar Goodman Club, securing the mayor’s endorsement by tacitly agreeing to do as Goodman demands once he’s on the council.

Trowbridge, 64, scoffs at the suggestion that he’s not his own man.

“That is what they’re implying, but nothing could be further from the truth,” Trowbridge said. “I think they’ve gone a little overboard.”

For his part, Anthony has said both claims about him have been unfairly taken out of context, or exaggerated to the point of falsification.

Before the primary, Anthony said, “I decided we weren’t going to attack other candidates. Unfortunately, Glenn’s campaign made a pretty vicious attack against me. So we had to respond.”

Anthony, 51, changed his mind after fliers were mailed to voters from the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, which represents about 2,700 officers and has acted separately from the Trowbridge campaign, according to the union and the candidate.

Chris Collins, head of the police union, said his board’s decision to back Trowbridge over one of their own wasn’t made easily. It reflects confidence in Trowbridge, given his experience in municipal government, to “hit the ground running” if elected, Collins said.

Although they deny working from the same script, both Collins and Trowbridge recently referred to Anthony as a “desperate” candidate.

Anthony rebuffs the charge, claiming his campaign is going well, and that he looks forward to knocking on as many Ward 4 doors as possible before the June 2 election.

Attacks aside, the candidates have touted their strengths and stances on the issues.

Trowbridge has talked about constituent care as a vital part of the job. He said it’s important, for example, to make sure traffic through Sun City is kept to a minimum, and that quality of life can be maintained in the relatively upscale ward by making sure that only family-friendly businesses are allowed in.

Anthony said crime is the issue he hears most about — and that as a Metro officer for 28 years, he knows firsthand how to address it.

Another issue — which may in the end define the race, the only council contest on the ballot this year: the proposed new city hall, the controversial project that Goodman is touting as vital to the city’s redevelopment plans.

Anthony is dead-set against the new city hall, which appears by most accounts to be unpopular with residents.

“I guarantee most people in Ward 4 don’t want a new city hall right now,” Anthony said. “People are losing jobs and homes, and now is not the right time for a quarter-billion dollar project.”

Trowbridge said he’s concluded that because the project wouldn’t involve raising property taxes, it makes sense because it will provide jobs and spur further development downtown.

“Now is the ideal time to go forward,” he said.

Goodman, who has expressed support for Trowbridge in fliers, formally endorsed him at his news conference Thursday. The mayor made it clear that he wanted a “team player” on the council, and that the city hall project was on his mind when he chose to back Trowbridge.

“He is in line philosophically with what I’m trying to accomplish here in the city,” Goodman said of Trowbridge, “and the other candidate appears to want to put things on hold and is critical of the way the city does business.”

Though Trowbridge beat Anthony by 8 points in last month’s primary, he didn’t gain more than 50 percent of the votes, so a runoff is needed.

According to the most recent campaign expenditure reports, filed with the city about six weeks ago, Anthony had raised about $135,000, but that included a $71,635 fund transfer from his regent campaign war chest to his council campaign.

During the same period, Trowbridge raised about $81,000.

Anthony’s campaign has pointed out that more than $15,000 of Trowbridge’s donations came from unions.

Trowbridge countered that it was silly to think that as a councilman, he would be biased in favor of the Las Vegas City Employees’ Association because of a small donation.

“I’m not going to promise city employees big raises because they gave me $1,000,” he said.

Discussion: 4 comments so far…

By lvcala

5/17/09 at 10:37 a.m.

Suggest removal

Are you kidding me? Of course Trowbridge is a puppet. Goodman's quote all but says "Trowbridge will be my puppet". For our own little Hugo Chavez, i.e. Oscar Goodman, "team player" simply means "foot soldier". Mayor Goodman doesn't care what the citizens of Las Vegas want. He only cares about what he wants. Trowbridge will simply be another Oscar "yes-man". Anthony will at least represent the citizens, and not the Mayor. The City Hall project is opposed by an overwhelming majority of the citizens of Las Vegas, the Mayor knows it, but doesn't want anyone to get in his way.

Trowbridge has further shown, in his capacity as a planning commissioner, that he's another developer/land owner patsy. You want a variance, a supplemental use permit, a waiver, a zone change? You got it Mr. Landowner/Lobbyist. He has ignored and denigrated citizen input simply because that citizen is outside the pathetic "notification range" for such issues. He has flip-flopped and equivocated all through the campaign to hide these facts.

Additionally, Trowbridge has shown, in his prior capacity with the County Parks and Recreation that he has poor judgment and no spine. Trowbridge allowed Erin Kenny (remember her and all her ethical/criminal issues) to push him around to engage in defective construction practices at the Desert Breeze skate park just so she could hold a campaign event. The result? Dangerous concrete conditions and additional costs for repairs.

Isn't it time we stopped stocking City Council with nothing but lemmings for our power hungry autocrat?
By IndependentNevada

5/17/09 at 3:27 p.m.

Suggest removal

Anthony is a cop who didn't get the cop's endorsement. How bad a person, how incompetent a leader, how dangerous do you have to be for your peers to endorse someone else over one of their own?

I have plenty of friends who are cops and what is very evident is that they are a tight brotherhood. Anthony had to do something really bad to alienate his co-workers, subordinates and friends. I wonder if we'll discover what it was in time to save ourselves four years of egotistical rantings?

What did Stavros do?
By aruinedsoul

5/17/09 at 4:55 p.m.

Suggest removal

Anthony embarrassed them by abusing his power. Imagine what he'd do if he were elected???
By CopsWife

5/18/09 at 10:36 p.m.

Suggest removal

My husband is retired Metro and I know what goes on. The union has to support Trowbridge, he's a union guy. Anthony didn't embarrass anyone, he just isn't going to lay down and do whatever they say. The officers out on the street know Anthony is a good guy. He works in Internal Affairs so he busts the bad cops. That's why some of the power-hungry union bosses are afraid of him. Hey, IndependentNevada, ask some of your friends who are cops what they think of Anthony. They'll tell you he's a great cop and a great guy.
What did Anthony do? He worked Internal Affairs to weed out bad cops! That can get you some pretty powerful enemies.