Judge won’t block progress of Las Vegas Strip arena petition

By Cy Ryan

Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011 | 3:54 p.m.

CARSON CITY – District Judge Todd Russell on Thursday refused to block a proposed Las Vegas Strip arena petition from being presented to the opening of the Legislature next week.

Opponents of the proposed 18,000-seat arena had sought a temporary restraining order to stop the petition from being sent to the Legislature at least until March 4. Russell said the Nevada Constitution requires the initiative petition to be submitted to the Legislature, which has 40 days to act on it.

The Taxpayers For Protection of Nevada Jobs, which opposes the project, argued there was fraud in the gathering of signatures. Russell will hear arguments in March on whether the initiative petitions are defective.

In the meantime, the judge ordered rural counties to again verify the signatures and the validity of the affidavits submitted with them. He said Clark County and the Washoe County-Carson City district did not have to re-verify its signatures.

The Secretary of State’s Office certified there were 157,778 people statewide who signed the petition when only 97,002 were needed.

The arena, aimed at attracting either a professional basketball or hockey team would be financed by an increase of 0.9 percent in the sales and use tax to be imposed in a gaming enterprise zone on the Strip.

The Legislature has to act on the petition within 40 days. If it rejects it, the issue goes on the 2012 election ballot.

Caesars Entertainment Corp. is supporting the project, but it is opposed by MGM Resorts International.

In ordering the re-verification of the signatures in rural counties, Russell said the Secretary of State’s office sent them the wrong instructions. The regulation in the Secretary of State’s office is contrary to the law in the verification of signatures.

The judge said it requires the verification of 500 or 5 percent of the signatures on the petition.

Deputy Attorney General K. Kevin Benson argued the Secretary of State followed the correct procedures in its directions to the counties.

Jason Woodbury, an attorney representing the backers of petition, argued the Nevada Constitution requires the petition be immediately submitted to the Legislature when it opens. “It’s dangerous to step out of the Constitution,” he told the judge.

Woodbury said the claims that there is fraud in the petition are limited and there are already more than enough signatures to make it valid.

Rick Elmore, an attorney for the opponents, argued there are not enough signatures to qualify the petition, once the fraudulent ones are tossed out. He argued the initiative petition should not be presented to the Legislature until the judge rules March 4 or March 10 on the legality of the petition.

Judge Russell said he will write the order quickly to allow an appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court. The opponents already have one appeal in the Supreme Court that the initiative petition is invalid because it covers more than one subject.