Wednesday, July 23, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Political consultant claims Moncrief was billed for fliers

Las Vegas City Councilwoman Janet Moncrief denies being involved with fliers critical of Michael McDonald. REVIEW-JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

Las Vegas City Councilwoman Janet Moncrief has denied responsibility for two fliers sent out under false identities during her successful bid for office, but a California political consultant said he billed her and was paid for printing the mailers.

Jeff Evans, owner of JC-Evans Communications, based outside Sacramento, Calif., said his business records show he billed the councilwoman and was paid for printing fliers made to appear as if they were mailed by her opponent, then-incumbent Michael McDonald.

"Somebody referred her (Moncrief) to me and I don't even remember who," Evans said this week. "I was given the name and address of who to bill and sent it (the fliers), and that's basically what we did."

The secretary of state's office is considering this week whether to open an investigation into allegations Moncrief violated Nevada election laws by sending out anonymous fliers and underreporting campaign expenses.

Copies of invoices obtained by the Review-Journal show Evans billed Moncrief twice at her Las Vegas address.

The first invoice, dated April 1, states it was for printing the "McDonald Union piece," which portrayed the councilman as anti-union. The flier was mailed to union households in Ward 1.

The second invoice, dated May 14, indicates it was for a printing a flier titled "The Moncrief Conspiracy."

Evans, who said he was paid by check, doesn't recall who contacted him about printing the fliers. He said he doesn't recall who signed the checks. But his invoices are stamped "Paid."

He acknowledges knowing local political consultant Tony Dane, who worked as Moncrief's campaign strategist.

Moncrief on Tuesday denied any involvement in creating and mailing the fliers.

She added that she doesn't know Evans and made no payments to him during the campaign. Evans' business doesn't appear in Moncrief's campaign finance reports.

"I've never heard of him," she said. "I never received any bill, and if I did, I would not have paid it."

Moncrief was aware of the mailers during the campaign. She said they appeared to be forgeries and she had assumed some of McDonald's enemies were behind them.

"There were a whole lot of people out there that didn't like Michael McDonald," she said. "I'm sure that Steve Miller and Chris Christoff could have done them."

Miller, in fact, claims to have participated in creating the first flier but said he did so at Moncrief's request.

The former Moncrief supporter and one-time city councilman said the councilwoman approached him to assist with the mailer, including scanning into his computer McDonald's campaign logo and photo.

Miller said when he questioned Moncrief on the ethics of sending out a flier using her opponent's logo and address, she told him, "It's going to be mailed out of California first class," making it more difficult to trace than a bulk mailing. Miller said Moncrief added there would be "no way it could be traced back to her under any circumstances."

Miller and Christoff, who denied any affiliation with Moncrief during the campaign, filed affidavits with the secretary of state in June saying they helped prepare and mail illegal fliers for Moncrief.

The secretary of state is also examining a complaint filed in April by McDonald campaign consultant Jim Ferrence, alleging Moncrief and Christoff violated nine laws, including failure to report contributions and expenditures, failure to properly identify parties in political communications and assisting contributions made in the name of another.

On Tuesday, Miller filed a separate complaint with the Nevada Commission on Ethics, also accusing Moncrief of campaign violations.

Moncrief has said she believes Miller's attacks are retribution for not hiring him as her community liaison.

On Tuesday she questioned the plausibility of accusations by Miller and Evans.

"Did I just out of the blue pick someone out of Sacramento? I just called him up and said, `Here it is, bill me?' " she asked.

Political consultant Dan Hart said it would be unusual, but not unheard of, for a municipal campaign to work with an out-of-state printer.

"The only reason you would do that in a local race is to keep it quiet and what's in the mailer secret," he said. "Other than that, I can't imagine why you would do something like that."

Hart said producing and mailing the fliers would have involved a level of political sophistication not apparent to outside observers of Moncrief's campaign. The registered nurse went door-to-door in hospital scrubs and sent out inexpensive mailers she said she had crafted herself on a home computer.

"If these allegations are true, then she has fooled a lot of people," Hart said. "There's a level of sophistication (in the fliers) that no one attributed to Janet Moncrief during the campaign."

The first flier that Evans claims to have printed for Moncrief was sent to Ward 1's union voters in the days before the April 8 primary election.

Using a photograph and logo copied from McDonald's campaign literature, it cast the Republican with a long history of union support as anti-union.

It claimed to be paid for by the fictional Republicans for Good Government and incorrectly referred to him as the "Republican Man of the Year."

"If we Republicans get out and vote, we can put an end to union domination in local politics," the flier read. "Vote No to unions! Vote No to Democrats! Vote Yes to Michael McDonald!"

The second flier that Evans claims to have printed for Moncrief appeared to tie her to a "conspiracy to have Councilman Michael J. McDonald removed from office."

The arguments in the mailer, though similar to allegations raised by McDonald's campaign, were poorly reasoned to make them appear far fetched.

On questions about Moncrief's residency the mailer read, "she (Moncrief) only moved into Ward 1 to run against Michael McDonald. Although this is legal, it is just the start of the conspiracy."

Another portion repeated the allegation Moncrief had underreported campaign expenditures. "We feel it is impossible for someone to only spend $11,000 and beat a beloved City Councilman like Michael J. McDonald who spent over $300,000 in the primary," the mailer stated.

It also included the line, "keep drunks out of office," referring to Moncrief's arrest on a drunken driving charge in the early 1990s.

During the campaign McDonald adviser Jim Ferrence accused Moncrief's camp of sending out the mailer simply so she could say McDonald had called her a drunk.

Moncrief referred to the flier at a news conference late in the campaign where she denounced McDonald's hardball tactics.

"They attempted to lessen the impact of the DUI, the residency and the conspiracy issues," Ferrence said of the conspiracy mailer Tuesday. "There's no doubt in my mind she knew that her campaign was sending out that mailer."

Even though Moncrief has been accused of a number of campaign violations over the past four months, Hart said, the situation could become more serious for her.

"If the allegations are true, then it would seem to me there are some criminal violations," he said. "This is no longer nibbling around the edges of campaign finance law."