Sunday, June 15, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

CITY COUNCIL: Moncrief focused on giving back to LV

Unknown goes from apathy to action in unseating incumbent

Janet Moncrief speaks with a resident in this May 6 photo during her door-to-door campaign in the Ward 1 City Council race. Moncrief went on to defeat incumbent Michael McDonald. Photo by Craig L. Moran.

Voters apparently knew more about Councilman Michael McDonald than they cared to.

The same can't be said of Councilwoman-elect Janet Moncrief, who handily defeated the two-term councilman earlier this month.

The registered nurse was a political unknown who had never voted before the municipal election.

"She's a rare animal," said Craig Walton, a UNLV ethics and policy studies professor. "She came out of nowhere with no one behind her."

Yet the complete absence of a political track record has left many curious about Las Vegas' newest councilwoman, who will be sworn in Wednesday.

As Moncrief prepares to make the transition from private citizen to public servant, the Review-Journal sat down with her to get a better idea of who she is, what has happened in the days since she was elected, and what's to be expected from her over the next four years.

Moncrief, 43, acknowledges her inexperience. She admits feeling nervous about her new position and its accompanying responsibilities.

But she said she is excited to take her seat on the City Council and give it her best effort for the next four years.

"I'm going to try as hard as I can," she said. "They know I'm not a politician. They knew that going in. I'm going to do right by the people. If they don't want me after four years, that's OK because when I leave there I'm going to have a really good conscience that I did a good job and tried my best."

Question: You had never voted or registered to vote before running for office. After 25 years of political apathy, why did you decide to seek public office?

Answer: My daughter is raised and I've had a huge career in nursing. And I think at a certain age you become more focused. Different things are important at different ages of your life. I started realizing that I needed to get more involved in the city and into the issues of the city. I wanted to give back to the city because I've lived here for 13 years and I love this city. What better way than to jump right in.

Q: Why didn't you vote until now?

A: There's not going to be a good answer. Nobody's going to like any of these answers. But I really thought that I couldn't make any difference, that my little vote wouldn't make any difference.

Q: What do you see as the city government's role? What, in your view, are its chief responsibilities?

A: To take care of the people and their needs. ... Local government is supposed to be for the people. I'm representing the people. I'm just the person they voted in. Each one of those people are part of me and I'm making this decision for them.

Q: You co-own a surgery center, which has been in business for a little over a year. You work weekends at University Medical Center. How will you balance those jobs with your City Council duties?

A: Obviously, $38,000 is not a whole lot of money as you know. I think virtually every councilperson has another job. I don't think all of them do, but most of them do. I don't know if the city, the people, realize that. I don't think they're aware it's (the City Council) a part-time job.

At UMC I'm going to go to (working) every other weekend. They understood that was probably going to be happening. My surgery center is not a booming center. It's much different than what people think when they think of a surgery center. It's a clinic in the front, a surgery center in the back. When we're not doing a surgery, we close the doors. So there's no overhead. We do a couple of surgeries a week after hours at 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. in the evening. ... If the surgery center became busier we'd just hire another nurse. That's easy.

Q: You own a home in unincorporated Clark County and you rent in the city. Do you plan to buy a home in the city?

A: I have to learn my job right now. So that's not what I'm going to be working on right at the moment. Where I rent is a really nice home and everything is going well there. Down the road, maybe six months, I'll start looking for a home. Right now my daughter lives in my county home and I'm not going to get rid of that home because my daughter lives there right now.

Q: How are you dealing with all the new friends who must be approaching you now that you're an elected official?

A: I haven't had a whole lot of new friends. Except for the people down at City Hall there hasn't been anyone calling me. That's OK.

Q: You have campaign debt (estimated at $100,000). Have you received offers to raise funds to retire that debt? If so, from whom?

A: I do have a debt so there's word out I am going to have a fund-raiser to try to reduce that.

I don't know the people's names right now, but there's talk of it.

Q: During the campaign Councilman McDonald tried to tie your campaign to a group of conspirators. What role, if any, will Chris Christoff, Steve Miller or Bob Stupak have in your administration?

A: As I've always said, I don't know Chris Christoff. I've met him a couple of times. Steve Miller, I met him in my walks. He cornered me and quizzed me to death. Talk about a concerned citizen. He has been on my side rooting me on and was tickled about my winning. But I have no contact with either of them. I guess there were rumors I was going to hire Steve Miller for one of my positions. I'm not going to hire Steve Miller, I don't even know him. Bob Stupak is my friend. He was my friend when I started and he's still my friend. It's the same answer. I don't think he would have any interest (in one of the positions).

Q: You are registered as a nonpartisan voter. What are your political beliefs?

A: Nonpartisan (laughter). I feel you can't go with one party and vote with one party. You need to look at each person, especially in this day and era. You can't vote with just one party or the other.

Q: If you had voted in the last presidential election who would you have voted for and why?

A: Bush. I think he's the man for the job. His qualities, his history, what he stood for, what he was trying to do.

Q: Members of the council who have outside consulting contracts have been a point of controversy recently. Do you feel it's proper for elected officials to work as consultants, even if they disclose those ties?

A: I could be a consultant to a medical company, purchasing equipment or whatever. Remember this job is part-time. If my expertise on the side is in medicine and if they wanted to use me as a consultant on the side, I don't see anything wrong with that.

Q: The City Council doesn't often deal on matters of medicine. Would you consult for a company that came before the council frequently?

A: No.

Q: How do you feel about the ethical environment in local politics?

A: I think that local officials should have high ethics and high morals. They should be honest with the citizens.

Q: You were critical during the campaign of McDonald's work in landscaping and building a chicane to slow traffic on Alta Drive. If neighbors contact you complaining about traffic speeding through their neighborhood what will you do? What would you have have done with Alta Drive?

A: I do believe that Alta Drive needed help. I know there was a child run over there. There were sidewalks that needed repaired. I would have repaired it like a more normal street would have been repaired and not with the amount of money that was used. The curviness is something that virtually all of the people who had issues with it were unhappy about.

If someone called about speeding -- I've addressed that several times. There's a street where they want a speed bump, but they say there's not enough cars speeding through that street (to warrant a speed bump). ... Why can't we contact Metro and say "We have three or four kids going 70 mph down the street. We have to get a handle on these kids.' "

Q: What do you do with your free time?

A: I don't have any free time.

When I did I used to take short trips, two- or three-day trips to places. I have a boat at Lake Mead. I used to boat a lot. I haven't even seen my boat for a long time. And there's no water out there anyway. I like to spend time with my daughter. Take her to dinner. I like to dine.

Q: What was the last book you read?

A: It was medical. It's always medical.

Q: What's your favorite book?

A: (She doesn't have one).

Q: What's the last movie you saw?

A: "The Candidate." Someone rented that for me between the primary and the general.

Q: What's your favorite movie?

A: "Heaven Can Wait."

Q: What's in your CD player?

A: Kenny G.