Monday, June 30, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

WARD 1: Moncrief's clean slate tarnished

Scent of scandal over mailers worries voters

The Review-Journal interviewed Ward 1 voters as they went to the polls on May 17, the first day of early voting. The paper spoke to those same voters this week: Dan Cabiroy Voted for: Moncrief Then: "I wanted somebody in there who doesn't have as much baggage." Now: "They're full of crap, these people that have been picking on her." Michael Aupperle Voted for: McDonald Then: ""I wanted to vote for McDonald even more (after the FBI strip club raid) ... The FBI doesn't have anything better to do?" Now: "I would like Janet Moncrief to be the best city councilwoman this city has ever seen. But I don't see that happening. I think she's going to be busy battling Steve Miller every day. Why does it have to happen to us in Ward 1?" Don Fabbi Voted for: McDonald Then: "They're (the FBI) just picking on him (McDonald)." Now: "One of the reasons I voted for McDonald is he did do a lot. Janet was a novice. ... Now she's got this ethics thing hanging over her head. She's starting off like McDonald did several years ago." Curlee Dunnam Voted for: Moncrief Then: I'm tired of McDonald's name appearing in the wrong places." Now: "We all know where Michael McDonald's been. Surely she's smart enough not to crawl into that same hole."

Even before Las Vegas City Councilwoman Janet Moncrief took the oath of office, her political honeymoon had ended with a nasty and public divorce from two campaign supporters.

The day of her swearing in, Steve Miller and Peter "Chris" Christoff did some swearing of their own, filing affidavits that say they helped prepare and mail illegal fliers for Moncrief's campaign.

The accusations are, for now, just accusations. Officials with the secretary of state's office haven't decided whether to open an investigation.

But even the faint scent of scandal has alarmed some Ward 1 voters, whose displeasure at the ethical travails of then-Councilman Michael McDonald helped carry Moncrief into office.

Moncrief supporter Curlee Dunnam said she believed Moncrief this spring when she denied claims by McDonald's campaign that she was breaking election laws.

"Now I'm not so sure," Dunnam said last week.

Moncrief, a registered nurse, campaigned door to door in her surgical scrubs and presented herself as a fresh alternative to politics as usual.

Craig Walton, coordinator of Ethics and Policy Studies at UNLV, said if the allegations Miller and Christoff lodged on June 13 are proven it would be a blow to Moncrief's image as a break from the scandalous past.

"What she brought supposedly was total naivete; she didn't know an issue from an asparagus but was willing to learn and be clean and caring," he said. "That's wonderful if it's true. But if she's carrying a large millstone around her neck now, double-dealing at Act 1 Scene 1, that's going to make things look terrible for her."

Christoff and Miller now say they lied during the campaign when they said they supported Moncrief but were not involved in her campaign.

Christoff said he agreed to be a front for four negative mailers targeting McDonald.

Miller said he acted as an adviser and helped produce an anti-union mailer falsely attributed to McDonald.

If these allegations can be proved, Moncrief could face prosecution on charges she violated state campaign laws that require candidates to disclose all expenditures.

Ted Jelen, chairman of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' political science department, said even if the allegations prove to be true, they wouldn't compare to past Ward 1 scandals.

"The issue doesn't really pass the so-what test," he said. "Moncrief is alleged to have committed a technical violation of a campaign ordinance. I don't see an ethical issue."

Some of the mailers Miller and Christoff say they helped distribute reminded voters of McDonald's appearances before city and state ethics panels amid allegations he advocated the sale of a troubled athletic complex to the city to benefit his boss.

More recently, McDonald announced he was a paid consultant to the owner of a Las Vegas strip club that the FBI in May raided as part of a political corruption probe.

Jelen said many of the accusations lodged against McDonald while he was in office alleged he enriched himself at the public till. Moncrief faces no such accusation.

"These kinds of situations are not comparable," Jelen said.

Miller, a former Ward 1 councilman, admits his accusations are partially inspired by his disappointment over being left off Moncrief's council staff.

Last week he provided the media with cell phone records that, he said, confirmed his ties to Moncrief's campaign.

The records, he said, showed 18 calls he placed to the councilwoman between March and May. Miller's records also showed during the same period several calls to Tony Dane, Moncrief's campaign strategist.

Moncrief denies the allegations and said the records do not support Miller's claims.

In fact, only four of the calls were made to her personal cell phone. The other 14 were to a phone belonging to Bob Stupak, who Moncrief describes as a friend.

Stupak said Friday that the councilwoman would not have answered calls to his phone. "She never used my cell," he said.

Moncrief said she is too busy learning her job and the functions of the city to occupy herself with the accusations.

"Steve Miller will keep bringing up more and more and more," she said. "The last thing I'm thinking about is Steve Miller."

Others who say Moncrief deserves the benefit of the doubt note that both Miller and Christoff admit they lied prior to the election when they said they had no connection to the Moncrief campaign.

"Sometimes I consider the source," Mayor Oscar Goodman said. "I want to see proof before I make any judgments."

Still, some Ward 1 voters are disheartened by the allegations.

"What did we do to deserve this, the residents of Ward 1?" asked Michael Aupperle, who voted for McDonald but hopes Moncrief will prove a quality councilwoman.

Don Fabbi, who also voted for McDonald, voiced similar concerns.

"They wanted a change with McDonald and she looked pretty good with no baggage," he said. "She's starting off like McDonald did several years ago."

But Dan Cabiroy, who voted for Moncrief, said he thinks she's wrongly accused. "She hasn't been in office long enough to create these accusations," he said.