Sunday, April 11, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

High stakes down ballot

Election likely to be noisy, important

Jon Porter Republican Tom Gallagher Democrat Deborah Agosti John Mason Ray Shaffer Republican Mike Schaefer Republican Ann O'Connell Republican Joe Heck Republican Ray Rawson Republican Bob Beers Republican Mary Kincaid- Chauncey Democrat Tom Collins Democrat Vonne Chowning Democrat Shari Buck Republican Lynette Boggs McDonald Republican David Goldwater Democrat

While the Battle Born state is considered a battleground for the presidency, numerous candidates are already fighting it out in down-the-ballot races.

The high stakes and keen competition promise to make this election year one of the noisiest, and many argue, one of the most important in history.

The race for the presidency will play out on Nevada televisions in a host of ads from both major candidates and on the streets, with expected visits from President Bush, first lady Laura Bush and presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry.

But while most eyes will be on the state's nationally prized five electoral votes, a host of other races are beginning to take shape. Here's an early look at what's on the political radar a full three weeks before filing for office even opens.

Congressional District 3

Congressional District 3 was hyped early in 2002 as a tossup because of the narrow edge in registration for Republican voters and the perceived strength of the Democratic contender for an open seat. Today the Republican voter edge is still slight, just 1,897 in a district of 303,195 voters, but Republican Jon Porter now has the power of incumbency, friends in the White House and a healthy war chest.

Porter has drawn a challenge from Democrat Tom Gallagher, an attorney and former chief executive officer of what was then called Park Place Entertainment. Porter has about $700,000 in the bank. Gallagher raised $425,000 in three weeks after announcing his bid last month.

Both candidates will focus on Porter's ties to the Republican House leadership. Porter will cite it as an asset, claiming his work within the leadership helped him get $1.5 million for teacher training and $500,000 for a nursing program at the Nevada State College of Henderson.

Gallagher sees the relationship as one in which Porter is beholden to those leaders.

Porter said he looks forward to the campaign.

"First of all, I really enjoy campaigns. It sounds like a cliche but it's the best opportunity to meet people in the community, new members of the community and people you've known for a long time," Porter said. "There's only two types of campaigns, either unopposed or scared. We're running hard."

Porter said his work with Sen. John Ensign to change the funding formula for federal education dollars earmarked for states will help Nevada get $10 million in additional funding.

In a presidential election year with emboldened Democrats criticizing the Bush administration, Gallagher hopes his message that Porter is too close to GOP congressional leaders will resonate.

"We need somebody to represent the citizens of the 3rd District who is not beholden to the House Republican leadership," Gallagher said. "Porter represents the people of the 3rd District at the moment and (House Majority Leader) Tom DeLay doesn't live in the 3rd District at the moment."

Nevada Supreme Court

Recent elections for the state's highest court have typically been procedural affairs, with the well-financed incumbent running unopposed or facing just a minimal challenger.

But last summer's controversial 6-1 decision setting aside the constitutionally mandated two-thirds majority vote for tax increases has helped refocus attention on the state's highest court. The opening of two seats, with the announced retirement of Chief Justice Miriam Shearing and the death of Justice Myron Leavitt, has led numerous attorneys to explore the election.

• Seat A: The seat being vacated by Shearing has attracted three candidates. Washoe County District Judge Jim Hardesty, Clark County probate commissioner Don Ashworth and Clark County Family Court Judge Cynthia Dianne Steel have announced bids for the six-year term.

• Seat E: Deborah Agosti, the justice who penned the tax decision, is facing a challenge from John Mason, a Reno attorney and former state Republican chairman. The election is for a six-year term.

• Seat F: This is the election to fill the unexpired two-years of Leavitt's term. Former Clark County District Judge Michael Douglas was appointed to the seat by Gov. Kenny Guinn last month, giving him an edge over any challengers.

"I think the state is proud of the fact that we have the first Supreme Court African-American justice, and one who also has exceptional ratings as a jurist," said Republican political consultant Sig Rogich. "There will be a united effort to make sure he gets elected."

State Legislature

Political consultants do not believe control of either house will change hands in 2004. The margin of control, which stands at 13-8 for the Republicans in the Senate and 23-19 for Democrats in the Assembly, may change. But the tax increase of 2003 will dominate all 10 Senate races and 42 Assembly races on the ballot this year.

Nowhere will the tax issue be more evident than in two Republican primaries for state Senate seats in Clark County, as fiscal conservatives square off against moderates who supported taxes for educational purposes.

State Senate

• District 1: The race for this North Las Vegas district is interesting because the incumbent last won re-election as a Democrat and then switched to the Republican Party after the election. Ray Shaffer, the Republican incumbent, will face a primary election with disbarred attorney and perennial candidate Mike Schaefer, which is bound to confuse some voters.

Meanwhile, former state Assemblyman John Lee, a Democrat who made an unsuccessful statewide bid for controller in 2002, awaits the winner.

If the Democrats are going to pick up a seat in the Senate this year, this is believed to be the best opportunity. The district has 15,529 Democrats compared to 10,889 Republicans and voters will be reminded that Shaffer missed the critical vote on taxes during last year's second special session of the Legislature because he was vacationing in Hawaii.

• District 4: The race in this heavily Democratic district is the first one in 32 years without incumbent Joe Neal. Neal announced last month he will not seek re-election, but instead is considering running against Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates.

Five Democrats have already emerged to replace Neal: Cedric Crear, former marketing director with Station Casinos; Steven Horsford, Democratic national committeeman; Linda Howard, a university regent; Bert Mack, Democratic Party activist; and Theresa Malone, state Board of Education member.

Crear is already raising money and Horsford, who has his own ties to the gaming industry due to his past lobbying efforts for the Nevada Resort Association, is working the party establishment. Howard will likely receive Neal's endorsement, but might not receive his core support. Malone, a moderate Democrat who is attempting to appeal to independents and Republicans, may not fare as well in a traditional primary.

If no Republican or third-party candidate emerges, the top two vote-getters in the Democratic primary will square off in the general election.

• District 5: This race pits Republican incumbent Ann O'Connell, an anti-tax advocate, against moderate Republican Joe Heck.

O'Connell, first elected in 1984, is seeking her sixth term. She is the chair of the Senate's Government Affairs Committee and an active voice on the Taxation Committee, where in 2003 she expressed strong opposition to most of the tax proposals. In the final vote, O'Connell abstained on the tax issues because her husband, who died last week at 83, was on the board of Valley Bank.

Heck, who moved to Las Vegas in 1992, is a medical doctor who is also a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, serving as a flight surgeon. His company, Specialized Medical Operations, has several local contracts, including one which makes Heck the operational medical director of the Clark County Health District. He is also a volunteer with the Metropolitan Police Department's Search and Rescue Team and a member of a health subcommittee of the Nevada State Homeland Security Commission.

• District 6: In this northwest Las Vegas district, which includes portions of Summerlin, Republican Sen. Ray Rawson has drawn the toughest challenger of his 20-year career, Republican Assemblyman Bob Beers.

Rawson stepped down from his $187,000-a-year job as director of dental programs at the Community College of Southern Nevada last month after Attorney General Brian Sandoval issued an opinion that barred public employees from dual service in the Legislature.

"I certainly demonstrated to people that my commitment's there," Rawson said of the race. "I can't sacrifice more than I have. My commitment's real and deep and it's going very well."

Rawson, who voted for the tax increases in 2003, said voters are telling him they've been "defamed or angered" by Beers in e-mail correspondence. "Bob is a hypocrite and people see that very quickly," Rawson said.

Rawson said that while Beers opposed the tax hike, he offered no alternatives for what, at the time, was the state's revenue shortfall, in terms of taxes or cuts.

Beers said he didn't consider Rawson's comments to be "legislatively oriented."

"I do think that the polls are indicating that I have a substantial lead and I think he wants to very dramatically knock that down," Beers said. "There were six different tax packages brought to the Senate, and most Republican senators opposed at least one. Ray supported all of them. He's a promiscuous taxer and I'm not."

• District 9: All eyes are on Democratic incumbent Mike Schneider, who is considering running for the Clark County Commission against newly appointed Republican Lynette Boggs McDonald.

If the Republicans are going to pick up a seat this year, this may be the place. Republicans Jim Marsh, Bob Seale and Danny Tarkanian have all considered a bid in the district that has 29,762 Republicans compared to 25,723 Democrats.

State Assembly

The state Assembly will be flush with new people in 2005, regardless of whether any incumbents lose this year's election. Numerous incumbents are running for other races or bowing out of legislative service.

District 1 Democrat Tom Collins is running for Clark County Commission Seat B; District 4 Republican Bob Beers is running for the state Senate; District 10 Democrat David Goldwater will likely run for County Commission Seat F; District 25 Republican Dawn Gibbons of Reno is not seeking re-election; District 28 Democrat Vonne Chowning is running for County Commission District B; and District 29 Republican Josh Griffin is not seeking re-election.

Additionally, a number of incumbents who have faced trouble since their last election are being targeted.

• District 6: Democrat Wendell Williams, fired by the city of Las Vegas in a double-dipping scandal, faces Democrat Harvey Munford and Republican Cornell Clark.

• District 11: Democrat Bob McCleary faces a challenge from former District 11 Assemblyman Doug Bache.

• District 13: Republican Chad Christensen, whose campaign finances are being scrutinized by the secretary of state's office, faces Democrat Justin Jones.

• District 15: Democrat Kathy McClain, fired by Clark County in a double-dipping scandal, will face the winner of a likely Republican primary between Bob Anderson, Lonnie Hammargren and Lou Toomin. McClain's yes vote on taxes will be an issue.

• District 17: Democrat Kelvin Atkinson, also fired by Clark County in a double-dipping scandal, is seeking re-election.

• District 18: Democrat Mark Manendo, who faced a sexual harassment investigation during the 2003 Legislature, has a challenge from Republican Kris Munn.

• District 30: Republican Don Gustavson of Sun Valley faces former Democratic Assemblywoman Debbie Smith of Sparks.

• District 35: Republican Pete Goicoechea of Eureka faces former Democratic Assemblywoman Marcia de Braga of Fallon.

• District 38: Republican Tom Grady of Yerington faces Democrat Cathylee James.

• District 40: Republican Ron Knecht of Carson City, a public employee with the Public Utilities Commission, faces former Democratic Assemblywoman Bonnie Parnell of Carson City.

Christensen, Gustavson, Goicoechea, Grady and Knecht, who all voted against last year's tax hike, are being targeted for those votes.

County Commission

If you had looked last year at prospective county commission races, it would have looked as though there were no races. But federal indictments and unexpected political retirements have made the county races the ones to watch.

• District B: A year ago, Mary Kincaid-Chauncey was chairing the commission and beginning to raise money for her re-election when a corruption probe targeting the board shook up politics and led to Kincaid-Chauncey's indictment. The Democrat plans to seek re-election, but hasn't erected signs or passed out literature.

Two Assembly committee chairmen, Tom Collins and Vonne Chowning, both D-North Las Vegas, will challenge Kincaid Chauncey in the primary.

North Las Vegas City Councilwoman Shari Buck is the Republican awaiting the winner.

• District C: Current Commission Chairman Chip Maxfield, a Republican, is up for re-election for the first time. He came to office after defeating then-Commissioner Lance Malone, a Republican indicted in the federal probe. Democrat Jerry Tao, a deputy district attorney, is running against Maxfield.

• District F: This seat wasn't even on the election map until a few weeks ago when County Commissioner Mark James abruptly announced his resignation for family reasons, leaving more than two years on his term. Guinn's appointment of Boggs McDonald, then a Las Vegas City Council member, was done to ensure a Republican could win re-election in what has traditionally been a Democrat seat.

But Assemblyman David Goldwater, D-Las Vegas, plans to run against her in November, and many believe the race will be very close. Schneider, the state senator, is also considering a bid.

• District G: Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates will spend much of the election year drumming a John Kerry for president beat as the chairperson of the Democratic National Committee's Black Caucus. But she could face another powerful black Democrat in her re-election bid as 32-year state Sen. Joe Neal, who is retiring from the Legislature, might run against her.