Monday, June 21, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

POLITICAL NOTEBOOK: Assembly hopeful circulates petitions for Nader

Independent picks his own candidate for vice president

Stan Vaughan Assembly candidate Ralph Nader Presidential candidate Billy Rogers calls the 3,000-square-foot, six bedroom rental property at 2732 Dune Cove Road the Southwest Group's "frat house." There are 11 voters in Las Vegas Ward 2 registered at the address. Rogers says he offers housing to employees he brings in from around the country. "They are political people by their nature and they're going to register to vote," he says. Photo by John Gurzinski.

Stan Vaughan wasn't deterred when the secretary of state's office advised him it was a little premature to circulate petitions to put fellow Independent candidate, Ralph Nader, on Nevada's presidential ballot.

Instead of waiting for Nader's national campaign, he picked his own vice presidential candidate.

"Our group had various possibilities and I just picked one," said Vaughan, who is running for the Assembly in District 7.

He picked Victoria Jackson Gray Adams, a human rights activist from Virginia who belongs to a Green Party faction called Independent Greens of Virginia.

The only problem is neither Adams nor the Nader campaign knew anything about it.

"That's crazy," said Kevin Zeese, the Nader campaign's national spokesman. "Ralph has said that by the end of the month, we will have our vice presidential candidate."

Zeese said he has had no contact with Vaughan and was surprised to even learn someone in Nevada had been circulating a nominating petition on Nader's behalf.

"We have a lot of people who want to help out, but that's not going to work," Zeese said.

Nader, who ran as a Green Party candidate in 2000, garnered 15,008 votes in Nevada. The difference between George Bush and Al Gore was 21,597 votes, but state Democrats still like to blame Nader for Gore's loss here.

Zeese doesn't see Nader as a Democratic spoiler this year.

"We expect we'll do better this time because there's dissatisfaction with both candidates," Zeese said. "It's a different year and we could be a spoiler for two candidates."

Zeese said Nader's message about the war in Iraq -- he has a plan to withdraw American troops from the country -- and his upcoming tax plan will prove enticing to voters critical of John Kerry and Bush.

Nader has already submitted signatures to get on the ballot in Arizona and Texas and is expected to qualify soon in Illinois. The campaign may also choose to run in seven states as the Reform Party candidate.

Meanwhile, Vaughan is happy to circulate his petition with a mythical Nader-Adams ticket.

"If Kerry can talk about picking John McCain from a different party, it could still come down to who gets the most votes as vice president," Vaughan said.

Maybe in 1896 when people ran on different tickets. But in 2004 candidates run together, and, usually do so with someone they pick.

Popular address

With 12 candidates, the Ward 2 special election could literally come down to a handful of votes.

That's why an address in the ward with 11 registered voters who all happen to work for the same political consultant raised some eyebrows last week.

An operative loosely aligned with Richard Truesdell's campaign pointed out 10 people he had found registered at 2732 Dune Cove Road have ties to the Southwest Group, which is consulting on behalf of rival candidate Steve Wolfson.

"Anytime we have 10 people living in the same house it's suspicious," Clark County Registrar Larry Lomax said.

But the home, a sprawling 3,000-square-foot, six bedroom rental property, is something of the Southwest Group's "frat house," said company president Billy Rogers.

Rogers, who led the efforts to qualify four separate initiative petitions for the ballot and who also ran Democrat Howard Dean's fleeting presidential campaign in Nevada, said he offers housing for employees he brings in from around the country.

"I've got a bunch of bedrooms there and we've got people working all over the state," Rogers said. "Some come back and others go."

Rogers supplied the names of 11 voters associated with the house, including himself. Three had registered to vote back in 2002 and everyone else was registered earlier this year.

"Long before there was a candidate named Steve Wolfson, I provided housing for the people I flew in to work on the different campaigns," Rogers said.

He said he rented the house from Desert Realty. It is owned by Dune Cove LLC in Massachusetts.

Of the 11 voters registered at the address, Rogers said he believes only six of them will be voting in the special election.

One man he fired is now in Arkansas, one quit to work in Iowa and another is in New York now.

"I know how it looks, but the bottom line is I gave these people a place to stay in Las Vegas, which is a big place," Rogers said. "They are political people by their nature and they're going to register to vote.

"If they had registered two weeks ago, I'd say it would look really bad," he added.

Wolfson made a point at a candidate forum last Tuesday to say he had expressed interest in the seat six months ago when he heard a rumor that Lynette Boggs McDonald may not seek re-election. When she was appointed to the County Commission in April, he said he just resumed his interest.

Wolfson reported $32,768 in campaign expenses paid to the Southwest Group for its work on his race.