Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

RECALL ELECTION: Voters oust Moncrief

Tarkanian to finish Ward 1 council term

Las Vegas City Councilwoman Janet Moncrief, right, weeps as she speaks Tuesday with Ward 1 special election winner Lois Tarkanian at the Tap House. Tarkanian will finish Moncrief's term. She will be sworn into office during the council's Feb. 2 meeting. Photo by K.M. Cannon. Lois Tarkanian hugs her husband, former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian, at the Tap House Tuesday night after learning she won the Las Vegas City Council Ward 1 special election. Photo by K.M. Cannon. Russell Skuse hugs failed Ward 1 candidate Vicki Quinn during a party Tuesday at Landry's Seafood House on Sahara Avenue. Photo by Craig L. Moran.

After voters ousted her from office in a rare recall election, a weeping Las Vegas City Councilwoman Janet Moncrief marched from an upscale Italian eatery to her successor's victory party next door to beg that her staffers not lose their jobs, too.

"They have nothing to do with me," a sobbing Moncrief said after arriving at Lois Tarkanian's gathering at the Tap House.

Tarkanian patiently listened to the crying councilwoman, but told her she could make no promises that Moncrief's assistant and two community liaisons would be able to stay on the city payroll after she takes office to finish out Moncrief's term.

The exchange between the opponents came at about 9:15 p.m., after election results showed voters recalled Moncrief less than halfway through her four-year term in favor of Tarkanian, a former three-term School Board member.

Final results showed Tarkanian with 41.6 percent of the vote, followed by Moncrief with 29.8 percent and Vicki Quinn with 28.6 percent.

Tarkanian will be sworn into office during the council's Feb. 2 regular meeting.

The jubilant victor vowed Tuesday night to represent Ward 1 with honor and tireless effort.

"I'm going to try very hard to be as effective as I can be," said Tarkanian, 70. "Not only will I be more accountable, I will hold city staff accountable."

Quinn, 45, put a positive spin on her third-place finish.

"The ward won tonight with Lois," she said. "It was a positive race. I like Lois. I wish her nothing but the best."

The defeat of Moncrief, 45, caps a brief roller coaster ride in city politics that saw a political unknown who had never voted take office in an upset victory over a two-term councilman only to be expelled 19 months later while facing a criminal indictment and criticism of being ineffectual.

Before breaking down in tears, Moncrief earlier in the evening remained defiant as she defended her brief tenure on the council.

"I did nothing wrong, and I would do nothing different," a subdued Moncrief said after returns showed Tarkanian trouncing her. "I did a lot of good things for the people."

At Fellini's Italian Dining on Charleston Boulevard, a glum Moncrief sipped vodka on the rocks and mourned her loss with about a dozen supporters.

"I did really bad," she said repeatedly while looking at a TV screen displaying election returns.

Moncrief said she believed her greatest accomplishment was her 2003 unseating of Councilman Michael McDonald, whom voters ousted following his run-ins with ethics panel and links to a political corruption probe.

"I did one huge thing: I took someone out of office that the majority of the ward wanted out."

But former Moncrief supporters who were voting Tuesday afternoon at Wasden Elementary School said it was now her they wanted to cast out of office largely because of perceived ethical lapses.

"Live and learn," said Dick Land, who supported Moncrief in her 2003 bid against McDonald but voted for Tarkanian on Tuesday.

While voters were bothered by criminal charges alleging she committed campaign finance violations in 2003, critics who sought her recall seemed more perturbed by her ineffectiveness on the council.

They also seemed bothered by a series of missteps indicating naivete about the city political process, such as her issuing of a news release urging her council colleagues to side with her on a vote.

"She failed to develop relationships with the council from the start. She didn't understand how things got done in City Hall," veteran political consultant Terry Murphy said Tuesday. "Her biggest problem was not knowing fully what the job was about before she got there."

Among her biggest defeats, Moncrief twice failed to marshal enough support on the council to block approval of a Social Security building in a residential neighborhood in her ward, a construction project that infuriated neighbors who said it did not belong in their back yards.

Critics maintained that Moncrief's predecessor could have collected the council votes to derail the project.

As supporters consoled her at Fellini's, the councilwoman said she probably would return to nursing full-time, but did not rule out a future bid for public office.

She said for now she will focus on getting her indictment dismissed. "It'll be proven I didn't do anything wrong," she said.

Next door, Tarkanian was celebrating with about 50 people at the Tap House.

When she arrived at the party with her husband, former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian, the future councilwoman hugged supporters and spoke to reporters while her husband headed to the back of the room to check out the food spread.

"She does a great job whatever she does, so I know she'll be good at this," Jerry Tarkanian said, after visiting a snack table that featured a fountain spewing chocolate fondue.

His wife said she never thought about the month-long race in terms of whether Moncrief would lose her job, instead approaching it as she has all of her bids for public office.

"I didn't consider this a recall race," she said. "I considered it three people running against each other where the people could say who they liked best."

But in the end, she acknowledged her victory is partially the result of Ward 1 voters' dissatisfaction with Moncrief.

"They found they had someone who didn't take care of their needs."

Review-Journal photographer K.M. Cannon and writer Richard Lake contributed to this report.