Click image for enlargement. Graphic by Mike Johnson.

Las Vegas City Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian lost downtown and the political battle over her ward's boundary Wednesday as the City Council passed a redistricting plan that shuffled an estimated 20 percent of the city's population.

Mayor Oscar Goodman admitted that the disputed area of downtown given to Mayor Pro Tem Gary Reese was done for political reasons.

"Once we're past legal analysis, it then shifts into a political process," Goodman said at the meeting. "The council people have desires. One would want growth in a redevelopment area. One would want to celebrate that ... seniority does have weight to it."

The redistricting was meant to address population imbalance between the wards, which has come about as the result of rapid growth in the north and west.

At issue, though, is four voting precincts downtown that Tarkanian had represented.

That area includes the Arts District, the south side of Fremont Street and west side of Las Vegas Boulevard, all areas that officials have described as being poised to see growth in high rise and other developments.

Those areas are now represented by Reese, as a result of the 6-1 council vote, with Tarkanian dissenting.

After Goodman's explanation, an audience member shouted out, "Didn't you just define gerrymandering?"

"That's the political process," Goodman responded.

Tarkanian joined the council in 2003; Reese was elected in 1995.

Tarkanian and residents from her ward again ripped the plan and how it was passed, saying there was little opportunity for the public to comment.

Chuck Gardner, an attorney representing Chancellor Jim Rogers, criticized the mayor's characterization of the process.

"I always thought when public servants get together for politics, they were supposed to be serving what was best for constituents, not their own interests," Gardner said.

Rogers and Tarkanian formed a political action committee last month to "promote open government."

Tarkanian said the PAC eventually would endorse candidates.

Chuck Thompson, a retired attorney and Ward 1 resident, was in the process of presenting his own map before Goodman cut him off because he went over the time allotted to public speakers.

After the vote, Thompson shook his head angrily.

"This is a bad government, bad law. It proves the corrosive, corrupt situation in our state," Thompson said. "They're sitting there, admitting this is political. They're saying, 'Us guys, we decide without regard to what's best for the district.' It's without honor."

One legal expert agreed that the process used by the city, while common, was wrong.

"The interest of existing office holders should have little to do with the process," said Richard Pildes, a professor at New York University School of Law and a national expert on voting rights.

"It's a pathological situation, with the temptation to use power for self-interested political ends immense and irresistible."

Pildes said the use of independently appointed commissions or courts are a better way to draw political boundaries.

Tarkanian, who spent 12 years on the School Board, tried to bring her political muscle to bear.

Residents of Ward 1 submitted petitions with hundreds of signatures and sent dozens of letters against the redistricting to the city.

Attorney Frank Schreck spoke last month at a recommending committee on behalf of developers and property owners, including Mark Fine and Irwin Molasky.

Schreck said the development community wanted Tarkanian to keep representing part of downtown, while gingerly avoiding criticizing Reese, who had pushed an ultimately unsuccessful height restriction on a portion of Las Vegas Boulevard.

Earlier in Wednesday's meeting, Las Vegas police officers praised Tarkanian and her staff for working with them to reduce crime in the area behind the Stratosphere.

The redistricting in a non-census year was meant to correct imbalances in the wards. In particular, the northern Ward 6, represented by Councilman Steve Ross, has exploded in population.

Older areas of town like Ward 1 and Ward 3 have seen little growth.

The new map would even out population in the wards. As a result of the vote, the largest ward is now Reese's, while the smallest is Tarkanian's. The difference is 10 percent, the maximum disparity allowed by federal law.

Under the city's charter, "the wards must be as nearly equal in population as can conveniently be provided." It says the council can redistrict if the populations of wards are more than 5 percent off.

Earlier maps proposed by retired Wisconsin Judge Frederick Kessler would have balanced the populations more evenly than they are now.

Some of the maps would have had Tarkanian and Reese share representation of the downtown area.

"This was meant to correct a population imbalance," Gardner said after the vote. "What ended up here, they simply created another population imbalance."

But Kessler said the council's new boundaries are legally defensible.

During the meeting, Goodman asked Kessler to again address an allegation by Tarkanian that Kessler told her the redistricting was political payback for votes against the rest of the council.

Kessler explained Wednesday that he told Tarkanian that he understood she was a principled person, and sometimes the lone vote on issues. Kessler, a Democratic legislator, said he sometimes finds himself in the same position.

"I know I can anger some of my colleagues when I do that," he recalled telling her.

"I do not recollect, do not believe, and I will say I never said anything about retaliation," he said.

Tarkanian said she had reached out to Reese to compromise, offering to split the downtown area.

Reese discounted that, saying, "She was willing to compromise, as long as it was her way."

Gardner said he wouldn't be surprised by a lawsuit.

"I see the wrath and dissatisfaction, and it indicates to me that legal action will be taken," he said.

After the meeting, Goodman dismissed concerns that constituents were not being served.

"Gary is very effective," he said. "He has represented his ward well, and will continue to do so in the new areas."