Ward 2 council candidates stoke rivalry with mailer, lawsuit

Las Vegas' environment-friendly City Hall has nothing on the recycling efforts of two council candidates seeking to work there.

Ward 2 council candidate Ric Truesdell recently dredged up murky allegations against opponent Bob Beers, who on Thursday responded with a lawsuit similar to one he filed in 2008 to beat back a related accusation.

The skirmish flared up on the first day of early voting in the nine-candidate race when Beers' lawsuit went public, boosting the Beers-Truesdell rivalry from bitter political bickering to bona fide legal dispute.

"It is my hope that this lawsuit will stop Truesdale from lying about me and return to lying about himself," Beers said, misspelling Truesdell's name in an email to journalists covering the Ward 2 race.

Truesdell campaign manager Steve Redlinger responded by calling the lawsuit "baseless" and by adding that if Beers doesn't like the contents of the mailer, he should take it up with the Las Vegas Sun newspaper, which published the 2008 article on which it was based.

"Bob Beers, in a desperate attempt to smear Ric, has a filed a completely baseless suit which has no merit. It's a complete waste of the court's time and the taxpayer's money," Redlinger wrote. "We have disclosed sources for everything we have talked about concerning Mr. Beers' record in the Legislature so that voters can judge the merits for themselves."

In the court documents, Beers said Truesdell "mailed a political propaganda postcard containing deliberately false and misleading statements."

The mailer in question, according to the lawsuit, said Beers, in his role as legislator, used "insider political connections to get a former business partner out of paying back taxes and a $1 million fine for breaking the law."

The mailer alleged the evasion was accomplished when Beers "hooked up his old company with his buddies in the Legislature," which resulted in "a secret, last minute amendment that shut out public input and wiped away" the $1 million fine.

Beers' lawsuit said the allegations are demonstrably false, were made to hurt the former lawmaker's chances in the election and that Truesdell "had actual knowledge of the falsity of his claims, but proceeded to mail out the libelous advertisement anyway."

The lawsuit proceeds to detail the background of the case in question, including that Beers was not a business partner of Payroll Solutions, the firm that was subject to the fine, but an employee of a related firm.

It also said the company didn't avoid the fine through an effort from Beers but because it was set aside by a District Court judge and the Nevada insurance commissioner declined to pursue the matter.

The claim against Truesdell said, "The facts and circumstances of the Payroll Solutions Group Limited, Inc., lawsuit are well documented in two separate court cases, both of which are available online."

Beers didn't have to go far to get some of the legalese used in the Truesdell lawsuit.

It was similar to language in the 2008 lawsuit against Allison Copening that stated an advertisement based on the same underlying allegations, in addition to a false charge Beers was under review by the Nevada Commission on Ethics, "logically shows that she intended to hurt Mr. Beers' reputation so badly that those who were in favor of Mr. Beers would have doubt in their minds and hopefully vote for her."

Although Copening was dropped as a defendant in the 2008 lawsuit, Beers' litigation continued against the Nevada State Democratic Party, which had sent the mailer.

In 2010, the Democratic Party admitted to Beers the "ethics review" statement was false and paid a $2,500 settlement, which Beers donated to charity.

Mark Peplowski, a political science professor at College of Southern Nevada, said though the mailer appeared designed to dredge up unproven charges against Beers, it is just as likely to hurt Truesdell.

"I really think Truesdell pulling out this card this late in the game shows two things," Peplowski said. "First, they are desperate. Second, I think it is incredibly crass to rehash something that has already been litigated and already put to bed. I think voters will see through it."

While Beers' lawsuit further amplifies the old allegations, Peplowski described it as necessary to put Truesdell back on defense and communicate to voters who received the mailer.

"Truesdell is going to have to either apologize real quick or face the wrath of Bob Beers," Peplowski said. "I think Truesdell could have slit his throat politically by doing this."

The bitter battle between the presumed front-runners in the race gives hope to other candidates, too.

Kristine Kuzemka, a public defender who is seeking the seat, said she is buoyed by polling that indicates she is  third in line between two candidates who are beating each other up.

"The two-man race has now turned into a two-man, one-woman race," Kuzemka said.

"If what they are saying is true, then neither one of them is suited for the job, and I am the best candidate."

Contact Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435.