Las Vegas Ward 6 candidates clash over “sellout” label

A mailer and a Web site have set off fireworks in the campaign for the Las Vegas City Council Ward 6 seat, with the incumbent calling his challenger a sellout to developers and insurance companies and the challenger contending that she is being attacked with lies and innuendo.

Steve Ross' re-election campaign compiled a list of cases on which his challenger, attorney Jennifer L. Taylor, served as counsel. One page on the Web site focuses on a lawsuit in which a lawyer named Jennifer Taylor represented the State Farm Insurance company that was accused of dragging its heels and hurting a small business that had filed a claim.

"When it comes to standing up for the little guy, don't look for Jennifer Taylor," states text on one of the pages at www.therealjennifer.com. "The money is on the other side."

Problem: There are two attorneys named Jennifer Taylor in Las Vegas, and they worked for the same law firm when the case was filed in 2000. It looks like Ross' campaign got them mixed up, although campaign officials deny it.

Court documents offer conflicting information: The official record of attorneys on the case lists both of them, but filings show only the Taylor who is not seeking public office.

"Had they bothered to pull the actual pleadings ... they would have realized they had the wrong Jennifer Taylor," said candidate Taylor, who said she had not heard of the case at issue until Ross' mailer. "Steve needs to correct this in a mail piece and apologize to both of us."

The other attorney, who is listed as both Jennifer Newton Taylor and Jennifer A. Taylor, did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

Joseph Hong, an attorney who represented the plaintiff, said Tuesday that he recalled only one Jennifer Taylor working the case, and that was the non-candidate.

Also, Drew Cass, an attorney representing State Farm in the case, was able to shed some light, because both Jennifer Taylors used to work for him.

"Jennifer N. Taylor worked on the ... case with me," he said. "I don't believe Jennifer L. Taylor ever worked on that case. She did mostly construction defect work."

Both names being listed in court files was "possibly an error in my office, or it's possible she worked on it a little," Cass said.

Ross' research was compiled by VR Research, a company that specializes in scouring public records for background checks, financial information and political campaigns.

They relied on the listing of the attorneys of record and still do, company President Mike Rice said.

"We knew there were two, based on the docket sheet. That's where it starts and stops for us," he said. "My position is, she was on the case."

Rice made his comments before the Review-Journal spoke with Cass. Ross' campaign did not respond to a request for comment after the new information was found.

Here's why all this matters: The candidate Taylor is co-founder of a group called Northwest Residents for Responsible Growth and is campaigning on the position that she can represent everyday citizens better than Ross.

Ross' campaign is attacking that assertion by trying to paint her as a hired gun for moneyed interests.

"Jennifer Taylor makes her living fighting homeowners and defending big developers," the campaign's Web site states. "How can we believe she will take on the special interests when she is a special interest?"

In many cases, she responded, the attack misrepresents the work she actually does. Several are examples of "subrogation" cases in which an insurance company is trying to recover money from the person at fault for the claim, such as a contractor who put in a bad roof.

In other cases, it's simply work she used to do as a less senior attorney.

"He knows that I predominantly represent homeowners now against developers and big businesses," she said. "I have been in front of him on numerous occasions arguing against developers."

Two attorneys serve on the Las Vegas City Council: Mayor Oscar Goodman, who defended mob figures, and Councilman Steve Wolfson, who has a practice specializing in criminal defense. Taylor wondered whether Ross questions their ability to act in the interests of public safety because of their legal backgrounds.

Ross, too, has been accused of serving two masters. Since joining the council, he has been elected secretary-treasurer of the Southern Nevada Building and Construction Trades Council, and his duties include promoting union labor for construction projects.

The Nevada Ethics Commission told him he could hold both jobs, but warned that he was walking into an ethical minefield and would have to be careful not to be seen as someone using an elected post for union gains.

An ethics complaint has been filed recently alleging that Ross should have declared a conflict of interest on three votes that moved various projects forward.

Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435.