Mayor’s wife stresses independence

Carolyn Goodman kicked off her mayoral campaign Friday evening with her husband, sitting Mayor Oscar Goodman, and family in tow -- along with a couple of showgirls.

And scattered around tables at the event were custom campaign poker chips festooned with her likeness, just like another Oscar staple, his good luck mayor poker chips.

So is this simply Goodman II: The Sequel?

"Absolutely not," Carolyn Goodman said after addressing more than 200 supporters who showed up at her campaign headquarters. "Anybody that knows and cares to know my husband or me knows that I don't listen to him too often. But I love him and he's done a wonderful job for Las Vegas.

"Those are his showgirls, not mine. And going forward, I think Oscar's going to be my showgirl."

Putting the image of the mayor in sequins and a feather boa aside, the fact is that Carolyn Goodman will be reaching out to voters who perhaps don't know both her and her husband and regard her initially as an extension of Oscar's third and final term in office.

She promised that voters would see differences.

"They will as time goes on and I have more airtime and visibility of my own," she said. "I wouldn't be running if I didn't absolutely know and believe that I can move this city forward."

She's not the only one with that in mind. Seventeen other people are in the race, and one of the main contenders, Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani, is also already on the ground with media, mailers and volunteers going door to door.

-- Alan Choate

Hard work in the legislature

Oh the joys of being a Nevada legislative aide in Carson City.

Often it involves carrying or wheeling things from one place to another, down halls, around corners, into hearing rooms.

Seen last week, in no order of importance:

■ A woman pushing a metal cart of half a dozen glass water pitches, all full, into an elevator of the Legislative Building. She was on her way to a hearing room to place the pitchers on tables, saving lawmakers and witnesses from thirst.

■ A young man walking down the hall clutching two plastic bags of rainbow-colored drinking straws. Thirst strikes again.

■ Another male aide pushing a cart full of bouquets on opening day of the session, Feb. 7. Vases full of flowers had decorated every lawmaker's desk on the Senate and Assembly floors. "They need fresh air," he joked as he delivered them to various offices -- most senators on the second floor and members of the Assembly on floors three and four.

Mark Sprinkle might have hit the jackpot in the attache world, however, because of his name. Sprinkle is the aide to freshman Assemblyman Mark Sherwood, R-Henderson. Like others, his office has been getting lots of invites to meet-and-greet events.

"I've been getting some invitations addressed to Assemblyman Mark Sprinkle," Sherwood's attache said. "I guess having two Marks is a bit confusing. And there's the 'S.' I've been tempted to accept a few. It's hard to turn down free food," he joked.

-- Laura Myers

beware the freshman 20

Free food, mostly of the candy and peanuts variety, is everywhere in the Nevada Legislature. It's on nearly every lawmaker's desk, given as gifts -- like the jars of multicolored M&Ms provided at the first meeting of the Assembly Taxation Committee -- and even lurking in non-descript copy rooms where you can nibble at will if you've got no willpower.

New lawmakers have been warned about potential weight gain thanks to handy snacks and never-ending hearings.

Reno Assemblyman Pat Hickey's wife told his attache to help him fight temptation, she said, because he purportedly gained 20 pounds the last time he served in the lower house, in the late 1990s for one term.

In Carson City, it's not the freshman 15, apparently, but the freshman 20 to watch out for.

"That's what they told us when we went through training -- 20 pounds," Sparks Assemblyman Ira Hansen said.

His desk was clear of any candy, for now. But, of course, it was only the first week.

-- Laura Myers

Quote of the week:

"Like the Golden Gate bridge, Las Vegas is a destination for this," Misty Vaughan Allen, suicide prevention coordinator, explaining Nevada's fifth-in-the-nation suicide rate to a legislative committee.

Tweet of the week:

"Someone pulled the fire alarm at legislative building. Most exciting news yet." -- from KSNV, Channel 3, reporter Hetty Chang on Thursday, tweeting under @chettyhang on #nvleg

-- Benjamin Spillman

Follow @political_eye @SoNevBenS @EdisonVogel on Twitter for coverage of the Nevada Legislature. Contact Alan Choate at achoate@reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435. Contact Laura Myers at lmyers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919. Contact Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861.