Ross dwarfs Taylor in fundraising for LV race

Steve Ross, the incumbent in the Ward 6 Las Vegas City Council race, has raised nearly eight times as much money as his only competitor.

Contribution reports submitted Tuesday show Ross raising $166,775 from Jan. 1 to March 26. The challenger, attorney Jennifer L. Taylor, took in donations just short of $21,400.

Taylor's report lists many individual donors, most of whom gave less than $500.

The donations are larger on Ross' filing, and the donors are from the influential set: Station Casinos, Boyd Gaming, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors and several construction unions are among his largest supporters.

Ross is outspending Taylor by a similar margin.

Ross shows $139,700 in expenses, with most of the money going to his campaign director's firm and for polling. Taylor's bills came to just over $18,000.

The campaign is proving to be a much less expensive one for Ross than his race in 2005, when he was one of 11 people seeking the seat. He was one of the two candidates to emerge from the primary, and he eventually won a 128-vote victory.

In 2005, he raised more than $538,000 for his campaign and spent just under $482,000. He won with 3,199 votes.

The filings can be viewed under the "elections 2009" tab at the city of Las Vegas' Web site, www.lasvegasnevada.gov.

Early voting for municipal elections ends Friday. The primary is Tuesday.

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