Tarkanian to get day in court

The 2004 election still isn't over for Danny Tarkanian. Today, he's scheduled to take it to court.

Tarkanian ran for state Senate five years ago, losing to incumbent Sen. Mike Schneider in his heavily Democratic Las Vegas district. The race got nasty, with mailers and radio ads impugning Tarkanian's record as a lawyer, his ties to shady telemarketing firms and his role in a college basketball scandal.

After losing the election, Tarkanian, the son of legendary former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian and Las Vegas City Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian, demanded that Schneider retract the various allegations. Schneider refused.

So, in March 2005, Danny Tarkanian filed a lawsuit, claiming defamation and libel and seeking more than $40,000 in damages. After years of lawyerly back-and-forth, the suit is scheduled for a jury trial before District Judge Valorie Vega beginning today.

Tarkanian didn't return calls seeking comment on the lawsuit last week.

Schneider said all the claims he made in the campaign were true and he can back them up. "We have everything documented. It's almost silly," he said.

"When you're in a campaign, your job is to create doubts about your opponent. He tried to create doubts about me, too. He said a lot of things about me that didn't stick. We brought up his background, and that created some doubts in voters' minds."

Schneider noted that the legal bar for libel is high for a public figure such as a political candidate -- Tarkanian will have to show not only that the allegations were false, but that they were made maliciously.

And he disputed the lawsuit's claim that the allegations caused Tarkanian, a Republican, to lose the election. "That district has always been Democratic," he said. "He wasn't going to win that race to begin with. I've been there 18 years now, and Ronald Reagan could not get elected in that district."

In 2006, Tarkanian ran for secretary of state, winning the Republican primary but losing the election to Democrat Ross Miller, who brought up many of the same accusations but didn't get sued, Schneider noted.

Elections can be bitter, but usually, after Election Day, everybody moves on, he said.

"He's still upset with me," Schneider said. "I guess he's looking for absolution, but he's not going to get it from me."

NEW LEADERSHIP

Clark County Republicans and Democrats both chose new leadership last week.

The GOP on Tuesday selected a new chairman in Richard Scotti, a local business attorney. He replaces county prosecutor Bernie Zadrowski, who didn't seek re-election after a two-year term.

Scotti defeated four other candidates who sought the post. In an interview, he said he believes the time is ripe for a Republican resurgence as a backlash develops to President Barack Obama and Democratic control of Washington.

"We feel like we're under attack from within, and most Americans agree with us," he said. "Obama's ratings have dropped. People are starting to fight back."

Other party officers elected by the central committee included Vice Chairman Bob Ruckman, Political Director David Isbell, Secretary Heather Kydd, Treasurer Swadeep Nigam, Coalitions Director Frank Ricotta and Precinct Administrator Duane Liibbe.

The county GOP has lately faced a dilemma over whether to take a hard line on taxes, at possible peril of shrinking the already thin Republican ranks, or embrace the moderates within the party, including elected officials who supported the Legislature's $1 billion in tax hikes.

Scotti said he stands for uniting the party and broadening its ranks, which would include "not criticizing our elected officials publicly." But he also said he supported the resolutions the Central Committee approved last month that publicly condemned the tax-hiking legislators by name.

"Even though I did support that agenda, I would like to be more constructive moving forward and focus on winning seats and getting our message out," he said.

Clark County Democrats, whose Central Committee chose new officers on Saturday, overwhelmingly selected Roberta Lange as their new chairwoman. She replaces John Hunt, the outspoken attorney who did not seek a second two-year term

Other party leaders elected by the nearly 280 committee members who voted include First Vice Chairman Andrew Martin, Second Vice Chairwoman Addie Crisp, Third Vice Chairman Sanje Sedera, Recording Secretary Carol Burgeson and Corresponding Secretary Mike Selvage.

Lange, a consultant who ran New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's Nevada caucus campaign, got nearly 90 percent of the vote after her principal rival, Jack Mallory, withdrew from the race.

Lange said she hopes to run the party in an inclusive and transparent manner as Democrats look to build on a successful 2008.

"We're in a really good place," she said. "Now we have to take the energy we have and move forward. We have to re-elect Harry Reid, Dina Titus, Shelley Berkley and a new Democratic governor."

TERM LIMITS

Term limits are turning the 2010 legislative elections into a game of musical chairs.

The game began in earnest last week, with Assemblyman Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, announcing his candidacy for state Senate. The District 2 Senate seat is coming open as term limits force out Sen. Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas.

Denis is the only currently serving legislator living in the district, which mostly overlaps with his Assembly District 28. Both the state Senate and Assembly districts are overwhelmingly Democratic urban areas east of Interstate 15, centered around Owens Avenue.

"I grew up in this area," Denis, a computer technician, said in a news release announcing his candidacy. "This is where I've served for years in appointed and elected positions. This is where I volunteer in schools, in scouting and in my church. This is an area I want to represent as we face another round of great challenges."

Another member of the Assembly running for an open state Senate seat is Kathy McClain, D-Las Vegas, who has her eye on the Senate District 7 seat being vacated by Terry Care. It's another east side Democratic stronghold.

Carlton, for her part, plans to run for Assembly. She lives in Assembly District 14, where Assemblywoman Ellen Koivisto, D-Las Vegas, is barred from running for re-election.

A former casino waitress who now works for a health-care nonprofit, Carlton said she doesn't see the Legislature's lower house as a step down. "I'm running because there's still some more things I want to do" in the Legislature, she said. In her 12 years in the state Senate, "I didn't get everything done."

Stay tuned for more moves between houses of the Legislature and possibly other elected offices, including county commission and city council, between now and the March candidate filing period.

CAMPAIGN STRATEGY

Some big names in Las Vegas political consulting, Sig Rogich and Jim and Dani Denton, are teaming up in a new campaign firm, they announced last week.

The firm, Election Morning, will specialize in campaign strategy, and will also draw on the services of national pollster Glen Bolger and Nevada numbers guru Jeremy Aguero.

"We wanted to develop a company that would provide a unique and dynamic approach to the changing political environment of Nevada," Rogich said in a news release announcing the new venture.

Rogich and the Dentons have worked together in the past, such as on Gov. Jim Gibbons' 2006 election campaign, though they are not working on Gibbons' re-election race next year.

Now head of the Rogich Communications Group, Rogich was a top campaign staffer for President George H.W. Bush, credited with creating the famous television ad showing Democrat Michael Dukakis riding in a tank. He also is a former U.S. ambassador to Iceland and founded the local advertising and lobbying powerhouse R&R.

Jim and Dani Denton, who are married and live in Henderson, have been behind numerous initiative and mail campaigns in Nevada.

"Successful campaigns require both the creative component to ensure that the message is memorable and the analytical aspect to get that message to the right people cost-effectively," Dani Denton said in the news release. "With this group, we combine talents and can offer clients both areas of expertise."

Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball @reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919.