More candidates up for Las Vegas council seat

The lineup of people looking to replace Las Vegas Ward 2 Councilman Steve Wolfson keeps getting deeper.

In recent days Bob Chinn, 53, a retired Metropolitan Police Department captain; Anthony Ruggiero, 47, special assistant to Mayor Pro Tem and Ward 4 Councilman Stavros Anthony, and Ron Futrell, 55, a freelance marketing consultant, have stated a desire to pursue the seat.

Chinn and Ruggiero, a former attorney general investigator, both have law enforcement experience. Futrell is a former television journalist and former spokesman for the Clark County Republican Party.

They join neighborhood activist Donna Toussaint, 65, former Ward 6 Councilman Michael Mack, 48, and Planning Commissioner Ric Truesdell, 57, who have also declared an interest in running.

Truesdell and Mack have ties to Mayor Carolyn Goodman and former Mayor Oscar Goodman. Truesdell's wife, Trish, is special assistant to the current Mayor Goodman. Mack helped both Goodmans with their campaigns.

Mack is also brother-in-law to Andrew Donner, the downtown developer who helped recruit Zappos to move from Henderson to downtown Las Vegas. The connection could force Mack, were he to get the seat, to recuse himself from voting on many downtown-related issues.

Ross Goodman, an attorney and son of Carolyn and Oscar Goodman, has also been discussed as a possible candidate but hasn't affirmatively declared intent like the others.

Before anyone fires up the campaign machinery, however, they need to wait for the City Council to decide how it intends to fill the seat being vacated by Wolfson, who was recently chosen by the Clark County Commission to replace District Attorney David Roger. Roger resigned to take a job with the Police Protective Association.

The council has the option to appoint someone to complete Wolfson's term, which ends in June 2013, or hold a special election to let Ward 2 voters decide for themselves who should finish the term.

The position has a salary of $72,742