And it's election time again! Wait, didn't we already have one last November? Yes, we did... For federal, state, and county offices. This spring, however, features municipal elections for all Clark County cities.
North Las Vegas is one of these cities. And considering North Las Vegas' recent history of salacious scandals and other forms of bad press, this election may very well become a referendum on the current troubled state of the city. That's why we're seeing all sorts of political jockeying and bare-knuckle campaigning emerge.
Take, for instance, the emergence of a new PAC opposing North Las Vegas Mayor Shari Buck's reelection bid.
A political action committee, helpfully calling itself The Coalition for Truth in Government, has formed to fund an independent expenditure effort that will benefit Buck's main foe, ex-state Sen. John Lee.
Political consultant David Thomas formed the PAC, and he told me Monday he has his first mailer ready to go. So who's funding it?
Thomas wouldn't tell me, but he did acknowledge that at least one union is involved. (Buck has fought with NLV labor groups over budget-cutting.)
"These are people who are angry with Shari Buck," Thomas told me. "I believe she's doing a lousy job....a horrendous job. I'm not sure there's a government that has been run as badly, and the public needs to know. I don't think she's qualified to be the mayor of any city."
This is what happens when a Mayor and City Council use legally questionable tactics to violate city workers' rights. And this is what happens when a Mayor presides over one of the "10 Worst Run Cities in America". And I guess this is what happens when a Mayor "leads" one's city to the brink of insolvency. And perhaps this is what happens after a Mayor's spouse played a shadowy role in the great city council debacle in the last round of municipal elections. We really shouldn't be surprised this is happening to Shari Buck.
However, there is a strange and surprising twist to this story: John Lee is using this to attempt a political comeback! Yes, that's right. After his stunningly lopsided SD 1 Democratic Primary defeat by Pat Spearman last June, Former State Senator John Lee began crafting his return to the political stage by sending out "feelers" for a potential run for Nor'town City Hall. He must have liked the results. So now, John Lee will again be on the ballot.
As mentioned above, this race has already turned nasty. Buck has already been sending attack mailers against Lee noting his pursuit of multiple offices in the past 18 months (NV-04, SD 1, Nor'town Mayor, did I miss any?). Lee has obviously been hitting Buck over her own record as Nor'town Mayor. And now, PAC money has started to flood the city.
Early voting has already begun today in North Las Vegas, so campaigning there is already hot and heavy. And with 2 other candidates in the Mayoral Ring, there's a possibility of a June runoff. So Nor'towners need to brace themselves. This may be a long, expensive, and dirty slog all through the spring.
North Las Vegas indeed is facing an epic crisis, but it's just too easy for certain politicians in charge to place all the blame on unions. After all, Mayor Shari Buck had agreed to the very contracts she's now decrying. And Buck, not the police and fire unions, had the opportunity to turn the tide by scaling back the new City Hall to focus on keeping parks, libraries, and other essential service open, as well as develop a master plan to guide the city in pursuing realistic development options for all the city's empty land. Instead, Shari Buck and other city "leaders" wasted all that time chasing "magical pots of gold" (aka "casino row", unnecessary new housing, etc.) that only turned out to be mirages in the open desert.
Without a doubt, the city has made many poor decisions in the last decade and it's downright ridiculous for certain folks on North Las Vegas' city council to act "innocent" now when they supported the very policies that provided fuel when the recession caught fire and swept into the valley in full force. However, this can't entirely be laid on city "leaders", either. After all, the city can't control any tax policy. Rather, the state has been shortchanging Nor'town with lopsided C-Tax policies that provide more funding for Las Vegas and Henderson while returning far less revenue to North Las Vegas AND forcing Nor'town to run its own libraries. (The state directly funds public libraries in Las Vegas, Henderson, and unincorporated Clark County.)
And then, of course, there's that recession. Because North Las Vegas has more concentrated poverty than most of the rest of Clark County, it's always had more revenue problems. But when that's combined with fast new "boomtown" neighborhoods selling at grossly inflated prices and coupled with retail centers under construction, that makes a recipe for disaster. Really, all it took with the housing collapse and the onset of "The Great Recession" to cause North Las Vegas' house of cards to start tumbling down. And with so many deflated home values, empty retail centers, continued poverty hurting many city residents, and (again) a lack of proper planning to deal with anybody this, North Las Vegas was really doomed for disaster.
So really, it was a combination of poor planning, poor leadership, and no action to address the still poor people that led Nor'town into the mess it's now mired in. But now, it will take not just the entire city, but the entire valley and perhaps even the entire state to solve this crisis. After all, if North Las Vegas falls, then the entire Southern Nevada economy is at risk from the resulting bad media and the horrifying effects of the lack of government in a large portion of Clark County. And if our economy takes a hit, then the entire state ultimately suffers.
So really, Nor'town needs "an extreme makeover" at city hall ASAP. The people of this city need better local leadership and a real game plan to end this crisis. If they don't get this, then we're all at grave risk.
Let me try to explain. Since 2008, Vermillion's and Sisolak's relationship has been a factor in Henderson politics. Sisolak was elected County Commissioner in November 2008, and Vermillion (then known as Kathleen Boutin) was elected City Council Member in June 2009. They were to be "The Ultimate Power Couple". He was the "fiscally conservative watchdog taking on the firefighters" at the county level, while she was the beloved community leader in Henderson who was doing so much good for local teens in need. Everything seemed perfect...
But obviously behind the scenes, it wasn't. We've already been seeing the details behind the deterioration of their romantic relationship. However, that wasn't the end of it. Perhaps last year's jurisdiction battles and municipal elections were a sign of what's to come. Kathleen Vermillion voiced early support for the controversial plan to concretize part of Pittman Wash, while Steve Sisolak opposed it. And Sisolak backed the challengers to two of Vermillion's colleagues on the Henderson Council (Gerri Schroder in Ward 1, and Debra March in Ward 2) in last year's election. At one point, they were also endorsing opposing candidates in the Ward 4 election. (Vermillion endorsed Mike Mayberry early on before switching to "neutral" just before the runoff, while Sisolak endorsed Sam Bateman.) Honestly, I found it strange hearing him complain about the supposed "fiscal recklessness in Henderson" (which actually has the lowest city worker to resident ratio and the lowest property tax rate in the valley!) when his girlfriend was on the council.
But even now that Vermillion is off the council and the NPHY board, questions remain. How did Vermillion spend the money at her charity? How did Vermillion spend the city's tax dollars? Why is Clark County government now being dragged into this fiasco? Were city business and county affairs affected by Vermillion's and Sisolak's personal relationship? And perhaps most importantly, what can the City of Henderson do to ensure city government is not paralyzed by this kind of personal drama in the future?
As we had discussed last week, it's crucial for Henderson to move on from this hot mess and get back to governing. Without a doubt, the council members, and especially new Ward 3 Council Member John Marz, face a grueling challenge ahead in rebuilding trust with the community and assuring residents that the Vermillion-Sisolak scandal is one that isn't destined to be repeated in Henderson. How can they prevent this kind of personal drama from infecting all levels of local government in the future?
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Of course, Henderson isn't the only city in Southern Nevada facing lurid scandal. In Las Vegas, voters are still casting ballots that may determine not only Steve Ross' political future, but also how effective issues surrounding conflict of interest will be in shaping future campaigns.
Steve Ross has repeatedly been accused of being involved in all sorts of conflict of interest and ethics violations. He obviously hasn't been a model for great public service, and many residents are honestly (and IMHO justifiably) irked by this. However, many of these same residents are also wondering why they're voting on this recall today. Why?
Enter Joe Scala. Apparently Scala is still fuming over being denied a license to keep his car dealership in Centennial Hills open, and he's blaming it on Ross. So now Ross is accusing Byron Goynes, the one candidate who qualified to run against him in this recall election, of being "a puppet for Scala"... And he's even trying to tie Goynes and Scala to Henderson's Vermillion-Sisolak scandal by pointing out the recall committee hiring the same PR strategist (Mark Fierro) who's taken on Kathleen Vermillion as a client! Oh my, and the plot thickens.
Honestly, I'm still trying to figure out the whole point of this. No, I've never really been Steve Ross' biggest fan. I still wonder why he sought to earn Homophobic-Bigot-in-Chief Richard Ziser's endorsement when he ran for Las Vegas Mayor last year, and his stunning lack of knowledge on the big issues facing our country still disgusts me. However, I still can't clearly see the reason for this recall. Has Ross committed a crime? Is he egregiously failing in his duty on the council? And have his obvious public policy shortcomings become such a matter of emergency that Las Vegas can't wait one more year to vote him out (when he will again be up for reelection in Ward 6)?
Is this a genuine effort to clean house on the Las Vegas City Council? Or is this just an angry car dealer's vendetta being carried out on the taxpayers' dime?
Last June, I declared that there's something rotten in the state (really, city) of North Las Vegas. And despite (or maybe because of?) Shari Buck's efforts to turn all those frowns upside down, I still have to wonder where that stench is coming from (other than whatever's going on at that waste water treatment plant). Why is a new city hall open while parks and community centers have closed? What really needs to be done to change the city's image (other than glossing over the faults everyone else clearly notices)? And how can all that empty land be transformed into a vital part of the local economy?
Perhaps North Las Vegas' dilemma is the most basic and existential problem of them all. Really, how can North Las Vegas move forward?
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Certainly this year, the bulk of the media's attention will be turned to the hot, "sexy", top-of-the-ticket elections. After all, with the G-O-TEA clowns coming to town, there will be plenty of fodder for local newscasts and national cable news shows alike. But after all the hoopla of the caucus and fighting over who really won what, these local problems will remain. And really, the government we most often deal with is the local variety. Whenever we have problems with rowdy neighbors or pesky potholes or dilapidated parks or dangerous sidewalks, we go first to city hall.
And so far in this first month of 2012, we've had plenty of food for thought as personal drama got out of hand in Henderson, a recall election unleashed plenty of chaos in Las Vegas, and still unanswered questions of the city's viability in the not-so-distant future linger in North Las Vegas. How does local government address scandal? How can local government try to prevent scandals from ruining its reputation? And how can local government heal rifts with the community after scandals come and go?
Local government theoretically should be the government that we trust the most and hesitate the least over engaging. Yet for some time, a combination of the public's misperceptions and genuine scandals has tarnished our cities' reputations and made folks ask what's really going on at city hall. Going forward, Henderson, Las Vegas, and North Las Vegas all have to face their own respective challenges in restoring trust and giving the people of Southern Nevada reason to believe that past sordid tales of corruption really are a thing of the past.
Strange things are happening in North Las Vegas. George Knapp has his own take on what's happening, but I've been hearing things that tell a different story... Or at least, things that make this story far more nuanced and complicated.
When North Las Vegas Mayor Shari Buck's dentist, Wade Wagner, won the Ward 4 City Council race by one vote over the Democrat incumbent, Richard Cherchio, North Las Vegas prepared itself for a recount.
During the Clark County election department's audit, it was discovered that someone voted in the wrong ward. The election might be invalid. Shit got real.
A city council meeting was called. The decision was made by the council to re-do the election in the precinct where the "mis-vote" was cast. Mayor Buck abstained from voting because not only is Wagner her dentist, her husband worked for his campaign. Cherchio also abstained from voting.
As expected, the Wagner campaign is suing over the decision. And for some reason, former North Las Vegas Mayor (and failed gubernatorial candidate) Mike Montandon filed a restraining order. But to be quite honest, as a resident of unincorporated Clark County, I didn't care. I don't live in North Las Vegas and I never plan to.
And honestly as a Henderson resident, folks may wonder why I'm paying more attention to this. Let me explain why.
These said mailers included a whole bunch of attacks that were proven to be false, such as accusing Cherchio of approving hundred-million-dollar projects when he actually wasn't on the council. Why?
But wait, there's more! North Las Vegas Mayor Shari Buck has stated that her husband, Keith, worked for Wade Wagner's campaign. However, Keith Buck was never listed as an expense (as all paid campaign workers are supposed to be) on any of the Wagner campaign's reports. Why?
Honestly, I wanted to write about this election before... But I was too afraid to take it on because of all the unanswered questions. And honestly, I still feel guilty about being a part of the media that always seemed to give North Las Vegas the short end of the stick. #lvmayor was "the sexy race" of the year, and those of us in Henderson were obviously focusing more on what was happening with the Henderson council races.
But at this point, it may really be necessary to ask more questions, since it doesn't look like we'll be getting answers easily otherwise. Why isn't Keith Buck listed as a campaign expense if he worked for Wade Wagner's campaign, as his wife, Mrs. North Las Vegas Mayor, so freely admits? Why is Mike Montandon claiming he will be "disenfranchised" if a revote occurs in HIS precinct (which also happens to be the home precinct of Shari Buck's parents)? Why is someone who was recently appointed to the Citizens Advisory Board and the Utility Advisory Board by Shari Buck now oh so conveniently filing ethics complaints against Richard Cherchio, the council member Shari Buck's friend and dentist Wade Wagner seeks to defeat?
There's something rotten in the state of North Las Vegas. And though it may be late, I figure it's better to to find out what's rotting now than never.
I hope you remembered to vote. If not, get going on that tomorrow! Then after the polls close, check back here tomorrow for live coverage of the results.
In case you were wondering when perpetual professional bigot Richard Ziser would start attacking Nevada families again, we now know he's back and he's trying to shove more than a few anti-equality zealots down our throats in this year's Clark County Municipal Elections. What? You don't believe me? Here's the voter guide!
Now just to be clear, the candidates supporting #6 are saying LGBTQ families deserve no legal recognition and no human dignity. The candidates opposing #7 and #12 want our schools to do nothing as LGBTQ kids to be bullied to death (often literally!). Basically, the candidates who are standing with Richard Ziser agree to carry out his agenda to attack many thousands of Southern Nevada families just for who they are.
In addition, these candidates want to take away women's right to make their own health care decisions. And they want to take away our religious freedom. And they want to waste time (and our local tax dollars!) on xenophobia.
Here in Henderson, city council candidates Ed Hamilton, John Simmons, Ron Hubel, and Mike Mayberry are pro-bigotry. In North Las Vegas, Carl Gatson and Wade Wagner are pro-bigotry. In Las Vegas, Steve Ross is apparently pro-bigotry again. And you can read the rest of the list to see who to watch out for in other Clark County cities.
