Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

LAS VEGAS CITY COUNCIL:

Advertising heats up Ward 4 battle

In mailers, council hopefuls attack each other’s judgment

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Glenn Trowbridge

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Stavros Anthony

Las Vegas City Council Race

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If voters are to believe the negative campaign fliers attacking both candidates in the Ward 4 Las Vegas City Council race, their choice is stark as early voting begins this weekend.

Stavros Anthony, a Metro Police captain and higher education system regent, is, according to his opponent, the king of bad judgment, as reflected by incidents in which he flashed his badge to try to get an airline ticket upgrade, and in which he proposed allowing teachers and staffers to carry guns on college campuses.

Las Vegas Planning Commission Chairman Glenn Trowbridge is, according to the Anthony campaign, little more than a “puppet in a pocket” of the police union, which bucked convention and came out for Trowbridge, and of unions in general.

Anthony also hints that Trowbridge has agreed to be part of the Oscar Goodman Club, securing the mayor’s endorsement by tacitly agreeing to do as Goodman demands once he’s on the council.

Trowbridge, 64, scoffs at the suggestion that he’s not his own man.

“That is what they’re implying, but nothing could be further from the truth,” Trowbridge said. “I think they’ve gone a little overboard.”

For his part, Anthony has said both claims about him have been unfairly taken out of context, or exaggerated to the point of falsification.

Before the primary, Anthony said, “I decided we weren’t going to attack other candidates. Unfortunately, Glenn’s campaign made a pretty vicious attack against me. So we had to respond.”

Anthony, 51, changed his mind after fliers were mailed to voters from the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, which represents about 2,700 officers and has acted separately from the Trowbridge campaign, according to the union and the candidate.

Chris Collins, head of the police union, said his board’s decision to back Trowbridge over one of their own wasn’t made easily. It reflects confidence in Trowbridge, given his experience in municipal government, to “hit the ground running” if elected, Collins said.

Although they deny working from the same script, both Collins and Trowbridge recently referred to Anthony as a “desperate” candidate.

Anthony rebuffs the charge, claiming his campaign is going well, and that he looks forward to knocking on as many Ward 4 doors as possible before the June 2 election.

Attacks aside, the candidates have touted their strengths and stances on the issues.

Trowbridge has talked about constituent care as a vital part of the job. He said it’s important, for example, to make sure traffic through Sun City is kept to a minimum, and that quality of life can be maintained in the relatively upscale ward by making sure that only family-friendly businesses are allowed in.

Anthony said crime is the issue he hears most about — and that as a Metro officer for 28 years, he knows firsthand how to address it.

Another issue — which may in the end define the race, the only council contest on the ballot this year: the proposed new city hall, the controversial project that Goodman is touting as vital to the city’s redevelopment plans.

Anthony is dead-set against the new city hall, which appears by most accounts to be unpopular with residents.

“I guarantee most people in Ward 4 don’t want a new city hall right now,” Anthony said. “People are losing jobs and homes, and now is not the right time for a quarter-billion dollar project.”

Trowbridge said he’s concluded that because the project wouldn’t involve raising property taxes, it makes sense because it will provide jobs and spur further development downtown.

“Now is the ideal time to go forward,” he said.

Goodman, who has expressed support for Trowbridge in fliers, formally endorsed him at his news conference Thursday. The mayor made it clear that he wanted a “team player” on the council, and that the city hall project was on his mind when he chose to back Trowbridge.

“He is in line philosophically with what I’m trying to accomplish here in the city,” Goodman said of Trowbridge, “and the other candidate appears to want to put things on hold and is critical of the way the city does business.”

Though Trowbridge beat Anthony by 8 points in last month’s primary, he didn’t gain more than 50 percent of the votes, so a runoff is needed.

According to the most recent campaign expenditure reports, filed with the city about six weeks ago, Anthony had raised about $135,000, but that included a $71,635 fund transfer from his regent campaign war chest to his council campaign.

During the same period, Trowbridge raised about $81,000.

Anthony’s campaign has pointed out that more than $15,000 of Trowbridge’s donations came from unions.

Trowbridge countered that it was silly to think that as a councilman, he would be biased in favor of the Las Vegas City Employees’ Association because of a small donation.

“I’m not going to promise city employees big raises because they gave me $1,000,” he said.

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