City Council candidate denies she lives outside ward

By Delen Goldberg

Thursday, April 21, 2011 | 2 a.m.

Adriana Martinez invokes her childhood when asked why she’s running for the Las Vegas City Council. She tells the story of walking to Sunrise Acres Elementary School and feeling safe, a luxury now gone in the rough neighborhood.

“I was born and raised in Ward 3,” she says often.

Martinez rarely mentions life as a resident in the neighborhood today. And that, according to her opponent, former state Sen. Bob Coffin, is because she doesn’t live there.

“There’s only one issue in this race,” Coffin says. “It all boils down to integrity. She doesn’t live in the ward. She lives at Sunrise Mountain and gets to look down on the problems.”

Martinez denies the accusations and calls Coffin’s claim ridiculous. “It’s just a political ploy,” she says. “It’s the only thing they can throw out there that sticks.”

Martinez had hoped to put to rest the residency issue, which plagued her in the primary, by taking a KLAS Channel 8 news crew on a tour of her Ward 3 home. She showed clothes in a closet, Chinese food leftovers in the refrigerator and an unmade bed.

But rumors and accusations about Martinez’s primary residence persist. Coffin sent out a mailer during the primary outlining evidence he says proves Martinez is lying about where she lives. Coffin said he will continue to raise the issue heading into the June 7 general election.

Property records show Martinez owns two homes: one at 1499 Sunair Circle, between Nellis Boulevard and Sunrise Mountain in unincorporated Clark County, and one at 812 Sweeney Ave. near downtown Las Vegas, part of Ward 3.

Martinez lists the Sunrise Mountain home as her mailing address on most official documents, including her Sweeney Avenue property records. The reason, she says: When she purchased the Ward 3 home and began renovating it, she was living on Sunair Circle. She said she rented the Sunair Circle home in November. Her 2010 voter’s registration address is Sweeney Avenue.

A private investigator hired — by whom, isn’t known — to watch the residence found that over two months, Martinez spent less than three hours there. She never slept at the property and wasn’t seen there on a day she called in sick at City Hall, where she works as a liaison for Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian.

The surveillance took place from January through mid-February. Martinez officially declared her candidacy Feb. 3. City law requires candidates to live in the ward in which they are running for 30 days before the filing deadline.

Martinez maintains that she lives in a casita behind the Sweeney Avenue house while the main residence is being renovated. She said she bought the property as a foreclosure in January 2009 but stopped work on it once she became serious about a council run. She said she couldn’t afford both endeavors.

Martinez said she spent the beginning of the year working and caring for her sick mother, which is why she was rarely seen at the home. Coffin brushed off her explanation as an excuse and called Martinez arrogant for thinking voters will buy it.

The private investigator hired to watch Martinez also discovered a man living in the Sweeney Avenue house. A hidden camera captured footage of him coming and going, often with women. Most of the unidentified female visitors stayed for only an hour.

Martinez said the man is family friend who lost his job and had nowhere to stay. She said she allowed him to live in the house as a favor.

Martinez said the Sunair home is rented to a friend. Tenant Debbie Trudell said she and her family moved into the house in November. Trudell is the daughter of Harriet Trudell, political director of the state Democratic Party; Martinez is a former party chairwoman.

Martinez’s Sweeney Avenue house is two miles from where she grew up. She said “it’s fun to visit and revisit how the neighborhood has changed.”

The issue of residency has long been a contentious point in campaigns. The list of candidates accused of carpetbagging is long.

Former Rep. Jon Porter accused Dina Titus and Tessa Hafen, who ran against him, of living outside the 3rd Congressional District. In 2004, two candidates, Republican Assembly candidate Anne DiMartini and Democratic Senate candidate Todd Allen, were thrown off the ballot over this issue.

Most famously, former Clark County Commissioner Lynette Boggs was convicted of a misdemeanor and paid a $2,000 fine after being accused of filing a false statement of residence while seeking election to the commission. Political opponents hired the same private investigator who surveilled Martinez to videotape Boggs performing household duties at a home outside her district.

Martinez complains that political enemies are trying to “Lynette Boggs” her.

It has not been revealed who paid for the investigation. Coffin denies funding the enterprise.

Martinez’s candidacy was challenged in February using details of the investigation as evidence she was lying about her address, but City Attorney Brad Jerbic threw out the complaint because the person who filed it lives in unincorporated Clark County, not Las Vegas.

Coffin, who beat Martinez in the primary by just 49 votes, hopes that questions about her residency — proven or not — will widen his lead.