County Commission incumbents show their polish during debate

When the blinding television lights flashed onto the stage, lesser-known Clark County Commission candidates were given the spotlight to prove to viewers why they are the better choice for the seven-member board.

And residents growing impatient with incumbent commissioners finally had an opportunity to grill them about ethics, water concerns and growth.

But the incumbents glided through the two-hour debate Friday night untarnished and Dario Herrera, who is after the District G seat vacated by Lorraine Hunt, held his ground as the front-runner.

Challengers in the two races expected to be the tightest -- Steve Harney, who is running against Erin Kenny, and Mark Smith, who is up against Myrna Williams -- tried to leap ahead in the polls by putting incumbents on the spot.

But both failed to do their homework and fell short.

Harney, for example, asked Kenny why she voted on an Apex landfill property issue when her husband owns an office in the area and would benefit from the deal. Miffed, Kenny said that her husband isn't at all involved in Apex and that his office is on Tenaya Way.

Kenny then told Harney that privatizing sidewalks along the Strip is a salient issue and asked how the Nevada state trooper felt about the issue.

"I hadn't even thought about it," Harney said.

Harney also went after Kenny over the master plan in District F. Harney sided with residents in the Blue Diamond area earlier this year when Silver State Disposal proposed building a garbage transfer station near a residential area.

"We have a master plan in place; it was adopted in 1997," Kenny said. "Others are being modeled after it."

Kenny had an obvious advantage in addressing questions about issues that have troubled the valley for years.

For example, one question posed was about cracked roads and foundations in the district. Harney said the county needs to do a better job maintaining its roads; Kenny said something needs to be done about underground water flows, which are actually causing the fractures.

Kenny went on to say that air quality has been and continues to be on the top of her list of priorities. The Democrat often drew hefty applause from a group of supporters in the audience.

"There is nothing that will shut down this community faster than bad air," Kenny said.

Harney's primary concern was transportation. He said while the Beltway will alleviate some congestion, smaller projects such as the construction of bus pull-outs would help traffic flow.

While Republican Smith distributed a statement Saturday boasting of how he had highlighted William's neglect of District E on Friday night, he spent most of the evening belaboring a recent ethics investigation.

Williams, a Democrat, was lumped in with Commissioners Yvonne Atkinson Gates and Lance Malone during a probe into concessionaire contracts at McCarran International Airport. Williams, however, was exonerated by the state Ethics Commission.

"To quote another Republican, Ronald Reagan, 'Here we go again,' " Williams said. "I had nothing to do with awarding the contracts. I was 100 percent exonerated, and I don't appreciate that."

The two candidates also fielded questions on water issues and parks. Williams said the county must stop California from taking Nevada's water without offering something in return. Smith said the state isn't at risk of losing its water.

"I don't believe we'll ever run out of water; it's a matter of how much we can buy," said Smith, longtime president of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.

The final debate of the evening was the least dynamic. While the other candidates seemed as though they had reviewed the questions in advance, businessman Milt Doyle appeared to be unprepared.

Doyle passed on the first question related to HMOs and then cut short his responses to questions posed by a League of Women Voters panel by echoing opponent Herrera's answers.

For example, in answering a question from the audience, Herrera said the county needs to take a more active role in preventing flooding in high-risk areas.

Doyle replied: "He spoke it very well. I agree 100 percent with what he just said."

In contrast, Herrera, while only 25 years old, has served one term as a Democratic state assemblyman and seemed to have the motions of a politician down. He stared confidently into the camera and used hand gestures to punctuate his points.

Doyle said growth was one of his greatest concerns and said the county must do a better job of preparing for development.

"We need to be sure infrastructure is in place before development occurs," Doyle said. "If you're going to have growth and infrastructure, you have to have the money to pay for it first."

Herrera said his primary concerns were health care and juvenile crime. He recommended implementing a program that offers activities to youths in the afternoons.

"We need to make certain kids have something to do after school," he said.

During each of the half-hour face-offs, candidates used questions from their opponents to launch into a list of their accomplishments. While some 200 people were expected to attend the debates held in a lecture hall at UNLV, the event actually drew about half of that.

Most of those who showed up for the 8 p.m. debate were either members of the League of Women Voters or big supporters of a particular candidate who lobbed questions to make their candidate shine.

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