Malone, at last County Commission meeting, doesn't rule out comeback

The scene has become common around the Malone household -- 22-month-old Grant Malone speaking into a flower vase, then moving around the living room to hug his parents before returning to his stage.

Obviously the toddler has accompanied his father, Clark County Commissioner Lance Malone, to more than a few speaking engagements.

So would the outgoing commissioner, still recovering from a vicious race against Commissioner-elect Chip Maxfield, actually encourage his son to embark on a career that has left him bruised?

"If anyone ever had the ambition or dream to get into the public life, they should," Malone said Tuesday after his final regular commission meeting. "But it's not for everybody; you live in a glass bowl."

Four years ago Malone, then a Metro Police motorcycle officer, defeated Paul Christensen to become the commission's freshest face. This year he was the only board member to lose his seat when he was defeated by Maxfield, another political newcomer.

Malone's six fellow board members presented him Tuesday with a gift and a video highlighting his accomplishments over the last four years, leaving the commissioner in tears.

"I loved what I did; I never not wanted to go to work," Malone said. "When you love something the way I did, it's difficult to leave."

Malone never expected to lose his seat the way he did. He said he fulfilled his promises to his constituents in District C by building new parks and better roadways to ease traffic.

He said his greatest mistake might have been to assume last summer that those accomplishments would help him overcome his greatest obstacle -- a casino company willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to unseat him.

Station Casinos was behind an anonymous flier mailed to Malone's residents after the commissioner went back on his word to the company and voted in favor of a competing casino. The flier pictured Malone with bills stuffed in his pockets and included a cut-out of a lucky buck, which residents were instructed to give to Malone.

Residents obliged; about two dozen of the lucky bucks were pushed in Malone's face when he campaigned door-to-door.

"I can't describe how I felt," Malone said. "You get one, that's bad. You get two, three, four, that hurts."

In hindsight, Malone said, he should have realized how damaging the flier would be, and he should have done more to prove to his constituents the mailer was misleading.

"I'm somewhat resentful," he said. "You can't tell me elected officials don't change their minds. I think being able to change your mind makes you a better elected official."

As far as his immediate future, Malone said he will continue to work for Freeman Advertising after his commission term officially ends Dec. 31. And don't be surprised if Malone pops up in the political arena again, he said.

"I hope I'll be able to get back involved, somehow, someway," he said.

The day that marked his last regular commission meeting was hardly what Tuesday meant to Malone. It's six days before Christmas, and it was a day in which his wife could have called at any minute to say she's in labor with their second child.

His lost commission seat didn't appear to harp on him as much as it did on his acquaintances. A passer-by in the crowded shopping center stopped to ask Malone what he is planning to do with his life.

"What am I going to do? What am I going to do?" the commissioner said, repeating the all-too-familiar question. "Shoot, I wish I knew."

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