Wednesday, May 12, 2004 | 9:39 a.m.
The Ward 2 Las Vegas City Council special election race is on, and hopefuls say they expect to spend between $30,000 and $70,000 and wear out shoe leather walking door to door in an effort to get elected.
About 10 people raised their hands at a special Las Vegas City Council meeting Tuesday when asked who intended to run for the seat left vacant by Lynette Boggs McDonald, who left April 20 to become a Clark County commissioner.
The decision to then approve a June 22 special election came as little surprise, though one council member, Lawrence Weekly, kept it from being unanimous. He noted that the projected $80,000 it will cost to run the first-ever special election to replace a City Council vacancy could be better spent.
Weekly said it will be costly not only for the city to put on this election, but also for the candidates -- and especially the winner, who would have to file in January for re-election in the spring municipal elections if he wanted to stay in office for a full four-year term.
Councilman Gary Reese, however, argued that for any vacancy greater than 90 days "there should be a special election ... Let the voters decide."
The council had the choice to either appoint a replacement within 30 days or, as they did Tuesday, pass a resolution authorizing a special election.
Prior to the vote, Councilwoman Janet Moncrief said Ward 2 candidates should be able to walk the ward at least once between now and Election Day. She noted that she walked hers twice in two and a half months to get elected.
Mayor Oscar Goodman said the candidate who gets his name out now and gets elected in June "probably will win" re-election next spring because the voters will get to know that person well.
Councilman Larry Brown said ward races generally draw 10 to 20 percent of the voters -- in this case, about 3,600 to 7,200 -- so he does not believe money will be the major force. The candidate "with fire in their belly" will have the best opportunity to win the race, he said.
Candidates, who must have been residents of Ward 2 as of April 19 to run, have just 42 days to get their names known in the ward that stretches west to Red Rock Canyon and has 36,200 registered voters. Filing for office will be May 17-19, but several potential candidates are not waiting.
"I'm going out (campaigning) tonight -- 36,000 people is a lot of hands to shake," said Las Vegas attorney Steven Wolfson. "I have two campaign fundraisers already set and I plan three more. This race could cost between $30,000 to $70,000."
Former Las Vegas Planning Commission member Craig Galati placed his estimate for a war chest a little more conservatively at $30,000 to $50,000. But, he said, more than money, "a clear-cut strategy" will come into play with so little time and so many people to reach.
"There are ways of getting your message out quickly -- target mailing, talking to the voters," he said.
Steve Greco, a Citibank officer and a member of the board of directors of the Summerlin North community in Ward 2, said he estimates it will take about $50,000 to effectively run a campaign.
"You cannot get around the fact that it costs money to do things," Greco said, noting that he, too, will use mailers. "And there will be a lot of walking. Summerlin is a very hilly area."
City Clerk Roni Ronemus told the council that instead of having 23 polling sites on Election Day, there will be just four -- the Veterans Memorial Leisure Center, 101 S. Pavilion Center Drive; Shadow Hills Baptist Church, 7811 Vegas Drive; Christ Lutheran Church, 111 N. Torrey Pines Drive; and the Sahara West Library, 9600 W. Sahara Ave.
The move is designed to cut costs that would have included paying the power bills for one day at 13 schools that normally serve as Ward 2 polling sites but are closed for summer vacation.
Early voting will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on June 18 and 19 at the City Clerk's office, 400 E. Stewart Ave.; 8 a..m. to 6 p.m. on June 18 at the Veterans Memorial Leisure Services Center; and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. June 19 at the Vons supermarket at Rampart and Charleston boulevards.
Voter registration for the election will be open through June 5. The City Clerk's office will be open extended hours from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. June 1-4 and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on June 5, Ronemus said.
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