Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Why a retired poker pro is trying to recall Mayor Goodman

Mayor Goodman Supporters Rally at City Hall

Steve Marcus

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman listens to supporters during a public comment portion of a city council meeting at Las Vegas City Hall in downtown Las Vegas Wednesday, May 6, 2020.

Las Vegas local Doug Polk says he’s never been involved in politics — local, national or otherwise. But when the recently retired professional poker player saw Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman’s April 22 interview on CNN, in which she appeared to offer the city as a “control group” to test coronavirus’ severity, he decided to take action.

Realizing the relative simplicity of Nevada’s recall election law, Polk sent a letter of intent to the city of Las Vegas on Wednesday, the first step in the recall process.

“There were a lot of factors that went into this decision, but the main one is she clearly lacks an understanding of debatably the most serious issue to happen to the city over her tenure,” he said.

Goodman, who won her third and final term as mayor last year with 83.5% of the vote, has spread misinformation about coronavirus, including its deadliness and the effectiveness of social distancing, Polk said. In the CNN interview, the mayor did a poor job representing Las Vegas and showed a lack of knowledge about how coronavirus infects people and what it does, he added.

Goodman declined to be interviewed for this story. Since the pandemic hit Nevada in March, she has likened the virus to other new diseases such as swine flu and Ebola as well as the common cold. On April 15, Goodman said that the number of virus deaths in Nevada — which was 130 at the time and is now 306 — did not warrant a shutdown of the state’s economy; Nevada has since begun to reopen incrementally.

Most health experts say coronavirus should not be compared to the common cold or the flu, given that the novel virus has a much higher death rate and seems to be more contagious, according to available research. In addition, swine flu, Ebola and other diseases to which Goodman has compared COVID-19 did not have the same global impact that coronavirus has had.

Despite being criticized by some politicians in Nevada and across the country, she has stood by her position on reopening the economy, which she has held since Gov. Steve Sisolak mandated that nonessential businesses close March 20.

“I wouldn't be in this job and in this community if I didn't have broad shoulders. No matter what it is and how untruthful some of the comments have been, it's OK. I know we're doing the right thing in Las Vegas,” Goodman said Wednesday.

Characterizing Las Vegas as unique compared to other cities because of its economic dependence on tourism, she has emphasized that workers, including casino owners and small-business owners, are struggling financially. The solution, she has said, is to immediately reopen Las Vegas — including casinos, bars, restaurants and convention centers — to get people back to work.

“My question is what are these people supposed to do? We’ve heard ‘Be patient’ but the people of this great community have been patient,’” she said in a statement at the May 6 city council meeting that she also posted on her Twitter account.

But Polk countered that Goodman has disregarded the needs of most Las Vegans.

“We should be talking about the working class, the majority of the citizens, people whose lives may actually be affected by this and who may have already lost a loved one to coronavirus as it is,” Polk said. “Those are the people that we should be really trying to help.”

A Henderson resident for the last 11 years, Polk attended middle school and some of high school in the Las Vegas Valley, he said. Not having lived in the city limits, Polk was not eligible to vote in last year’s Las Vegas municipal election and is therefore unable to sign the letter of intent or the petition itself. Three other “concerned citizens,” he said, with Las Vegas addresses signed the notice of intent.

For a recall effort to move forward in Nevada, petitioners must obtain signatures from 25% of registered voters who cast ballots in the election in question, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. Last spring, 26,979 people — just 8.5% of registered voters — voted in the mayoral primary election, meaning that at least 6,745 people will need to sign Polk’s petition in order to trigger a recall election, according to the city clerk’s office.

The signed petition must be submitted to that office within 90 days of the day that the notice of intent was filed. In Polk’s case, the deadline will be Aug. 4.

Polk has not yet begun collecting official signatures, but he said he has received an estimated 700-800 emails from people who want to sign the petition or help with it.

“I’d anticipate having 100 signatures in the first week or two, and then accelerating the pace as we manage to reach more voters,” Polk said.

He has also gotten some negative responses, which he said was to be expected. A few dozen people, many of whom said they were small-business owners, showed up to last week’s city council meeting to stand by Goodman and thank her for her efforts to reopen Las Vegas.

If Polk obtains the required number of signatures, prompting a recall election, someone will need to run against the mayor. It’s not clear who that person would be.

“I think the great part about this is I’m pretty sure we can find somebody who’s not willing to offer up the town as a control group,” Polk said.

This is not the first time that an elected official in Las Vegas has faced a recall effort. In 2005, former Las Vegas City Councilwoman Janet Moncrief was recalled and lost the ensuing special election to former councilwoman Lois Tarkanian, according to the Clark County Elections Department. In 2012, former councilman Steve Ross was recalled, but he won the special election. Former councilman Steve Seroka also faced a recall effort last year, but he resigned prior to the deadline for submitting signatures.