Thursday, June 05, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Election 2003: McDonald's last stand

Ethics-challenged councilman trounced in bid for third term

By Larry Wills

A small crowd of supporters gathered in City Councilman Mike McDonald's campaign headquarters at 6 p.m. But within an hour his Decatur Boulevard office was overflowing with people--old people, kids, union guys, cops and residents who knew Mike when he was a kid. They wore anything from suits to short pants and T-shirts. There were piles of food and cool drinks, especially popular since the crowd quickly overheated the office. Exuberance was the order of the day. Lots of jokes about opponent Janet Moncrief filled the breezeway out front.

"She spent the whole day at Clark High School. We were campaigning."

They were part of the small army marshalled in May to save McDonald's political career. But McDonald's political baggage was too heavy.

Wearing "I Like Mike" shirts, supporters had canvassed Ward 1 like ants, trying to reverse Moncrief's four-point upset in the primary. Conceding he was blindsided by the latecomer, the councilman blamed Moncrief's lead on his supporters who didn't bother to vote. The primary turnout was about 10 percent. After all, city elections usually don't have burning issues.

For the general election, McDonald promised to drum up the vote. In the weeks before the election, pickup trucks and SUVs patrolled residential neighborhoods, looking for registered voters who liked what McDonald had done for them.

"The first ward got a better deal since Michael got in," supporter John Corwyn recalled. "But that didn't enthuse the voters."

A woman recalled a mixed reception when making phone calls. "Some just got mad with me. Others were real nice."

At 7:30 p.m. McDonald entered the room to wild applause. He mingled, exchanged hugs and shook hands, like a big family.

By 8 p.m. or so, an hour after the polls closed, the news turned grim. With 27 percent of the precincts in, Moncrief had a 14-point lead, way ahead of the primary margin.

McDonald people blamed that lead on the early voting and waited for the big precincts. "We'll just see what happens," he told a reporter.

Forty-five minutes later, it was over. With 74 percent of the vote counted, McDonald was trailing by about 15 points. The councilman was in a death spiral, buffeted by weeks of news stories linking him to an FBI investigation of strip clubs. McDonald was never named as a target of the investigation but had consulted for one club owner and eventually was named a "subject" in the investigation. Targets of the probe were present, and former county commissioners, and McDonald's name also kept coming up.

The bombardment of headlines clearly hurt the councilman, whose loss margin was three times what it was in the primary.

In a hushed room surrounded by posters, rosters of team members and maps of Ward 1, the two-term councilman paraded out his family, friends and longtime supporters before giving the bad news. "I congratulate Miss Moncrief," he said. "I have no excuses. We did our best."

He tried not to appear devastated by the outcome and urged supporters to stick around and party. But he didn't look well.

The room took on the atmosphere of a wake, somber faces, an occasional wiping of an eye. Others quietly started going home. There wasn't any reason to hang around. After all, it was past bedtime for the kids and the drinks were running out.