Democracy in Peril

By Steve Sebelius

BUMBLING ENEMIES: At long last, some good news for embattled Las Vegas Councilwoman Janet Moncrief.

Moncrief's first day at City Hall was ruined when former campaign aides said they'd engaged in dirty tricks to help her win--dirty tricks that may have been financed illegally. The secretary of state's investigation led to a grand jury indictment on campaign finance and perjury charges.

She's lost every major political battle she's waged, seemingly unable to reach out to her colleagues or learn from mistakes.

And now she may be facing a recall campaign for reasons ranging from general incompetence to that whole indictment thing.

So what's the good news? For the first time in the past year, Moncrief has caught a break: Her nemesis leading the recall effort is Lee Wayne Haynes, community gadfly. This is a guy who makes Republican activist George Harris look competent, and that's no small feat.

Haynes' previous activism includes eliminating the Hot Stuff Adult Book and Video Store out of Ward 1 as part of POIZ, for Porn Only in Zones. And the smaller those zones, the happier the gadflies. Haynes' attempts to play lawyer during those battles were unintentionally hilarious.

But it's a far cry from bitching about discarded smut to gathering the 2,060 signatures--25 percent of all those who voted in the last election--to get a recall election on the ballot. And the 90-day timeline makes it all but impossible, even with a pair of elections drawing guaranteed registered voters to polling places in the ward.

Haynes and the "Ward 1 Cleanup Team" have their work cut out for them.

But the good news for Moncrief doesn't end there. Let's assume that Haynes fails (and it's a safe bet, given that the Friday kickoff had to be delayed because a required third signer of a recall notice couldn't make it). That means Moncrief will have survived a recall, which she could use as an inverse show of public support.

It's totally unscientific, of course. But surviving a recall attempt can legitimately be put down on your resumé as a win. And these days, Moncrief needs one. Badly.

So it's back to picking out a nice suit for her scheduled Sept. 8 indictment in District Court. It's after Labor Day, so nix the white. Remember, navy is the new black. You heard it here first.

Ą Speaking of George Harris, the insanity never ends. His petition comes up 2,130 valid signatures short in a statistical sample, and then 4,548 short in a line-by-line recount. The Review-Journal dutifully reports the situation, and paraphrases thusly: "Harris has been told by several people with backgrounds in math that it would be 'statistically impossible' for his Axe the Tax petition to lose 2,418 signatures on the recount."

Several people? Math backgrounds? That's considered proof? Well, it's the same standard of proof required to write this line: "I've been told by several people with backgrounds in abnormal psychology that George Harris is 'absolutely nuts' if he thinks his petition will ever make the ballot."

Turnabout is fair play.