Clark County Commission candidate aims to end GOP losing streak

Republicans could end their more than decade-long losing streak on the Clark County Commission through a political newcomer with a massive campaign fund.

Real estate attorney and GOP candidate Tisha Black says she has raised more than $800,000 to fuel her run for the open District F seat, which represents large swaths of unincorporated land in the southwest Las Vegas Valley.

That unverified amount — the next reporting deadline is Oct. 18 — is up from the about $496,000 cash Black reported on her previous campaign finance report in June. It’s also further evidence that the 47-year-old daughter of former developer and gaming executive Randy Black is the first Republican commission candidate to receive such significant financial backing in the last decade.

Black, founding partner at the Black and Lobello law firm in Summerlin, said she’s not running for the commission to launch a political career.

“I know business, and I just want to go to the county because I think the county can do business better,” she said.

Black will need to woo voters outside her party if she hopes to win.

A Republican hasn’t won election to the commission since 2004, and Democrats have an advantage of more than 12,000 active voters in District F. Their candidate, trial attorney Justin Jones, did not provide current fundraising numbers. But as of June he had raised about $325,000 in cash, and he has name recognition in the party.

Jones served as a state senator from 2012 to 2014 after winning a special election to finish a resigned lawmaker’s term. In 2013, he successfully spearheaded a bill requiring background checks for gun sales, later vetoed by Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval. He’s also built a reputation as an environmental advocate, fighting in court against the same county commission on which he hopes to sit.

“I’m a known quantity,” said Jones, 43. “You know you’re going to get a fighter. With Tisha Black you don’t.”

After losing in the 2014 midterm election, which proved disastrous for Democrats at both the state and federal levels, Jones is hoping a backlash against a controversial Republican president and Republican-controlled Congress will help carry him to victory.

“People didn’t care in 2014,” he said. “You would knock on a nonpartisan’s door, and they were just checked out. And I think that people are paying attention this year, and I am optimistic that means they are actually going to go vote.”

For her part, Black has advertised herself as a political moderate who votes the issues and not a party line.

“I am a fiscally conservative person, period. But I also don’t think the government belongs in your bedroom in any singular fashion,” she said. “My profession requires me to think about each and every fact. That’s different every single time.”

Split support

The race has divided support from seated Democratic commissioners.

Commissioners Larry Brown and Susan Brager, who represents District F, have endorsed Black. Commissioners Chris Giunchigliani, Lawrence Weekly and Jim Gibson are backing Jones.

The candidates are trading barbs through campaign mailers.

Jones criticized Black for her family’s past financial troubles.

In 2008, Black and then-husband Mike Chernine was hit with a lien by the IRS for more than $2.5 million in unpaid income taxes. The couple also lost two homes to foreclosure in 2010 and 2011, the latter being a mansion in Summerlin with more than $5.9 million in unpaid debt.

Black has said the debts belonged to Chernine, a real estate developer and investor whose income plummeted during the recession. But Jones said the financial history should make voters wary.

“Overseeing a multibillion-dollar budget, you need somebody who has shown they can manage their own finances,” he said.

Black has criticized Jones’ integrity. In 2012, Jones was part of a Las Vegas Sands Corp. legal team reprimanded by District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez for claiming that email evidence related to a civil lawsuit was in Macau, where it was subject to that jurisdiction’s data privacy laws

Those email records had been brought to the United States. Jones testified that he knew the emails were in the United States but did not speak up.

Jones said his legal career as a whole reflects that he is an upstanding attorney.

Blue Diamond concerns

One of the hottest issues in the race falls just outside the Las Vegas Valley’s urban core.

For years, mining company Gypsum Resources has sought permission to build thousands of homes on top of Blue Diamond Hill, which is in District F and borders the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Hundreds of people have attended commission meetings to protest the proposed development.

Jones has campaigned heavily on the issue.

His political mailers dub him “the Red Rock Guy” and advertise that he represents Save Red Rock, a nonprofit fighting Gypsum Resources and the county in court to block the development. While Jones said he would no longer represent the nonprofit if he is elected, he said he will vote against any zoning variance that would permit the company to build more than the approximately 1,500 homes it is already allowed to construct.

“It doesn’t matter if you are a Democrat, a Republican or nonpartisan,” he said. “People who live in that district care about Red Rock Canyon and want to see it protected.”

Jones’ allies claim that Black is “bought and paid for by big developers.”

But Black said she is not in anyone’s pocket. She notes she has spent thousands of hours cycling and running in Red Rock Canyon since she was a girl.

“That’s my sanctuary,” Black said. “I don’t want to see light pollution up there. I don’t want to see 7,000 homes up there.”

Down to business

Black wants to focus her first term on making the county more business-friendly. Instead of removing property tax caps, she said, the county could generate more tax revenue and spur economic growth if it worked to streamline the process to help landowners make improvements to their properties.

“You can build a building faster than you can get the permits to build it. There’s a problem with that,” she said. “Time is money.”

The county should use Nevada’s business-friendly tax environment to attract mid-sized businesses such as manufacturing companies from states like California, Black said.

“I would love to see more products stamped with ‘Made in Las Vegas,’” she said.

Jones said the county should become less dependent on construction and tourism. He proposes dedicating at least one county employee to focus solely on economic development. In the district he’d like to see more technology companies join International Game Technology and Switch along the 215 Beltway. He said he also is interested in seeing more manufacturing companies come in as well.

“Having those types of industries will hopefully inoculate us somewhat from whatever may come of any future (economic) downturn,” Jones said.

The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson.

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to include the right fundraising totals for the candidates. Tisha Black had raised about $496,000 as of June, and Justin Jones had raised about $325,000.

Contact Michael Scott Davidson at sdavidson@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Follow @davidsonlvrj on Twitter.