Las Vegas mayor wants election to pick replacement for Barlow

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman wants Ward 5 voters to decide who will represent them for more than a year, to serve out the remainder of former councilman Ricki Barlow’s term.

The Las Vegas City Council is expected to decide Wednesday whether to fill the Ward 5 vacancy on the dais by holding a special election or appointing a candidate.

“I think this is for Ward 5 to decide,” Goodman said. “I’m for an open election, absolutely.”

Barlow resigned his seat Jan. 22, and said he will plead guilty to a federal felony charge for fraudulently converting campaign funds from his 2015 re-election effort to money for his personal use.

Goodman estimated a half-dozen people have lobbied her to appoint them to the vacant post, but all said they plan to run for the seat in the 2019 election.

Former Nevada assemblyman Harvey Munford and Las Vegas Planning Commissioner and Nevada System of Higher Education Regent Cedric Crear have both made public their plans to run for the seat next year.

The filing period for candidacy paperwork is a year away.

Some community members have pushed for a special election, voicing concern appointing someone with ambitions for a full term will give them an advantage as an incumbent in the election.

Nominees John Edmond and Todd Moody volunteered to serve as a “caretaker” councilmember for the more than a year remaining of Barlow’s term. Both wrote letters to Goodman and the City Council pledging they would not run when the Ward 5 seat is up for election.

Both Edmond and Moody also wrote they would keep the current Ward 5 staff in place.

The Ward 5 council seat has been vacant since Barlow announced in a news conference Jan. 22 he was stepping down. An FBI investigation into Barlow first came to light in September 2016.

“I was so saddened by it all,” Goodman said. “Sadly, people make mistakes in life. It breaks my heart because he was so on top of things for the city.”

Contact Jamie Munks at jmunks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0340. Follow @Journo_Jamie_ on Twitter.