A rematch of the 2008 campaign for West Wendover Mayor is in the works as incumbent Donnie Andersen filed for reelection last week.
With three days left to file as of Wednesday the only other contender for the city’s top spot is city councilwoman Emily Carter. Andersen and Carter duked it out four years along with incumbent Joey Thaut and in that three candidate field Andersen came out the clear and decisive winner.
West Wendover voters gave Andersen 57 percent of their ballots more than double the total vote tally of either his two opponents.
The unassuming Nevada Department of Transportation employee ran on a platform of cutting red tape and encouraging growth in private sector, particularly small business.
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However Andersen soon learned that winning the election was the easy part. The Peppermill coalition he railed against during the election was still present on the council with Carter still its leader.
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Andersen quickly learned that his plans to reform and streamline city government would meet a quick and untimely death in the council. The best the mayor could was try to run a holding action by vetoing even more expansion of city government new rules and regulation. Andersen only met with very limited success. Time and time again the Mayor’s vetoes were overridden.
Andersen even lost the one ally he thought he could count on the council Bryant blake. elected to office at the same time Andersen, Blake also ran on a platform of being independent from local gaming giant who employed all five sitting councilmen.
Blake independence lasted just two meetings and was soon voting in lockstep with the majority. Since then the few attempts to assert his independence end in failure and humiliation.
The last such incident occurred a little over a year ago when Blake first supported a veto in one meeting and then after reportedly being given a stern dressing down by Carter changed his vote in the following meeting.
In November 2010 Anderson vetoed the motion to double the dispatch fees for Wendover Ambulance brought at the behest of West Wendover Police Chief Ron Supp.According to the city by laws a veto needs a a for fifths majority of the council to be over ridden. With then newly elected councilman Izzy Gutierrez and Blake voting with the Mayor, the veto was sustained. It was the first time an Anderson veto was ever sustained since the mayor took office two years ago.
In a letter he read out loud in the meeting Blake said he was for the increase before he was against it and the only reason why he voted against it was because Snyder threatened to charge the schools for service she was now donating.
“I vetoed it because the ambulance would have simply passed the cost on to the people and that ain’t right,” Anderson said. “I also didn’t like the way the company’s rates became a topic. Its a private business if Lauara is making money or losing money its of no business to the council. Are we going to check every business books from now on to and ding them for something else if they are making a profit?”
The dispatch fee was the second time Blake flipped his vote. Two years before the councilman who ran on the promise of representing the common Wendover resident back tracked on the vote to let the rusty Palms project apply for a class one casino license without building an hotel.
In the original vote Blake was the only councilman to in favor of the Rusty Palms request.
When the issue was revisited two weeks later the councilman flipped.
COUNCIL RACE
Blake’s flip flops as well as the ambulance and Rusty Palms could well become major issues in the councilman’s own reelection campaign this year. As of Wednesday seven candidates had filed for the two open seats including Blake and fellow incumbent Johnny Gorum.
Looking to oust both men will be West Wendover Ambulance Manager Casey Snyder, local internet pioneer Gary Kirigin, postal worker Gerado Rodriguez, railroad man Brian Kunzman and Rainbow Casino media manager Saul Andrade.
In the coming weeks the Advocate will publish interviews of all candidates for local elective office.
