Amy Lisenbe/Nevada AppealSue Merriwether, left, chief deputy election clerk, and Alan Glover, center, clerk-recorder, go through a candidate filing package with Bob Crowell, right, as he files candidacy for mayor Monday morning at the Carson City Clerk-Recorder's office. Crowell was the first candidate to file.
Alan Glover waited behind the counter of the elections department Monday morning with a coffee mug.
"There's usually one," said the clerk-recorder. "They want to get it over with."
Sometimes there's a line the first morning candidates can file for city office, he said, and sometimes it's quiet.
The official race for mayor started quickly this year, though, with three out of four announced candidates filing before noon Monday.
Bob Crowell, a lobbyist and city school board member, was at the counter when the office opened at 8 a.m.
"Did you check to see if that was counterfeit?" Crowell said smiling after he handed Glover the filing fee.
"We don't have one of those pens," Glover said.
Sean Lehmann, a 35-year-old podiatrist, filed for mayor less than two hours later. He said support for him as an independent who doesn't have the same political obligations as "the good old boys" has made him optimistic.
The idea, too, to encourage the deportation of gang members and drug dealers who are illegal immigrants is something that "really rings a bell with a lot of folks," he said.
Realtor Jim Shirk filed for mayor about an hour after Lehmann.
The new mayor needs to focus on the issues voters are concerned about, Shirk has said, as well as environmental plans such as a possible ban on plastic bags.
The next step for him, Shirk said Monday, is to develop a detailed campaign strategy.
Pastor Ken Haskins, known as the "Rockin' Rev" for his years as radio host, said he plans to file today.
Two of the biggest issues so far have been the two November ballot questions, one for a sales increase to fund the V&T Railway and one for a property tax increase to hire more staff at the fire and sheriff's departments.
Candidates have generally supported the second question more. Crowell said he will vote for it and Lehmann said he probably would.
"There's never a good time to talk about taxes," Crowell said, "but I think we need to get ahead with the public safety issue early on."
Along with the mayor's race, seats of two out of five supervisors and three out of seven school board members are up for election this year. Almost all interest, however, has been in the mayor's office since Marv Teixeira announced he will not run for a fourth term.
Either Teixeira or Ray Masayko has been mayor for the last 20 years.
Supervisors Shelly Aldean, who filed Monday, and Richard Staub are running for re-election, but no one has challenged them this year so far.
More than one supervisor in the same election has not run unopposed since the city was incorporated with Ormsby County in 1969.
- Contact reporter Dave Frank at dfrank@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.