Jeff German: Joe Foley looks to stick unsuccessful recallers with hefty tab

Tuesday, July 9, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

REGENT JOE FOLEY is determined to make the taxpayers foot the bill for a failed campaign to recall him from office.

Visiting District Judge Norman Robison of Minden has set a hearing Friday on whether to grant Foley's son, Dan Foley, $27,493 in legal fees incurred during the height of the recall effort in 1993.

A list of the expenses filed with the court shows that Dan Foley charged his father thousands of dollars for consultations with his sister, advertising executive Helen Foley, and other relatives helping his father battle the recallers.

Joe Foley, who's not running for re-election this year, wants either the county or the recallers to pay for those expenses. Most of the recallers are average citizens who don't have a lot of money.

Foley contends the group, with the help of the county Election Department, pushed to oust him knowing the signatures collected were obtained through fraud. And that gives him the right to have the taxpayers pick up his tab.

But that's not the way the recallers see it. They insist they conducted themselves properly.

The recallers say they relied on the advice of the registrar of voters and the secretary of state during the campaign that was tossed out by a different judge friendly to the Foley family.

One member of the group, Pauline Kennedy, has appealed to Judge Robison to be compassionate.

Kennedy, who has no money to hire a lawyer for Friday's hearing, says the recall was a last resort after months of trying to persuade Foley to listen to their concerns about the problems at UNLV under ex-President Bob Maxson.

"I would like to say that we did what was necessary to make a public official pay attention to his constituents," Kennedy says. "Recall is our right -- the same as our right to vote. We should not be punished for exercising our constitutional rights."

It would be a shame if the taxpayers end up footing the Foley family bill.

* Fallout continues from the federal corruption indictment of District Judge Gerard Bongiovanni.

Delwin Potter, the suspended judge's longtime friend and law clerk, has been let go under orders from Chief District Judge Don Mosley.

According to Mosley, the judges who took over Bongiovanni's caseload were uncomfortable dealing with Potter, whose name surfaced during the FBI probe of Bongiovanni.

But some are trying to make it look as though Mosley, though he denies it, bounced Potter for other reasons.

Potter has been in the hip pocket of Las Vegas lawyer Peter Flangas, a Bongiovanni confidant running against Mosley.

Flangas also attracted the FBI's attention during the Bongiovanni investigation, but was not charged.

* It was a big day for Nevada Monday at the international Culinary Union's convention in Chicago.

John Wilhelm, a vice president at large and lead negotiator for Culinary Workers Local 226 in Las Vegas, was elected secretary-treasurer of the international. He becomes the right-hand man to longtime President Ed Hanley, who was re-elected.

D. Taylor, Local 226's dedicated staff director, succeeds Wilhelm as a vice president at large. Taylor has been given the additional title of Nevada director.

And Local 226 boss Jim Arnold was named an administrative assistant to Hanley, giving him more clout with the international.

During the tenure of all three men here, Local 226 has improved ties with the casino industry and become the most influential labor group in the state.

The trio's climb up the ranks can only help the local work force.

* Cabbies claim they're being harassed at the airport by state Taxicab Authority officers.

The officers, it seems, have more time on their hands now that they're no longer collecting toll tickets from drivers.

The airport took over the collection process amid another money scandal at the Taxicab Authority.

Drivers waiting to pick up passengers say they're being written up for such things as leaving keys in their cabs while getting a cup of coffee a few feet away.

* Sheriff Jerry Keller has agreed to face the firing line Wednesday on KRBO 105.1-FM's "All Sides Matter."

The radio show, which airs at 6:35 p.m., is hosted by former Chief Justice Al Gunderson, Channel 3 owner James Rogers and activist Barbara Robinson.

In a promotion, the station raises a number of questions about Keller's administration, including: "Are rogue cops in control of the police department?"