Ensign shifts gears on I-15 yard

Thursday, March 7, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev., withdrew support for a public land deal allowing a trucking firm to move its tractor-trailer yard from Las Vegas to Jean after objections were lodged by his father's casino company.

The company, Circus Circus Enterprises, owns Jean's two casinos.

Ensign acknowledged that Peter Simon, his former business partner and current vice president of development at Circus Circus, persuaded him to change his position several months after he had gone on record supporting the project, pushed by Consolidated Freightways Inc.

Simon said Ensign's father, Mike Ensign, vice chairman and chief operating officer of Circus Circus, did not participate in any discussions about the land.

Lorraine Buck of the Bureau of Land Management, which owns the Jean real estate, said the deal has been stalled in part because of Ensign's decision to withdraw backing.

"It's kind of in limbo," she said. "It doesn't seem to have a lot of support other than from the locals."

Consolidated Freightways, however, now is questioning whether Ensign's about-face is creating the perception of a conflict of interest.

"Part of that perception is that he first endorsed (the project) and later did a complete reversal," said Lee Walker, a lawyer for the trucking company. "I would suggest that he's at least bowing to something more than sound judgment."

In an interview with the SUN, Ensign denied having a conflict. He also insisted the proposed site in Jean is bad for that community.

"There's a tourist industry there, too," he said. "It'll create a lot of congestion. Why move it down there and create the same situation? The main concern is how can we make this thing work the best for all parties concerned?"

Ensign served as general manager of the Nevada Landing and the nearby Gold Strike in Jean, about 40 miles south of Las Vegas, before the two casinos were purchased by Circus Circus in March 1995. He shared an office with Simon.

Easing congestion

Since April, Consolidated Freightways, a nationwide trucking firm based in Palo Alto, Calif., has been trying to buy 25 acres of BLM land in Jean several blocks from the Nevada Landing. The land is near crucial I-15 off-ramps.

Consolidated Freightways, which ships freight on triple tractor-trailers across the country, wants to move its relay station from Tropicana Avenue and I-15 to the Jean site to relieve traffic congestion in Las Vegas. The relay station, considered an important connection in the company's nationwide hauling network, is needed to drop off trailers going into California because that state only allows double rigs on its highways.

Ensign first endorsed Consolidated Freightway's planned purchase in a June 2 letter to the BLM.

"This move would ease traffic congestion we see on a daily basis at the Tropicana, I-15 interchange and make driving in that area easier for all of us," Ensign wrote. "Please take this into consideration as you review the proposal for the land sale."

Prior to that letter, on May 10, John Crawford, chief right-of-way agent for the Nevada Department of Transportation, also wrote to the BLM to back Consolidated's land bid.

"The relocation of their linehaul operation to the Jean area is an obvious plus to an otherwise increasing negative traffic congestion problem in the Las Vegas urban environment," he said.

Then, on July 11, Gov. Bob Miller lent his support in a letter to the BLM: "My administration supports such efforts to diversify and enhance the economic growth of the state."

On Wednesday, a spokesman for Miller said the governor's position has not changed.

In August, Ensign's office learned that his June 2 letter had not reached the BLM.

Brooke Allmon, his legislative correspondent, wrote the federal agency on Aug. 11 apologizing for the delay.

"(Rep.) Ensign strongly supports the position taken by Consolidated (Freightways) and was distressed to hear of the breakdown in communication between our offices," Allmon wrote.

The Ensign letter, now dated Aug. 11, was resubmitted to the BLM.

Community support

In the meantime, Dawn Haviland, a consultant for Consolidated Freightways, obtained the support of the Goodsprings Citizens Advisory Council and the Sandy Valley Advisory Council, the two political decision-making bodies in the area. Haviland gave the BLM petitions with the signatures of dozens of residents in nearby Goodsprings.

But on Nov. 20, Las Vegas attorney B. Mahlon Brown, representing Simon and Circus Circus, filed a lengthy letter of protest with the BLM.

Brown suggested the relay station would pose a threat to Circus Circus' casino expansion plans in Jean and the quality of life for the town's residents.

Jean, home of a state prison, has been working to overcome its other image as an isolated service-station stop on the road to Los Angeles, Brown said.

"To impose these new hazards and congestions on the town of Jean would be a travesty," Brown wrote. "A truck yard by any other name is still a truck yard. ... It is a smoking, coughing, gas-guzzling, oil-spilling beehive. The hotels and community of Jean are beautiful and that image improves and broadens daily. To place a turnaround right in the middle of it is unacceptable."

Then Brown added: "Nevada's first allegiance is to its No. 1 industry and the citizens who earn their living and support their families through this industry. That allegiance supersedes any of the needs of a cross-country trucking company whose profits are impacted by the behavior of the voters of California."

Brown said moving the site to Sloan, 14 miles farther from the California border, would be a better option.

Brown sent copies of the letter to Ensign, Miller, the rest of Nevada's congressional delegation and all seven Clark County commissioners.

Kenny opposed

In a Dec. 4 follow-up letter to the BLM, Brown said County Commissioner Erin Kenny, whose district covers Jean, told him she was "strongly opposed" to the deal.

Brown and Simon acknowledged they made a concerted effort to persuade Ensign's office to withdraw support.

"We all lobbied his office," Brown said. "All we did was show him it's the wrong place."

Simon said he became involved when he saw Ensign's June 2 letter while reviewing the BLM file.

"I didn't feel it was appropriate in a resort corridor," Simon said. "I didn't think that John understood the location the BLM was proposing."

Simon said he asked an Ensign staff member to write a new letter clarifying the congressman's position.

That letter was signed by Ensign on Jan. 24 and mailed to the BLM.

In the letter, Ensign said: "Many new and important facts and information have become available to me. I was certainly not misinformed by anyone. I was only unaware of the true impact my earlier endorsement would have on the residents and businesses of Jean."

Ensign said he still believed the relay station needs to be moved out of Las Vegas to relieve traffic problems.

"With that in mind, it does not make sense to me that we should impose these negative conditions on other Nevada citizens in an area ... which like West Tropicana Avenue is also experiencing rapid growth and increased traffic conditions."

Ensign described Jean as a "new and viable Nevada community with two beautiful and successful casino-hotel operations."

He concluded by saying: "I apologize for any confusion or misunderstanding caused by my earlier endorsement, but I assure you that after renewed insight into this issue, I am convinced that Jean, Nev., is not the proper location for a change-over depot for the transcontinental trucking industry."

Like Brown, Ensign suggested Sloan was an "ideal" site. But Consolidated Freightways and the BLM said Sloan isn't workable.

Nowhere in his letter did Ensign reveal his ties to the Nevada Landing and Gold Strike.

"I didn't think it was necessary to disclose that," Ensign said in an interview. "I thought they might have remembered it."

Conflict question

But Walker, the lawyer for Consolidated Freightways, said the perception is that Ensign has a conflict.

"Certainly it raises an ethical question that ought to be addressed by the congressman himself," he said. "At least it ought to be disclosed."

Ensign suggested that he's no longer opposed to keeping the relay station out of Jean entirely.

"If they want to move it down a little ways, away from the traffic, that's fine," he said. "If they put it in Jean, I'm not going to lose sleep over it."

Simon also said he would not oppose the trailer yard elsewhere in Jean. He said he just doesn't want it next to his hotel-casino.

But Walker said Consolidated considers the current site its best option.

"We think that the opposition that has been voiced so far is not meritorious," he said. "The other locations ... are unsuitable."

Rep. John Ensign

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