Columnist Jeff German: County political duel

Saturday, Sept. 14, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

JEFF GERMAN is a senior investigative reporter. His column also appears in the Las Vegas SUN on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He can be reached at 259-4067 or on the Internet at german@lvsun.com

THE race for County Commission District C has become a symbol of the growing clash between the old and the new guard in Southern Nevada.

It pits Democratic incumbent Paul Christensen, who's seeking his fourth term, against police officer Lance Malone, a Republican newcomer who has no record to attack.

Lately, the old guard has been rallying around Christensen.

His campaign is being run by veteran political consultant Kent Oram, who engineered Erin Kenny's 1994 upset of former County Commissioner Don Schlesinger, a onetime rival of Christensen on the commission.

Oram has remained politically connected, even though he once took a lucrative job helping the nuclear industry promote the high-level radioactive dump site at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles from Las Vegas.

Though Oram failed to persuade Southern Nevadans to accept the dump, his skills as a political strategist, willing to do whatever it takes to win, are legendary inside local officialdom.

Two of his close friends (people he has been through many campaigns with) are Gov. Bob Miller and R&R Advertising President Billy Vassiliadis, the governor's top political strategist and lobbyist for the influential Nevada Resort Association, the gaming industry's political arm.

By no small coincidence, Miller and Vassiliadis haven't been shy about backing Christensen.

Miller took the unusual step of filming a political ad for Christensen, and Vassiliadis, who has a multimillion-dollar advertising contract with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor's Authority, chaired by Christensen, has been championing the commissioner's cause behind the scenes.

Last month, County Manager Pat Shalmy -- who has survived the political perils of the top county job the past 12 years in part with the help of Christensen -- publicly suggested he might resign if Christensen lost his bid for re-election.

Shalmy says his comments were made solely on the basis of the many new faces on the seven-member County Commission. If Christensen loses in November, the commission will have five new members in two years.

Shalmy says he merely was suggesting should Christensen not be around, the new faces might want their own county manager.

His words, however, led to speculation Shalmy was putting the full force of the county behind Christensen, talk Shalmy and Christensen say isn't true.

"I'm not the least bit involved in that race," Shalmy says.

Christensen adds that if anything, Shalmy's comments made him more anxious to stay out of the race, out of fear it would be perceived as violating county guidelines against such political involvement.

"He can't do anything to tip the scales," Christensen says. "He's got to be careful."

Vassiliadis, whose wife, Rosemary has just become the county's finance director, a top aide to Shalmy, says Christensen's support from the old guard is a natural occurrence.

In his years of public service, Vassiliadis says, Christensen has forged many friendships and alliances.

"It comes down to you just don't dump an old friend for a new friend," Vassiliadis says.

If the power brokers are indeed lining up behind Christensen, signs of a crack in the armour have surfaced in recent months.

Not all Strip casino executives, for example, are supporting Christensen.

Sands hotel-casino owner Sheldon Adelson has quietly sent more than $100,000, some of it laundered through the Republican Party, to Malone's campaign.

And there's word other Strip executives are considering doing the same thing.

The bad blood between Adelson and Christensen has been well-documented over the years.

A number of months ago, the rift intensified after Christensen refused to sign a proclamation with his fellow commissioners congratulating Adelson's Israeli-born wife, Miriam, for becoming a U.S. citizen.

Adelson, feeling offended, vowed never to support Christensen's re-election.

Then came Malone, a fresh face and a Republican like Adelson, who seemed to hit it off with the Sands boss.

Christensen says he's heard Adelson has promised to spend as much as $250,000 to defeat him.

He says his troubles with Adelson began years ago after he refused to "roll over" for the casino owner.

"Sometimes, I tell him no when he comes before the County Commission," Christensen says. "I do what I think is right for the community."

Christensen says Adelson, who could not be reached for comment, has a tendency not to play by the rules.

But those close to Adelson say Christensen often is the unreasonable one.

They say Christensen sometime can come across as stubborn and vindictive.

"If you have any pending project in front of the commission, which requires an approval from the county, you have to support Paul or you're project is in danger," says one Strip insider. "That's the bottom line."

And that might be one reason why Adelson and other casino executives are said to be reluctant to give money to Malone through normal public channels.

Christensen, however, insists he's not in the habit of retaliating against anyone.

"I'm looking out for the good of this community like I have for more than 50 years," he says.

Christensen attributes the tiff over his failure to sign the proclamation for Adelson's wife to a communication breakdown.

He says he was asked to sign it after coming out of a rough commission meeting on an Adelson project and wasn't in the mood to do any favors for the Sands exec.

Later, Christensen says, he asked to sign the proclamation, but his colleagues had already taken it to Adelson without his signature.

He adds he even wrote Miriam Adelson a letter of apology. But it apparently failed to appease Adelson.

Christensen's powerful friends acknowledge he can be "contentious" at times.

But they insist no one works harder at being a county commissioner than he.

"He speaks what's on his mind," Vassiliadis says. "You've got to earn his vote."

Still, with the campaign support Malone is getting from the likes of Adelson, Christensen's handlers have reason to worry come November.

Southern Nevadans also have a track record of tossing out incumbents in recent years.

The old guard doesn't want Christensen to become another political statistic.