Tuesday, April 7, 1998 | 10:53 a.m.
BEING PART of Southern Nevada's dynamic taxicab industry has been stressful in recent weeks.
There have been reports the FBI and IRS are stepping up their scrutiny of the valley's 13 taxi companies.
Cabbies are on edge after two of their own have been gunned down on the streets in three months.
And this week, the drivers are conducting a work slowdown during the National Association of Broadcasters convention to protest the allocation of too many cabs on the road.
Now comes word of internal turmoil within the state Taxicab Authority, the agency that regulates the industry.
A group of unnamed employees have stepped forward to allege investigators on the night shift may be cheating the state out of thousands of dollars in overtime and regular pay.
One investigator allegedly gets a full salary while spending as little as 10 hours a week in the office. He supposedly spends much time on the authority's payroll teaching classes at UNLV.
Allegations of sexual harassment of female employees also have surfaced.
An unflattering job evaluation of one of the women who has complained about harassment recently was said to have been read aloud among the male investigators in the office.
There have been rumblings that the investigators under fire held a secret meeting a couple of weeks ago warning others in the office to keep their mouths shut.
Bob Flaven, the Taxicab Authority's chief investigator, says there's no substance to the allegations being bandied about.
"As far as I'm concerned, it's all unfounded," he says. "We have nothing to hide."
Flaven confirms the accusations have been turned over to the attorney general's office.
He says he's confident no wrongdoing on the part of his investigators will turn up.
"I think they'll find they're just wasting their time," Flaven says.
Claudia Cormier, director of the Department of Business and Industry, which oversees the Taxicab Authority, is determined to get to the bottom of the rumors.
"Any serious allegations like this are going to be looked into," Cormier says. "If there is substantiation of these charges, I'll take any and all action available to me to correct the situation."
That could lead to more stress inside the taxicab industry.
* The State Gaming Control Board is being credited for keeping the heat on Ted Binion.
But it's the attorney general's office that ensured his departure from the casino industry.
As it turned out, a battery of expensive and super-sharp lawyers, led by Richard Wright and Mark Ferrario, couldn't stop the Nevada Gaming Commission recently from stripping the Horseshoe Club executive of his license.
That's because their legal adversaries, Deputies Attorney General Donald Haight and Kirk Hendrick, turned in outstanding performances of their own.
Effective closing arguments by Hendrick during the marathon hearing can be credited with sealing Binion's fate.
Hendrick, a rising star in the AG's office, zeroed in on the bottom line -- that Binion had tarnished the integrity of the gaming industry by associating with murdered underworld figure Herbie Blitzstein.
The Gaming Commission's ruling forces Binion to surrender the license he has held since 1964 and give up his 20 percent interest in the Horseshoe.
Binion plans to fight the ruling in District Court. He should hope that Haight and Hendrick aren't on the other side of that legal battle.
* The battle of the polls continues in the race between Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev.
When we last checked, Republicans came up with a political survey that showed Ensign a mere nine points behind the incumbent senator.
The GOP, naturally, was ecstatic.
But last week, the Democrats released the results of a new poll they've been given that shows Reid 17 points ahead.
Today, the Democrats are jumping for joy.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee says the poll of 800 "likely" Nevada voters has Reid ahead by a 49-32 percent margin.
The survey, conducted on behalf of labor interests, was completed March 13 by the Washington-based Fingerhut/Granados company.
Reid's own polls also show him as high as 17 points ahead of Ensign.
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