County Manager defends relaying of list

Jeff Schweers

Thursday, June 25, 1998 | 1:44 a.m.

County Manager Dale Askew today told the state Ethics Commission that County Commission Chairwoman Yvonne Atkinson Gates gave him a list of candidates she and other commissioners wanted to get airport concessions.

Askew said he had asked Gates several weeks prior to voting on the concessions for the new D gates at McCarran International Airport whether she or any other commissioners had any preferences.

Gates came back a few days later with a type-written list that she had told the ethics panel in March that she had compiled from other commissioners and Aviation Director Randy Walker.

Ten of the names on that list wound up as the final recommendations approved by the County Commission last August to get concession slots reserved for minorities and women. Three were friends or acquaintances of Gates and commissioners Lance Malone and Myrna Williams.

During an hour of grilling mainly from Ethics Chairwoman Mary Boetsch, Askew maintained that he wanted to know ahead of time who commissioners supported or had problems with to head off any potential conflicts before bringing the item to the board for a vote.

"Part of my job is to try to get consensus on controversial items where the board is split," Askew said.

In the past, if commissioners didn't like the list of finalists brought to the staff, Askew said, they would try to assemble the votes to change the list when it came before the full commission.

In November 1995, for example, former Commissioner Paul Christensen mustered enough votes to replace a staff recommendation for an airport cart concession in favor of a friend of his.

Walker testified Wednesday that he didn't know where Askew had gotten the list "and didn't want to know."

The list didn't affect the final recommendations since it came two weeks after the selection process had ended, Walker said, but he still felt uncomfortable.

"It was contrary to the way we do things," Walker said. "It was a little awkward."

Askew said he gave the list to Walker to use "however he deemed appropriate." He said Walker didn't express any discomfort at the time he received the list.

Not every commissioner got who they wanted on the final list, Walker said, but commissioners had a chance to affect the outcome since they had the final vote.

For example, when Commissioner Erin Kenny objected that someone she had wanted wasn't on the final list, Walker said he refused to change the list and told her to "get three other votes and change it at the meeting."

The applicants ultimately chosen had to fit the development plans for the D gates submitted by Host Marriott and W.H. Smith, the two concession management firms that lease space from the airport to independent contractors, Walker said.

The ethics panel spent the first day hearing from Walker and other airport officials about how companies were selected for airport concessions under the federally-run Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program.

They also asked why some people were selected over other, seemingly more qualified, candidates. For example, Ethics Chairwoman Mary Boetsch asked why Gay Reber, a friend of Commissioner Lance Malone's wife, won a lease for a coffee shop when there were more experienced coffee businesses who had applied.

Cynthia Cicero, the DBE liaison for the airport, said some people were not chosen because they didn't meet the federal guidelines for disadvantaged businesses. Reber is female and Hispanic, and also impressed the airport with her years of experience helping run a family appliance store, Cicero said.

Chris Hilbus, the assistant director for business and administration at McCarran, testified that the process was somewhat political and had recommended to applicants that they make their presence known to commissioners who would have the final vote.

"It's just good business sense," Hilbus said.

The ethics panel is trying to determine whether Gates, Malone and Williams violated ethics code by not disclosing their ties to several people awarded concession leases or if they influenced the process to get their friends concessions they otherwise wouldn't have qualified for.

Those people are:

-- Michael Chambliss, a city planner who has known Gates for 17 years and was paid $50,000 over three years for political consulting on her behalf, is part owner in a Jet Coyote gift shop and a Harlan Barbecue restaurant.

-- Judy Klein, a friend of Williams' and former assistant to lawyer and political fund-raiser Frank Schreck, is partners with Vicki Richardson in JV Ventures, which received two coffee shop locations.

-- Gay Reber, a friend of Malone's wife, is majority shareholder in GRR Group, which won two cart concessions -- one for food and one for gifts. Reber also is the daughter-in-law of a long-time business associate of Commissioner Lorraine Hunt, who had similar charges dismissed last month.

At the May 13 hearing, ethics commissioner Hal Smith disclosed that he was friends with Hunt and had worked on her campaign, but said he still could vote objectively on her case.

The commission also has raised questions about what role Malone played, if any, in helping Tammy Starring get a food and beverage kiosk in the C gates. Starring is a friend of Malone's brother Mark and sister-in-law Melody, who allegedly called a Salt Lake City-based fruit smoothie company asking for a franchise and boasting that she had an inside track to an airport location.

Don Campbell, the attorney for Lance Malone, objected to the commission taking testimony by telephone from Zuka Juice franchise managers Jeff Briggs and Jackie Enman from their Salt Lake City office.

The panel had no authority to swear in people over the telephone, and Salt Lake City was beyond their jurisdiction, Campbell said, objecting to Ethics Counsel Louis Ling subpoenaing Briggs and Enman via fax machine.

"What they had to say is not relevant," Campbell said of Briggs' and Enman's testimony. "We're here on Gay Reber. If you can tell me what any of that had to do with Gay Reber, tell me."