Goodman wins race for Vegas mayor

Tim Dahlberg

Tuesday, June 8, 1999 | 9:24 a.m.

Oscar Goodman gained fame by winning verdicts for mobsters like Tony "The Ant" Spilotro and Meyer Lansky. On Tuesday, he won one for himself, courtesy of the voters of Las Vegas.

Goodman's transformation from mob mouthpiece to this gambling city's leader was made complete in a landslide victory over a veteran city councilman for the job of mayor of Las Vegas.

Goodman didn't even have to wait long for the jury to come in, taking a commanding lead early on his way to a lopsided win over Arnie Adamsen in his first bid for political office.

"I never went into anything I didn't expect to win," Goodman said.

With all 204 precincts reporting, Goodman had 32,765 votes, or 63.8 percent, to Adamsen's 18,620 votes, or 36.2 percent.

The flamboyant criminal defense attorney won the race while never backing down on his well-known efforts in defense of some of the city's most notorious hoodlums.

"I love my past," he said. "I don't apologize for one day in my life."

Goodman promised to immediately tackle the growth and infrastructure issues that fueled his populist campaign. He said he would meet with the city's council members on Wednesday, even though he doesn't take office until later this month.

"I want to make things happen overnight," Goodman said. "Unlike other people, I'm impatient. I'm ready to get going."

Adamsen sought to make his opponent's past a campaign issue, but voters seemed more interested in Goodman's personality or in his promises to make developers help pay to fix roads and combat pollution. Before voting ended, Adamsen conceded the election might not be close.

"You pray for the best but you prepare for the worst," he said.

Adamsen conceded as the last votes came in, wishing Goodman well in serving his four-year term. By city statute, Adamsen had to give up his seat to run for mayor.

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Goodman came within 277 votes of winning the mayor's post outright against eight others in the May 4 primary. He ran a near-perfect campaign with characteristic bluster and bravado, in sharp contrast to Adamsen, a longtime councilman who prided himself on paying attention to more mundane matters such as crossing guards and stop signs.

"I'm colorful. That's what got me in the limelight," said Goodman, who played himself as an attorney in the movie "Casino." "But I honestly believe I'm going to be the best mayor Las Vegas ever had."

The 59-year-old Goodman entered the race seemingly on a lark, with $160,000 of his own money and not much more than a relentless drive to succeed - and, some say, an ego to match.

He ended it with money pouring in from casinos who jumped on his bandwagon after the primary. Polls showed him with a 19-point lead over Adamsen, who saw his donations dry up after the vote in May.

Adamsen, who spent 12 years on the city council and was the favorite going into the race, held out hope until the end that a grassroots effort to get out the vote might make a difference in the race.

But his theme that Goodman would be dangerous for the image of Las Vegas didn't take hold, with 69 percent saying in a newspaper poll last week that Goodman's image as a mob lawyer would not hurt the city.

Winning the election might be easier for Goodman than implementing some of the vague promises he made during a campaign short on issues.

With the election seemingly in hand, though, he focused on plans to rebuild the city's aging downtown gambling area that have been under way for years under current mayor Jan Jones, who is retiring.

Although Goodman will be perceived as the leader of the Las Vegas Valley, which has some 1.4 million residents, he will actually be mayor of only about half of that population. Even the giant megaresorts on the Las Vegas Strip are actually outside city limits.