Mob lawyer takes early lead in race for Vegas mayor

Tim Dahlberg

Tuesday, June 8, 1999 | 7:36 a.m.

Oscar Goodman, a flamboyant lawyer who gained famed defending mobsters like Tony "The Ant" Spilotro and Meyer Lansky, took an early lead Tuesday in the race for mayor of Las Vegas.

Goodman appeared headed toward an easy win over Arnie Adamsen, a veteran city councilman, completing a saga that saw him transform his image of mob mouthpiece to a populist figure who can solve some of the burgeoning city's growth problems.

With early returns and absentee ballots counted, Goodman had 13,487 votes, or 65 percent. Adamsen had 7,299 votes, or 35 percent.

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

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Goodman, who came within 277 votes of winning the mayor's post outright against eight others in the May 4 primary, ran a near-perfect campaign in his bid to transform himself from a man known as the mob's mouthpiece to the leader of one of the nation's fastest-growing cities.

He did it 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.

Goodman ran a populist campaign, trading on voter unrest over the city's spectacular growth in calling for developers to be assessed fees to help pay for improvements in roads and air pollution.

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.