Escort industry battles lawmaker over nudity

Tuesday, May 4, 1999 | 10:56 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Assemblyman John Lee, D-Las Vegas, says all he wants to do is keep photos of bare-breasted women out of the hands of juveniles.

But John Cummings, lobbyist for a Las Vegas escort service, says Lee wants to destroy the industry in Southern Nevada.

Their exchange took place before the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday on Lee's bill to expand the definition of nudity to mean the showing of female breasts unless the nipple areas are covered.

The committee did not take any action on the bill.

Lee said the bare female breast is not now considered a part of the nudity law. His bill, Assembly Bill 282, does not deny the right to advertise and is not trying to outlaw the escort business, he said. Original wording in his bill would have restricted the distribution of the fliers of nearly nude women in Las Vegas but that portion was stricken by the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

"The stars on the nipples ... that's the best I can get," he said, adding this was the first phase of his campaign.

Cummings said his client, Hillsboro Enterprise owned by Vince Bartello, had no objection to the bill to cover a portion of the female breast. It already does that in its advertising, he said. But he charged that Lee's ultimate aim is to shut down Hillsboro and other similar businesses in Las Vegas.

So far, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has stopped efforts to close the business, Cummings said.