Analysis: Decision on appointments holds key to City Council power struggle

Erin Neff

Friday, Oct. 22, 1999 | 11:22 a.m.

What seems like two innocuous appointments of freshman members of the Las Vegas City Council is actually one of the most critical votes of the year.

Hanging in the balance is control of the board and Mayor Oscar Goodman's political future.

With the prospect that both appointments would go to Councilman Michael McDonald's friends, Goodman lobbed a peremptory challenge Wednesday in an effort to seat a board more suitable to his needs.

Goodman's request for an ethics ruling on whether two city employees can be considered for council seats also widened the chasm between the mayor and mayor pro tem and showed just how close McDonald came to winning the most important vote of the next two years.

On Thursday Goodman wouldn't admit there's any tension between the two as they struggle for control, not just of this council, but of the seven-member board that will be seated in January.

"Nothing causes a tension with me," Goodman said, smiling. "It's water off a duck's back."

But having the council appointments delayed for 30 days also gave him cause to grin.

"All of a sudden, it's becoming interesting," he said.

Goodman blocked the third square with a giant X after McDonald had successfully circled support around Lawrence Weekly and Orlando Sanchez. While the game playing on the 10th floor of City Hall may appear childish, it is a lot more serious than simple tic-tac-toe.

Left in the balance are two well-qualified individuals, whose major faults are their employer (the city) and their friend (McDonald).

McDonald won't acknowledge any ill-feelings toward Goodman, in part, because he knows he had won enough votes for his appointments already. This pesky ethics issue is merely a delay.

"It doesn't do anything to us," McDonald said, referring to him and Goodman. "We were still sitting up there (during Wednesday's council meeting) laughing."

There also wasn't any truth to reported feuds between McDonald and Sheriff Jerry Keller until the issue of deconsolidation reared its ugly head.

A lot can happen in 30 days. Political popularity can change with one news story, one candidate's exit from a race or one misguided comment.

Goodman is hoping to rally support behind his choices for the council -- reportedly Uri Clinton in Ward 5 and Michael Mack in Ward 6.

Even a compromise vote, such as Clinton and Sanchez or Weekly and Mack, would suit Goodman better next year.

Already, McDonald has proven able to count to three adeptly. Adding two more votes of support (in Weekly and Sanchez) would insure his political career and threaten Goodman to a mayoralty of hand-shaking and interviews with international media.

Councilman Gary Reese pays allegiance to most of McDonald's wishes for two main reasons.

When both joined the council in 1995, they worked together to form the Neighborhood Services Department and to oust City Manager Larry Barton. More recently, Reese's stagnant re-election campaign was rejuvenated with loaned staffers from McDonald's campaign.

Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald pledged allegiance of sorts to McDonald when she was sworn in this year. Her appointment, she said, wouldn't have been possible without him.

Goodman has quickly formed an allegiance with fellow Ivy Leaguer Larry Brown. But he doesn't always get the third vote he needs to pass an item.

Boggs McDonald provided it for him on Wednesday, in part, to prove she can vote against her same-named colleague. And, as a former city employee herself, she could relate to Goodman's ethics request.

If the Las Vegas Ethics Review Board does determine that Weekly and Sanchez should wait two years after leaving city jobs to seek office, the council seats will practically be open to anybody.

Even if the board disagrees with Goodman, the doubt planted in Boggs McDonald's mind might be enough to break the strings to McDonald and bring her back to her initial cause for concerns about city employees becoming council members.

Goodman may never be able to count to five on the new council, but standing in the way of Weekly and Sanchez will help him stop McDonald from getting to that magic number first.