Editorial: Delaying final vote was smart

Friday, Oct. 22, 1999 | 9:36 a.m.

Mayor Oscar Goodman made the right call Wednesday in persuading the Las Vegas City Council to postpone the appointments of two new members until getting a ruling from the city's Ethics Review Board. Goodman was concerned that an existing "cooling-off" ordinance that prohibits ex-city employees from lobbying before the City Council might also apply to City Hall employees seeking appointment to the City Council. The two front-runners to fill the new wards -- Lawrence Weekly and Orlando Sanchez -- are City Hall employees.

Some grumbled that Goodman simply was just delaying the inevitable, noting that City Attorney Brad Jerbic believed the ordinance didn't apply to the City Hall employees. Yet Goodman's mastery of the law, which allowed him as a defense attorney to gain acquittals of some of society's less than savory characters, shouldn't be underestimated either.

Postponing the decision 30 days might make life uncomfortable for members of the City Council, allowing for more political jockeying by those seeking the appointment, but it makes sense to get an outside opinion by the Ethics Review Board to determine whether or not there is a conflict. The city of Las Vegas would have been embarrassed if it had moved ahead and made the appointments only to find out later that the former city officials were ineligible. And although both Weekly and Sanchez would have to quit their city jobs if appointed, their possible elevation also renews concerns that many have regarding government employees simultaneously being elected officials.

To many the whole process has been unseemly, as city councilmen seek out new members who will give them even more clout on what will be a seven-member City Council. Raw politics appears to have taken precedence over assessing the qualifications that the candidates possess. It is unfortunate that the Legislature, when passing the law earlier this year to require the addition of two new wards in Las Vegas if voters approved such a plan, didn't also mandate that these new posts should be filled through an election. That would have been much fairer, not only for the candidates seeking the seats -- who would get a mandate from the public -- but it also would have decreased the natural cynicism that develops when back room deals determine who gets selected for public office.