Editorial: Political adviser’s lame doublespeak

Sunday, April 30, 2000 | 10:43 a.m.

A week ago Station Casinos political consultant Tom Skancke finally acknowledged he was the author of a vicious -- and anonymous -- flier that lambasted Clark County Commissioner Lance Malone for his vote allowing a rival casino to be built in southwest Las Vegas. But rather than confess his sins and say he was sorry, Skancke used a defense that frequently is becoming part of the modern morality play: the attacker posing as the victim.

Skancke claims he was forced to anonymously distribute the flier to 38,000 people in Malone's district "out of fear of retribution" from Malone. What nonsense. Skancke stabs someone in the back and it is he, the assailant, who should be viewed as the victim? This whole controversy, over whether a casino should be built near neighborhoods, has from its inception been unsavory for all sides involved. But Skancke's suggestion that he was the victim is beyond comprehension.

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