Columnist Jon Ralston: LV speech really about State of Oscar

Sunday, Jan. 30, 2000 | 10:21 a.m.

Jon Ralston, who publishes the Ralston Report, writes a column for the Sun on Sundays and Wednesdays. Ralston can be reached at 870-7997 or through e-mail at ralston@vegas.com.

Now that President Clinton's State of the Union speech is over (he has stopped speaking, hasn't he?), the nation can turn its eyes toward Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman's State of the City address.

Perhaps I exaggerate. If not the country, at least the city is interested in what His Honor will say Tuesday. Aren't you? Truth be told, State of the City speeches usually are about waving rhetorical pompons, telling anyone paying attention what a wonderful city you live in and what a wonderful job the local government is doing.

But, sources report, while Goodman may present some of the standard fare, he also plans to bolster his style with substance in the form of a white paper that confidants and staffers have spent weeks assembling. Goodman will describe the document as a detailed report card, inviting the media and the public to grade him later on promises he makes in his speech.

The mayor's planned 30-minute talk also will provide a glimpse into the State of Oscar Goodman. After nearly eight months in office, Goodman continues to honeymoon on Stewart Avenue, with nary a word any more about his erstwhile marriage to the mob. His enthusiasm and workaholism have yet to abate, and any concerns that City Council ennui might afflict him have not been realized.

Indeed, what he fears most is that he will be seen when he leaves office the way some observers saw his predecessor, Jan Jones -- as a dynamic, charismatic force who had ideas but little follow-through. That's what this speech, complete with white paper, is about -- showing that he is a serious mayor, one with a bold but (he hopes) realistic vision. Beyond the requisite mob joke, stirring anecdotes, testaments to the city's fiscal health and paeans to his colleagues, here's what you can expect Tuesday:

Goodman has two qualities that are at once refreshing (and may help him succeed in the long run) and also threatening to his effectiveness. The man who once consorted with killers retains an astonishing naivete about politics and government. And he still has a tendency to shoot from the lip, which he says actually has brought results (saying UNLV stinks catalyzed President Carol Harter to act), but it also has alienated people he may need later (the Community Centre Development Corp. folks, for instance).

Goodman also will talk about the council's collegiality, which he hopes will be demonstrated by his colleagues voting to adopt his speech at Wednesday's meeting. But that may be illusory. With Michael McDonald under an ethics cloud and constantly trying to undermine Lynette Boggs McDonald because she didn't vote for his choice of a new member last year (hell hath no fury like a politician scorned), Goodman will be hard-pressed to project a rosy scenario on Stewart Avenue. But as Jones discovered, if you don't have a semblance of comity at City Hall, and you can't consistently Count To Four, your dreams become phantasms. That's why His Honor must realize that the State of Oscar Goodman is inextricably intertwined with the State of the City.