McDonald ethics hearing begins

Erin Neff

Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2000 | 11 a.m.

An ethics hearing into Las Vegas City Councilman Michael McDonald's behavior kicked off this morning with some of his colleagues expected to testify against him.

Today's hearing by the Las Vegas Ethics Review Board is to determine whether McDonald broke city law by allegedly trying to broker the sale of a financially strapped recreation center to help his boss drop a bad investment.

The case, filed by resident Bob Rose, also suggests McDonald tried to thwart a licensing matter that would have given a political enemy a competitive business edge over McDonald's friend.

Armed with a Metro Police report alleging criminal behavior, review board attorney Frank Cremen began this morning to establish a case showing ethical lapses.

"It is alleged in the revised complaint that Mr. McDonald was not being truthful in that incident," Cremen said, referring to the Sportspark case.

If found guilty, McDonald could be prosecuted through the city's Municipal Court, and if he were convicted, he would be removed from office.

And with Cremen expected to call City Manager Virginia Valentine, Mayor Oscar Brown Councilman Larry Brown, Metro detectives and city surveyors to testify, many City Hall insiders believe the evidence is clear.

Cremen also was expected to call McDonald to the stand, and was considering playing a videotape of the Aug. 16 council meeting in which McDonald proclaimed he never lobbied for the sale of Sportspark. Today's meeting at City Hall is expected to last all day, with a decision coming immediately after the hearing.

Richard Wright, McDonald's attorney, said his client was aware that he had a conflict in voting on Sportspark, and thus properly abstained from any votes.

"I would think that the issue actually becomes what may someone with a conflict do when they have a conflict," Wright argued this morning in his opening statement.

Although Rose's complaint winds through a number of issues and examples, Cremen has narrowed the review board's case to focus specifically on the Sportspark lobbying and the case of the so-called pop-up church that thwarted efforts to rezone a building for an adult club use.

McDonald has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing. Wright has alleged Metro Police used their investigation to get back at McDonald, and he was expected to again try to discredit the detectives' report by calling witnesses he claims tell a different story about McDonald's role in Sportspark.

Wright said he will call Crazy Horse Too owner Rick Rizzolo to claim McDonald and he only toured Sportspark in May to scout the site for a charity softball tournament. Wright also will call the Rev. Dave Casaleggio, a member of the charity's board of directors.

The other ethical matter, involving the sudden appearance of the Church For Universal Life Enhancement, took a new twist this morning with the announcement of another witness.

Eric Dornak, Brown's ward liaison, affirmed that he overheard McDonald tell his ward liaison, Rick Henry, not to worry about an April 5 council vote to grant Sig Rogich a tavern license for his old office building.

"Dornak heard McDonald tell his liaison, Rick Henry, they shouldn't be concerned because they had found a church," Cremen said.

That testimony is potentially damning because McDonald is close friends of Rizzolo, and it was Rizzolo's sister, Annette Marie Patterson, who opened her mysterious church just 219 feet away from Rogich's building.

District Attorney Stewart Bell last month declined to prosecute McDonald after determining police did not give him enough evidence to win conviction. Wright claims Metro then made their report public, in part due to sour grapes, and overwhelmingly because the department is trying to get back at McDonald, a former cop whose feud with Sheriff Jerry Keller is well documented.

Even as witnesses tell their stories to the five-member appointed ethics board, McDonald opponents are tallying results of a petition drive aimed at forcing the second-term councilman into a recall election.

Steve Miller spent Tuesday parked outside the polls at Wasden Elementary School at a table stacked with petitions. McDonald himself stood outside Wasden for several hours early Tuesday trying to show voters he's serious about his seat.

Over at Vegas Verdes Elementary, McDonald aide Nathan Taylor reported a skirmish between Steve Miller's wife and a different McDonald supporter. Taylor was not involved in the scuffle.

McDonald allies stood near petitioners at each Ward 1 polling site urging voters to be careful what they sign.

At the end of the day, Miller's recall effort was short of the needed 2,995 registered voters to force an election. But Miller still has more than 30 days to collect the required signatures.

"I'd say we did pretty good," said Miller, who has twice lost elections to McDonald. "We've got four weeks left to get all the signatures, so we don't have to rush."

Miller said he started the recall effort because he feared that even if the ethics board finds McDonald guilty, he will appeal the decision, leaving any resolution far into the future.

If the petition qualifies, a special recall election could be held as early as late January.