Mayor blasts McDonald

Erin Neff

Friday, Nov. 10, 2000 | 11:26 a.m.

Any modicum of civility at Las Vegas City Hall went out the window Thursday night when an angry Mayor Oscar Goodman ripped into Councilman Michael McDonald.

Goodman said he was so livid when he learned McDonald had secretly taped a private conversation the two had earlier in the day that he conducted a live phone interview on Las Vegas ONE's "NewsONE" broadcast at 9 p.m.

"I tried to treat the councilman as a gentleman," Goodman told anchor Deborah Levy. "I wanted to speak to him man to man. Apparently he's a wimp, and he didn't want to do that."

At his weekly press conference earlier Thursday, Goodman said he planned to meet privately with McDonald to discuss the results of Wednesday's ethics hearing.

At that hearing, the Las Vegas Ethics Review Board determined McDonald twice broke the city's laws.

But what Goodman thought was a private, man-to-man request that McDonald step down as mayor pro tem was being tape-recorded.

When a newspaper reporter phoned Goodman on Thursday evening with details of the private conversation, Goodman was shocked.

"I was trying to treat him as a gentleman," Goodman said in the television interview. "He's not entitled to it.

"I've had it with him, and I believe the public is being cheated by him."

The comments capped a volatile day in which McDonald rejected Goodman's request that he relinquish the largely ceremonial title as second in command.

Goodman told the Sun he felt as though his request was in the public's best interest. He was surprised when McDonald said he would not give up the title, and the mayor said he used "colorful language" that he would not normally use in public or in the presence of women to describe the councilman's "guts."

"I said, 'You've got balls the size of elephant's.' "

Embarrassed to hear the remark repeated, and realizing that McDonald did nothing illegal by taping the conversation without his consent, Goodman lashed out.

"I do not want Councilman McDonald to be sitting on the City Council," Goodman said on Las Vegas ONE, the Sun's media partner.

After the private meeting at City Hall, McDonald immediately began granting one-on-one interviews with reporters waiting to hear the outcome of the meeting. When Goodman came out to meet reporters, he changed his mind and got into the elevator saying he would be back in five minutes.

Thirty minutes later he returned with news that he had asked the city clerk to call a special meeting next Thursday to vote on who should be mayor pro tem.

"It's a cloud upon the city," Goodman said, referring to Wednesday's ethics board findings.

His words got harsher later in the day.

"He breached the public trust," Goodman told Las Vegas ONE. "As far as I'm concerned, I have no use for him.

"This guy has no place in public government," he added. "He is a piece of garbage. A sleazeball. I have no use for him. I wouldn't talk to him for the rest of my life because this guy is a zero."

In an interview at City Hall earlier in the day, McDonald said he would fight removal as mayor pro tem, but he would respect the wishes of the council majority.

"It's all I can do," McDonald said.

Testimony at Wednesday's ethics hearing centered around McDonald's backdoor maneuvering to facilitate the sale of Las Vegas Sportspark and to scuttle a tavern license for political consultant Sig Rogich.

On Thursday by taping their conversation and releasing it to the media McDonald took another step over the line, Goodman said.

"I've tried to protect him," Goodman said. "All these times on Silver State he was marginal. On deconsolidation he was marginal. With trying to get rid of my city manager, who I love so much, he was marginal. I have no use for him."

The mayor referred to:

When McDonald arrived for a committee meeting Thursday afternoon, the previous day's hearing was still on his mind but wasn't clouding his spirits.

"What? Have you been here all night?" he asked television reporters waiting for him outside the same room where Wednesday's 12-hour hearing took place.

McDonald flashed smiles at reporters and vamped for a photographer, at one point sticking out his tongue and wiggling his fingers by his ears.

When City Auditor Radford Snelding presented an audit into the city's agreement with Las Vegas Sportspark, McDonald said "Oh God."

That Sportspark audit is what triggered the August council meeting that led to the police investigation of McDonald. That investigation, when turned over to the ethics board, helped bring a guilty decision.

When Metro Police began investigating McDonald in August in connection with the Rogich building and Sportspark matters, Goodman reportedly asked Councilman Larry Brown if he would be interested in mayor pro tem should McDonald have to step down.

Brown passed up the opportunity, and Goodman then reportedly offered the position to Councilman Gary Reese who said he would consider it.

Goodman now says he has six votes to remove McDonald from the position.

Although Reese seems the logical choice due to his seniority, Brown is said to now be interested in the post.

All the political wrangling may seem odd outside of City Hall for a position that carries no extra pay and few added duties. The mayor pro tem simply stands in for the mayor during absences or abstentions.

Its biggest perk is running the meeting when the mayor isn't on the dais.

But McDonald, who was appointed mayor pro tem July 14, 1997, is very proud of the position and treats receiving it as one of his most important political achievements.

At the time he won the post, McDonald was just 32 and had only been in office for two years. Then-Mayor Jan Laverty Jones essentially took the position away from then-Councilman Arnie Adamsen, reportedly at McDonald's request.

The public meeting to elect a mayor pro tem takes place at 9 a.m. Thursday in the City Hall council chambers.

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