Full ethics hearing set for McDonald

Erin Neff and Cy Ryan

Monday, Nov. 13, 2000 | 11:14 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A panel of the state Ethics Commission decided today there was sufficient cause to go forward with a full hearing on allegations against Las Vegas Councilman Michael McDonald.

The panel's decision forgoes the need for a preliminary hearing to determine just cause. The McDonald hearing will take place during the commission's meeting in Las Vegas on Dec. 7 and 8.

The city ethics board has already determined McDonald violated the city's ethics laws in two cases. Las Vegas resident Bob Rose filed both the city and state complaints against McDonald.

"Of course there's enough cause," Rose said this morning after learning of the state panel's decision.

McDonald is facing a host of legal problems, including possible criminal prosecution based on the findings of the city's ethics board. Ethics Review Board special counsel Frank Cremen is deciding whether to prosecute McDonald through the city's Municipal Court.

If McDonald is convicted of a misdemeanor in Municipal Court, he is automatically removed from office.

McDonald's attorney, Richard Wright, said this morning he could not comment on today's panel decision because he had just learned about the decision and had not yet talked with his client.

Meanwhile, McDonald is no stranger to the state Ethics Commission.

In July, the commission cleared him of any wrongdoing related to a 1999 vote on a Silver State garbage contract. But two commissioners voted against clearing McDonald, and others offered harsh warnings to him.

"You can skate on the edge of legality, remain marginally legal and overwhelmingly unethical," Commissioner Bill Flangas told McDonald.

The commissioners who voted to clear McDonald said they had no specific statute under which to charge him for his actions.

In that case, McDonald voted on a lucrative trash-hauling contract, despite his friendships with Silver State president Steve Kalish and company attorney Robert Groesbeck. McDonald also had been dating a company employee.

Last Wednesday, the city's ethics board determined McDonald acted improperly by publicly abstaining on two matters and then privately lobbying on their behalf.

In the first, the board found McDonald violated the city's conflicts of interest law when he repeatedly lobbied Mayor Oscar Goodman, Councilman Larry Brown and City Manager Virginia Valentine to have the city purchase the financially-strapped Las Vegas Sportspark.

McDonald's boss, Larry Scheffler, and Scheffler's business partner, Linda Fernandez, are both partners in Sportspark.

The city ethics board also determined McDonald violated the ethics law when he directed city employees to conduct surveys in an effort to find alcohol- and adult-related businesses in proximity to a proposed tavern.

In that case, the board determined McDonald was trying to scuttle the efforts of his one-time political adviser, Sig Rogich. Rogich owned the building that had requested a tavern license.

Metro Police investigated both the Sportspark and the licensing matter and determined they had enough evidence to arrest McDonald on charges of misusing his public office.

District Attorney Stewart Bell said Metro did not give him enough evidence to win conviction. The police report thus landed in the hands of both the city and state ethics boards, as part of Rose's complaint.

After last week's decision by the city ethics board, Goodman asked McDonald to relinquish his title of mayor pro tem. When McDonald refused, Goodman set a special hearing for this Thursday to ask the full council who should be named mayor pro tem.