McDonald speaks out after demotion

Erin Neff

Friday, Nov. 17, 2000 | 11:19 a.m.

The day that was to mark a new beginning at Las Vegas City Hall found itself awash in the same old spin cycle.

Fresh off losing his mayor pro tem title because of what his colleagues called a breach of the public's trust, Councilman Michael McDonald was acting as though he had done nothing wrong.

"It is a changing of the guard," McDonald said on Point of View Vegas, the Sun's news discussion show on Cox Cable channels 1 and 39.

"They didn't vote no confidence when I took it away from Arnie Adamsen," McDonald said, referring to the 1997 vote for him to replace then-Councilman Adamsen as mayor pro tem.

And then the public relations effort shifted to attack mode as McDonald accused Mayor Oscar Goodman of lying and threatening him.

In fact, McDonald said, when Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald issued a warning Thursday against possible retaliation for the mayor pro tem vote, he thought she was talking about potential harm to him.

"The mayor publicly threatened me on TV and in the newspaper," McDonald told POV host Mark Shaffer. "He said he was going to get my mayor pro tem, he said he was going to get my position and he said he was going to get me."

At his weekly press conference Thursday, Goodman defended fiery statements he made last week after learning McDonald had secretly recorded a private conversation in which Goodman asked McDonald to voluntarily give up his mayor pro tem position.

"I don't think I've been that angry since I found out the FBI wiretapped me," Goodman said, referring to his days defending reputed mobsters as a criminal defense attorney.

McDonald and Goodman are both using the tape to bolster their own arguments. McDonald said Goodman lied at a press conference last week when he told reporters McDonald was fighting his request to give up the mayor pro tem title.

In fact, McDonald does tell Goodman on that tape that he is a fighter. And he denies Goodman's request to give up the seat. But McDonald also says he wants the whole council to decide who should be mayor pro tem.

"Thank God that conversation was on tape," McDonald said on POV.

But the tape sent Goodman into a rare rage. Goodman called McDonald "a piece of garbage" and a "sleazeball" and said "there's no place for him in public government."

McDonald said he thought the mayor's comments were "disgusting."

"That's no way for a mayor to act," McDonald said.

Shaffer then showed McDonald video of Boggs McDonald's emotional speech to the council Thursday, in which she decried as dishonorable McDonald's statements that he will do anything for a friend.

When Shaffer began asking McDonald a question, the councilman's cell phone went off. "It's one of my friends calling," McDonald quipped as he turned the phone off.

The city Ethics Review Board determined McDonald violated city laws when he tried to broker the sale of Las Vegas Sportspark to help his boss, Larry Scheffler of Las Vegas Color Graphics. The board also determined he broke the law when he worked to sabotage a tavern license request, possibly to help his friend Rick Rizzolo, who owns an adult club nearby.

McDonald said he agreed with Boggs McDonald when she warned against retaliation for the council's vote and for city employees' testimony against McDonald in last week's ethics hearing.

When Shaffer asked McDonald why some people say he intimidates others, McDonald said: "Sources say," a rip against what McDonald claims are unsubstantiated attacks against him in the press.

"We don't ever intimidate," McDonald said. "I can have all my employees, if they had to, come out and say, 'Yeah, we love him.' "

McDonald said he couldn't retaliate anyway because, "No. 1, we can't do anything to city employees because they're (hired) through the city manager."

But during the Nov. 8 ethics hearing, two employees testified that McDonald called them into his office and asked them to conduct additional surveys that would highlight other taverns near the building seeking a tavern license.

Frank Cremen asked McDonald if he had told Goodman that the tavern license was a way to get back at Sig Rogich, a top political consultant, who at the time, owned the building.

In a Metro Police investigation, detectives determined McDonald was trying to retaliate against Rogich by finding ways for city staff to deny the license.

District Attorney Stewart Bell based part of his decision not to prosecute that case on the fact that McDonald's actions were harming an enemy and not helping a friend. State law only covers benefiting, not hurting, acquaintances.

Goodman said Thursday that nervousness has trickled through City Hall in the days following last week's 12-hour ethics hearing. In fact, Goodman said, one high-ranking elected official felt uncomfortable talking in the mayor's office because of fears about taping devices.

"That's how the paranoia has spread," Goodman said.

For his part, Goodman said he will never have another private conversation with McDonald.

"He doesn't get a second chance," Goodman said.

McDonald is facing a Dec. 7 state ethics hearing, possible criminal prosecution on the city ethics violations and a recall effort. If any of those is successful in removing him from office, McDonald said he would continue to be a public servant.

"Nothing's going to change as far as the character of Michael McDonald."