Columnist Jeff German: Suit leaves Del Papa not feeling photogenic

Saturday, Oct. 21, 2000 | 2:56 a.m.

Jeff German is the Sun's senior investigative reporter. He can be reached at (702) 259-4067 or by e-mail at german@lasvegassun.com

ATTORNEY General Frankie Sue Del Papa seems to be camera shy these days -- at least when it comes to defending herself against a lawsuit filed by her former investigator, Mike Anzalone.

This week District Court Discovery Commissioner Thomas Biggar will formally recommend for the third time in five months that Del Papa be forced to give a videotaped deposition in Anzalone's case.

In the past Del Papa has persuaded District Judge James Mahan to set aside Biggar's recommendation, as well as a $500 fine Biggar had sought against the attorney general for walking out of the deposition in May.

But Biggar, who oversees the sharing of evidence in civil cases, is taking one more shot this week at compelling Del Papa to testify under the lights of the camera.

The battle stems from Anzalone's 1998 lawsuit against Del Papa, alleging she forced him to resign because he had refused to participate in a top-secret intelligence probe of gaming regulators, including longtime former Gaming Control Board Chairman Bill Bible.

The investigation sprang from the criminal inquiry into the slot cheating activities of Ron Harris, a former Control Board computer expert.

Harris pleaded guilty in August 1996 and gave Del Papa confidant, Deputy Attorney General David Thompson, dirt on the Control Board agents who had built the criminal case against Harris.

Months earlier, independent of Harris, Thompson had sought to substantiate allegations that the squeaky-clean Bible, a political foe of Del Papa's, had taken bribes.

Bible, now president of the powerful Nevada Resort Association, was among those at the board who had pushed hard to prosecute Harris, now a free man after serving a short prison term.

The heart of the intelligence probe was revealed in a secret, 21-page report made public in April. The report, put together under Thompson's direction, suggested that other Nevada stalwarts besides Bible, such as former Gov. Bob Miller and Sens. Harry Reid and Richard Bryan, also were susceptible to bribes from the gaming industry. All four condemned the report.

For nearly two years Del Papa had fought hard to withhold the sensitive intelligence file from the public. It took a court order obtained by the Sun and KLAS Channel 8 to get it released.

These days, with the intelligence file out in the open, Del Papa's priority in the Anzalone case is keeping her deposition from being videotaped so the public can't see her squirm.

To some, her latest fight borders on paranoia.

"I fear that counsel for Mr. Anzalone will take advantage of a videotaped discovery deposition as an opportunity to confront me with a series of false, groundless and odious accusations," she wrote in a bizarre, four-page affidavit in July. "This would require me to deny untruthful accusations and defend myself against unsubstantiated hearsay statements."

But her anxiety doesn't stop there.

"I believe that the creation of 12 to 14 hours of videotape recording of my testimony will provide an almost limitless opportunity for abuse if a copy of the videotape is leaked to the media," she said.

Del Papa also wrote that the Anzalone suit has "serious political overtones for her" and that she finds the tactics of his Phoenix lawyer, Christine Manno, "demeaning."

The attorney general, who claims to have "limited knowledge" about the case, doesn't understand why Manno even wants to take her deposition.

But Manno, who has watched Del Papa stonewall the case for more than two years, can't figure out why the attorney general is making such a big fuss about the videotaping.

"Sitting U.S. presidents have provided a videotape deposition," Manno said. "Why is it so difficult for her to provide one?"