Columnist Jon Ralston: Another airport prize up for grabs

Saturday, Oct. 21, 2000 | 2:57 a.m.

Jon Ralston, who publishes the Ralston Report, writes a column for the Sun on Sundays and Wednesdays. Ralston can be reached at 870-7997 or by e-mail at ralston@vegas.com

NO TWO WORDS frighten Clark County commissioners -- and a few staffers -- as these do: airport concessions.

After the nightmare three years ago known as Airportgate, when commissioners were found to have slipped their friends and cronies onto a preferred list of contract-winners for concessions at the sparkling D Gates, no commissioner with a three-digit IQ would go near the process. The politics supposedly were bled out of the process after the celebrated Ethics Commission drawing and quartering of Yvonne Atkinson Gates and Lance Malone.

If only it were so. Much to the consternation of the board and airport higher-ups, the incipient award of a coffee concession in the C Gates has caused a bit of a political stir and too much deja vu for comfort.

Airportgate II? Not quite. But first-rate political theater. Oh my, yes. Here, according to knowledgeable sources, is what's happening:

Having learned of a coffee concession opening at the airport this spring, the Ayala family, which already has five concessions and is always looking for more, made an interest known to Host-Marriott, which makes the decision on all concessions. The Ayalas -- Dan and Brian, a father-son team -- learned that another bidder was vying for the contract. That person is Sharon Brown, whose husband, Jay Brown, is a longtime Las Vegas attorney, pal of U.S. Sen. Harry Reid and frequent commission lobbyist.

That's when, in airport boss Randy Walker's characterization, "it went political." By that, he means that the Ayalas, claiming a juice job in the works, went to friends on the commission. The Ayalas had learned of a conversation that Jay Brown had with a representative of their partner, Seattle's Best coffee, and believed they might be in trouble.

The Ayalas clearly had the better written proposal, Walker said. But Walker also said that the Ayalas' large number of concessions, Brown's business experience (she is a Swenson's franchisee) and other factors also should play a role.

Upset at the Ayalas lobbying -- there is no evidence the Browns contacted commissioners -- Walker informed Host-Marriott that politics had once again reared its head and that he was putting a hold on the award.

In midsummer, Walker talked to the Ayalas, who he said gave them the impression that they were withdrawing -- which the Ayalas deny. Walker said he then started the process moving forward again, only to learn that the Ayalas had written a letter to Host-Marriott insisting they were still in the hunt.

And that's when commissioners started talking to Walker to find out what was happening. Walker said two of them -- Gates and Dario Herrera -- said if they were choosing, they'd pick the Browns.

Gates acknowledged she talked to Walker and said she believed someone new should get the concession because the Ayalas already have five. (Her friend, Mike Chambliss, is involved in three at McCarran.) She insisted she has no relationship with the Browns, who are her neighbors, although she did arrange a meeting between Jay Brown and Commissioner Mary Kincaid shortly after the primary so Kincaid could get a campaign contribution.

Herrera insisted in an interview he had not been lobbied by the Browns. Herrera, soon to go to work for megalobbying firm Cassidy & Associates, worked with Jay Brown earlier this year in unsuccessfully trying to win the company a city lobbying contract. When asked why he had suggested to Walker that the Browns would be a better choice, Herrera twisted himself into a rhetorical pretzel. The commissioner originally said he had not told Walker he preferred the Browns, then later said he "wouldn't call it a preference" and then claimed Walker asked "me a question and I responded."

Walker is clearly frustrated with the Ayalas, who he insists injected the politics into the process. Commissioners say the Ayalas have threatened them with, among other things, media attention. "I've tried the best I could since the D Gates fiasco," Walker lamented late last week. Indeed, he has.

Airportgate II? Not quite. But this concession, which could be awarded next month, sure has returned those chills to Grand Central Parkway.