Complaint against McDonald refiled

Jace Radke

Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2000 | 10:39 a.m.

A 50-page ethics complaint against Las Vegas City Councilman Michael McDonald has been re-filed after the City Ethics Review Board refused to take action on the complaint Thursday.

Retiree Bob Rose has had his complaint alleging misconduct in the possible sale of Las Vegas Sportspark notarized, meeting the requirement that the review board set last week.

"I went to my bank and had it notarized," Rose said. "Let's hope the board takes the jurisdiction and finds out all the truths. No matter which way it goes I'll be satisfied as long as it's the truth that comes out."

Deputy City Attorney Larry Bettis advised the board not to hear Rose's allegations because of a law that requires ethics complaints to be notarized, and the five-member board unanimously voted to vacate the matter.

The earliest the complaint will be brought back before the board will be at its Oct. 19 meeting where, if everything is in order, the board can rule on whether there is enough evidence to conduct a full-fledged hearing.

The complaint alleges that McDonald attempted to broker the sale of Sportspark to help his boss, Larry Scheffler, out of a bad investment.

The councilman toured Sportspark in May with Crazy Horse Too strip club owner Rick Rizzolo.

Don Schlesinger, a Sportspark partner, said he thought the Scheffler-led tour was for prospective investors, but McDonald maintains it was only to scout a location for a charity softball tournament.

Rose has added portions of the Aug. 16 City Council minutes to his complaint, including testimony from Schlesinger, to go along with newspaper clippings.

At Thursday's meeting Bettis also told the board that newspaper clippings should not be relied on as proof of allegations.

"I went ahead and refined my complaint, and I've spelled out the sources," Rose said. "If they have an excuse this time, it's going to be their excuse and not mine."