Columnist Jon Ralston: Las Vegas politics is truly a money market

Wednesday, April 4, 2001 | 9:21 a.m.

MUST HAVE BEEN the Oscar Goodman endorsements.

Or perhaps it was all those voters being impressed with their accomplishments.

Or maybe, just maybe, it was that they raised an aggregate of more than $1 million and their three primary challengers took in $130,000 combined.

In an election night bathed in bathos, in a political season characterized by boring races that bored the electorate, the results were predictable. The half-million-dollar man (Michael Mack), the third-of-a-million-dollar woman (Lynette Boggs McDonald) and the quarter-million-dollar man (Lawrence Weekly) overwhelmed their puny, five-figure opponents. All three can attend today's City Council meeting, salute their contributors (some of whom will come before them today asking for a return on their investment in the form of a green light) and not have to worry about general elections.

One day after a campaign finance reform bill made it out of the U.S. Senate, the dominance of money in politics was reasserted in these Las Vegas contests. The results were obvious after early voting and mail returns -- which accounted for more than half the total votes -- were posted. As one wag put it, "The voice of money has spoken."

Oh, yes, hear it roar. With all due respect to His Honor's coattails, they don't stretch nearly so far as a few hundred grand to buy grass roots and a sprinkle of radio and TV. Combine the name recognition the broadcast spots can garner with the bodies the campaign cash can buy to help drag people out of their homes --- turnout was 12 percent -- and no challenger with normal-depth pockets has a chance.

These results bear out what anyone who follows elections can see: In Nevada, where anointment of incumbents and gaming and developer-favored candidates remains omnipotent, the municipal elections are the most stacked of all.

Consider: The incumbents not only hold potential donors hostage every two weeks at council meetings, but their challengers barely have a chance to raise money. Filing closed Feb. 2. The primary was two months later. So if you get into the race late, you have almost no chance. And if you have the forethought to get in a few months early, you also have no chance because the money already is locked up.

That's because, unless an incumbent has dared to offend, the shadow city government shuts its doors to all but the ones with titles. Howard Hughes ($86,000), Station Casinos ($62,500), Republic Silver State ($60,000) and Coast Resorts ($45,000) cast the largest shadows. But a host of developers, including Billy Walters ($30,000), John Ritter ($30,000) and Randy Black ($27,500), put in a little more than their two cents to say who will get elected.

A plethora of business types of all stripes who need council approval for their various endeavors also gave sizable amounts, including car dealers, engineering firms and even one law firm that dominates city lobbying (Kummer Kaempfer), which gave $13,500.

If you don't believe in the supremacy of money in politics, especially local politics, look beyond these Las Vegas landslides. In North Las Vegas the two incumbents not facing legal troubles won their elections outright, getting the required 50 percent plus one vote -- Mayor Mike Montandon and Councilwoman Stephanie Smith. And the one who has been indicted -- Councilman John Rhodes -- also came in first -- he just didn't get enough to avoid a general election.

Alas, money is not a foolproof political prophylactic if you have high enough negatives -- just ask Lance Malone, the ex-county commissioner who raised eight times more than primary opponent Chip Maxfield last year and lost. But he is the exception to this iron rule: Money will out.

It was comical to read and hear all the post-mortem comments from the candidates and Goodman, who claimed it was their attention to grass roots, accomplishments and hard work that the voters were responding to with their overwhelming support. Sure, that's it. Just look at the numbers:

Of all the active registered voters in Boggs McDonald's ward, 9 percent in all voted for her. The numbers for Weekly (14 percent) and Mack (10 percent) were equally minuscule. Nice to have a mandate.

But perhaps I am wrong about all of this. Maybe the money had nothing to do with these victories. Maybe I exaggerate its importance.

Maybe it was those Oscar Goodman endorsements.