Complaint against Boggs McDonald dismissed

Jace Radke

Friday, April 20, 2001 | 10:43 a.m.

The Las Vegas Ethics Review Board on Thursday dismissed a complaint against Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald after the complainant, an associate of Boggs McDonald's opponent in last month's election, failed to show up for the meeting.

The complaint focused on a trip the councilwoman and her husband took in 1999 to the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. The trip was paid for by Station Casinos.

Boggs McDonald's attorney, John Mowbray, successfully argued that the complaint was incorrectly filed and that it was a transparent attempt to defame the councilwoman during her campaign against Mark Solomon.

"The complaint was not signed under oath or affirmation that these statements are true, and all that it contains is a newspaper article and four records of items heard by the City Council, two of which were considered routine and all passed unanimously," Mowbray said. "The complainant failed to appear, and that leads us to believe that this was no more than a campaign artifice.

"We didn't take bets on whether (Lafferty) would show up, but it's no big surprise that he didn't."

Commission Chairman Earle White Jr. said the complaint did not meet the standards to be heard in a full hearing, and the three commissioners at the City Hall meeting voted to dismiss the complaint.

In the complaint, Lafferty -- he has said that Solomon did not ask him to file it -- alleged that Boggs McDonald failed to disclose her relationship with Station Casinos executives and classified the trip as a political contribution.

Boggs McDonald, who was first appointed to the City Council in July of 1999, reported a contribution of $2,256.22 from Station Casinos.