Escort service proposal linked to politics

Erin Neff

Thursday, Jan. 18, 2001 | 11:04 a.m.

It would have been the first escort service licensed in the city of Las Vegas in nearly three decades.

So just what made Bleu Limited propose such a service in an upscale Summerlin neighborhood as a test case before the Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday?

Some believe politics.

That's because Cynthia Steinman, one of Bleu's two partners, is a former exotic dancer at the Crazy Horse Too strip club. And since the proposed location of the service was in Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald's ward, some believe Councilman Michael McDonald may have tried to slip something by his colleague as she prepares her re-election campaign.

McDonald, a close friend of Crazy Horse Too owner Rick Rizzolo, vehemently denied any connection to the service, saying he does not know Steinman.

"That's a blatant lie, a cheap shot," McDonald said.

But not everyone is convinced.

"It is quite a coincidence that they want to open a non-sex escort service run by a dancer who worked in a club owned by the councilman's friend," said one resident of Eagle Hills -- the tony neighborhood in Summerlin where the service was proposed.

"It could just be happenstance, but I don't think so," said the resident, who asked to remain anonymous.

Boggs McDonald stopped short of saying the proposal had McDonald's fingerprints on it, but added "The fact that they chose Summerlin to start a new precedence is unusual."

The council never heard the request Wednesday, voting instead to strike the proposed service from the agenda as Boggs McDonald asked the city attorney's office to draft an ordinance prohibiting such services from residential areas.

Jeffery Schoor said he was surprised to hear concerns about the proposal for his Peachy Canyon Circle condominium since city staff gave their approval for the request.

"We're just two little people looking to start a business," said Schoor, Steinman's partner. "The only reason there was any interest in Summerlin was because I live there, and it's a place to hang the license."

Schoor, who incorporated Bleu Limited last April, said he has struggled for months to find a suitable location to base the operation. First, he said, he proposed hanging the license at a Mailboxes Etc. on Rainbow Boulevard.

He said city staff then told him he had to have the license assigned to a home. The business has yet to operate, he said.

Schoor said the business would not technically operate out of his condo, and that escorts would be reached by mobile phone.

"If I thought a quote-unquote escort service was going to open in my neighborhood, I'd be upset too," Schoor said. "This is just a place to hang the license."

Schoor also said he and Steinman are upset that their plans have been associated with prostitution.

"There's a lot of that other stuff around," Schoor said. "We wanted to offer a social engagement service with highly-educated beautiful people."

Schoor said he met Steinman through a real estate deal and added that her former occupation has no bearing on the current proposal.

"That's in the past," he said.

Boggs McDonald said she will push for the ordinance "so that these type of uses are never allowed in residential areas."

"They say this isn't prostitution or sex," Boggs McDonald said. "But in talking to law enforcement around the country, they say they don't set these places up that way, but it always happens."

Boggs McDonald and McDonald were former political allies, whose relationship soured after he failed to support a controversial Costco project in her ward and she voted against McDonald's pick for appointment to the Ward 6 council seat.

The councilwoman also spoke out strongly against what she called McDonald's unethical behavior when the board voted to take McDonald's mayor pro tem title away last year.

Some have suggested McDonald would attempt to meddle in the upcoming municipal elections as payback for statements made by Boggs McDonald and Michael Mack. A third council member up for re-election, Larry Brown, testified against McDonald at his ethics hearing last year.

McDonald said he would never have tried to embarrass Boggs McDonald with the escort service.

"Why would I do that?" he said.