Columnist Jeff German: Bob Nolen perfect fit for this council

Saturday, Jan. 27, 2001 | 10:40 a.m.

Jeff German is the Sun's senior investigative reporter. He can be reached at (702) 259-4067 or by e-mail at german@lasvegassun.com

ONCE IN a while the right candidate comes along at the right time.

He is Bob Nolen, a former City Councilman who after an eight-year hiatus wants his old job back.

You couldn't help noticing the hoopla local political pundits created last week over Nolen's decision to run against City Councilman Lawrence Weekly, a strong political ally of Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman.

There even was speculation that Goodman's arch-enemy on the City Council, Michael McDonald, secretly encouraged Nolen to jump into the race to cut into the mayor's power base.

Indeed, Nolen, a former cop, is eminently qualified to occupy a seat on this City Council.

He has experience in all of the crucial areas that would make McDonald proud.

During his tenure in office in the 1980s and early 1990s, Nolen was regarded as a political animal who believed in taking care of his friends and his other personal career as a private investigator.

By 1993, with the news media picking up on his inside moves, Nolen decided to give up his seat and take a job as the city's new constable.

There, Nolen distinguished himself by getting much-needed experience in dealing with the Nevada Ethics Commission, a must for anyone seeking a seat on this City Council.

In the spring of 1996, Nolen's abrasive management style took its toll on the constable's office. His deputies rebelled, calling him a "petty tyrant" who spent little time on the job and used the resources of his office to work on the campaigns of his political cronies.

Nolen countered that the charges were coming from disgruntled employees, but eventually the deputies put the charges in writing in a complaint to the Ethics Commission.

After well-publicized hearings, the ethics panel sided with the deputies and issued a blistering report seeking a $5,000 fine against Nolen. The report also asked the District Court to remove the constable from office for alleged malfeasance.

The commission found that Nolen had worked a mere 5-15 hours a week to earn his $63,000 taxpayer salary and spent much of his time in local topless clubs, especially the Olympic Garden, owned by his politically connected pal, Pete Eliadis.

Nolen, however, had the good sense to hire super-sharp attorney John Moran Jr., who is well versed in the art of legalese.

Moran was able to persuade a district judge to gut the panel's stiff recommendations. He contended the commission had overstepped its authority and was devoid of fair play in its high-profile dealings with Nolen.

In 1998 the commission appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court, while Nolen quietly opted not to run for re-election. By the end of the year, as Nolen was leaving office, the high court approved a settlement between him and the commission and dismissed the appeal.

The settlement tossed out the $5,000 fine and paved the way for Nolen to run for public office again.

But Nolen wasn't ready to take the plunge right away.

He decided he wanted experience running the Olympic Garden for Eliades. Nolen apparently figured that since he was spending so much time there anyway, he might as well get paid for it.

McDonald will tell you that having a topless nightclub owner in your corner is a must for anyone on this City Council, which also has a pawnshop operator as a member and a former mob attorney as its mayor.

Crazy Horse Too owner Rick Rizzolo is McDonald's man in the topless industry. But then you probably know that if you've been following the efforts in District Court to remove McDonald from office because of alleged malfeasance.

We should feel lucky, my friends. Bob Nolen has a resume that's perfect for this City Council. He's the right candidate at the right time.