Las Vegas City Council faces rocky month

Erin Neff

Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2001 | 10:49 a.m.

Mid-February won't be all Valentines for the city of Las Vegas as five of its council members face ethics hearings.

Councilman Michael McDonald is scheduled to appear before the Nevada Ethics Commission on charges he lobbied the city to purchase the troubled Las Vegas Sportspark to help his boss out of a bad investment. McDonald also is accused of working to block a tavern license sought last year by political consultant Sig Rogich.

The Rogich license is at the crux of a separate ethics complaint, filed by resident F. Victor Palermo, against four other council members.

Palermo accuses Mayor Oscar Goodman and council members Lynette Boggs McDonald, Larry Brown and Michael Mack of granting Rogich special favors by approving the license over the objections of City Attorney Brad Jerbic.

The Las Vegas Ethics Review Board, which also meets Feb. 15, will determine whether there is sufficient cause in Palermo's complaint to hold a full-fledged hearing into the matter.

In November that board determined Michael McDonald broke city ethics laws in connection to the Sportspark and Rogich license case. The state board will be entertaining the same complaint, filed by resident Robert Rose.

But McDonald also faces possible removal from office in District Court because the city's ethics board has filed a civil malfeasance petition against the councilman. District Judge Jim Mahan will hold a procedural hearing Wednesday to determine when the actual civil hearing will take place.

Due to a state law spelling out removal from office for malfeasance, a hearing must be held within 20 days of the petition's filing. Thus, the McDonald hearing, by statute, must be held by Feb. 12.

Even as McDonald faces his ethics troubles, his colleagues are accusing him of helping orchestrate the complaint against them.

Palermo has denied any connection to McDonald or his staff, but admits he had help putting his complaint together. Attached to his complaint are background material and meeting transcripts taken from the official council back-up material books.

McDonald has denied playing any role in the Rogich complaint. But just two weeks before Palermo filed the complaint, McDonald told listeners of a talk radio program that he thought someone should file such a complaint against the council members who approved Rogich's license.

Boggs McDonald, Mack, Goodman and Brown have all stated they would vote the same way today as they did in April 2000 when the Rogich matter was heard. They have all also said they suspect McDonald had something to do with the complaint.