Las Vegas councilwoman faces two more ethics complaints

Diana Sahagun

Friday, March 16, 2001 | 11 a.m.

Las Vegas City Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald, deemed last year by Mayor Oscar Goodman as the "the maven of ethics," is facing two more ethics complaints regarding a trip paid for by Station Casinos.

But Goodman isn't backing off on the accolade.

Goodman said Thursday the complaints against the councilwoman are "outrageous."

"In my old life I always said you can indict the pope for rape and you can indict a ham sandwich," he said. "If it's politically motivated, it's a cheap shot. If it has merit, then that's what we're supposed to do."

The two complaints filed this week come just days before early voting begins in Las Vegas. Boggs McDonald is running for re-election in Ward 2.

The councilwoman said Thursday she was told by the state's Ethics Commission that Henderson resident Barry Levine has filed a complaint against her and her husband, Steven McDonald, a state employee, relating to the trip.

She also has been told by the secretary of state's Election Division that resident Tim Lafferty has this week filed a complaint against her also relating to the trip, which Boggs McDonald and her husband took last year.

Boggs McDonald has not seen the complaints, which are kept confidential until the commission takes action. The councilwoman will have 10 days to respond to the complaint; the commission will then decide whether to set a hearing or dismiss the matter.

The latest complaints stem from an original complaint filed with the city's ethics board last week by Lafferty, an admitted acquaintance of Solomon.

In the original complaint Lafferty alleges Boggs McDonald violated ethics laws when she failed to disclose her relationship with Station Casinos executives and classified the trip as a "political contribution."

Boggs McDonald, appointed to the City Council in July 1999, reported campaign contributions last year of more than $10,000.

One of her contributors in 1999 was from Station, for $2,256.22.

According to the complaint, the contribution paid for the councilwoman and her husband to fly, accompanied by two Station executives and their spouses, to South Bend, Ind., for a Notre Dame football game.

Boggs McDonald classified it as a political contribution, not a gift.