Judge to determine McDonald’s fate

Erin Neff

Monday, March 19, 2001 | 11:22 a.m.

Las Vegas City Councilman Michael McDonald has twice faced voters with glowing results.

But the people who elected him to his Ward 1 seat might not have a say in whether he keeps the post.

If District Judge James Mahan finds during a trial this week that McDonald was guilty of malfeasance, the councilman will be removed from office. The trial is expected to last two days.

But even McDonald's critics admit the malfeasance charge has never been successfully used to oust an elected official. McDonald is confident he can beat the case thanks to his attorney, Richard Wright, and strong support he says he still has from his constituents.

"We'll have to wait for our day in court," McDonald said in a recent interview. "But the residents of Ward 1 are still behind me."

The unusual trial, set to start at 9 a.m. Tuesday, comes after a series of ethics charges and news of the councilman's surveillance by law enforcement.

Last year the city's Ethics Review Board found McDonald guilty of violating city ethics laws twice. In the first case the board said McDonald aggressively lobbied the city to purchase the Las Vegas Sportspark to help his boss, Larry Scheffler, out of a bad investment.

The board also determined McDonald acted improperly by working behind the scenes to scuttle a tavern license for his one-time political adviser, Sig Rogich. McDonald had publicly abstained from action on the license but ordered city employees to conduct work that he thought would sink Rogich's bid.

That board was so incensed by McDonald's behavior that it sought his removal from office through a civil proceeding under a little-used statute called malfeasance.

Board Chairman Earle White Jr. said McDonald's behavior showed a pattern of abuse of his office that made him unfit to keep the post.

White decided against prosecuting McDonald on a criminal charge through the city's Municipal Court -- another option the board had.

In February the state Ethics Commission found McDonald guilty of violating two sections of state law in relation to the Sportspark case. But the commission narrowly determined McDonald's actions were not willful -- and thus not subject to a fine.

Frank Cremen, a special prosecutor assigned to the city's Ethics Review Board, will present the malfeasance case against McDonald using much of the same evidence already discussed at the two previous ethics hearings.