Mayor, council members cleared

Erin Neff and Diana Sahagun

Friday, March 30, 2001 | 11:19 a.m.

A two-member panel of the state Ethics Commission on Thursday dismissed a complaint against Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and three other City Council members related to a vote on a tavern license for political consultant Sig Rogich.

Ethics Commissioners Jim Kosinsky and Rick Hsu determined there was "no credible evidence that the council members violated (state ethics laws)," said Polly Hamilton, executive director of the commission.

The complaint, submitted by Las Vegas resident F. Victor Palermo, alleged Goodman and Council members Lynette Boggs McDonald, Larry Brown and Michael Mack, over the objections of staff, granted Rogich a special favor by voting last year to approve a tavern license for his building.

Palermo filed the same complaint to the city's ethics commission in February, which also dismissed the case.

Goodman said Thursday that like the state's two-member screening panel, there needs to be a similar mechanism in place for the city's ethics board to determine if a full hearing should go forward.

"I have no problem with the state or city's ethics commission, but the rules should be the same," Goodman said.

Goodman has maintained that the complaint itself was politically-motivated and frivolous.

"We really have to get a mechanism in place where frivolous complaints don't take up taxpayers' expense," Goodman said. "There really should be sort of an intermediary screening device."

Upon hearing news of the dismissal, Mack said he wasn't concerned with the complaint because he knew it wasn't warranted, but said the two ethics commissions are important because they hold council members accountable.

"It's important that people have the right to file a complaint if they feel there has been some wrongdoing and I appreciate that fact because it holds us to a high standard," Mack said. "On the other hand, it gives anyone who feels compelled to file a frivolous lawsuit to do the same."