Boggs McDonald, Montandon face ethics hearings

Diana Sahagun and Kris Hill

Thursday, May 3, 2001 | 10:38 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Two high-ranking local politicians will face full hearings into allegations of unethical conduct that in different ways relate to Station Casinos.

A two-member panel of the State Ethics Commission on Wednesday voted to conduct full hearings into the allegations made against North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon and Las Vegas City Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald.

The hearings will delve into a relationship Montandon has with a key player in a deal to build a Station Casinos hotel-casino in a neighborhood zoned nongaming. The panel, when making its decision, found that Montandon gained and "unwarranted privilege for himself" in voting on a zoning change for the casino site.

Boggs McDonald will have to explain a trip she took to Chicago and Notre Dame University in 1999, which was paid for by Station Casinos. She disclosed the trip as a campaign contribution.

The hearing dates have not yet been set, but the commission next meets in Las Vegas on June 21.

The two-member panel had good news and bad news for Boggs McDonald. The panel found the councilwoman's husband, state employee Steven McDonald, had no obligation to report a trip to Chicago last year on the private plane.

Thus, an ethics complaint against him was dismissed.

But the panel tied 1-1 in a vote on whether sufficient evidence exists to go forward with a full-blown hearing into whether Boggs McDonald failed to properly report the trip paid for by a Stations Casinos executive.

Because the panel tied, the full Ethics Commission will hold a hearing into the matter.

Her attorney, John Mowbray, said in the coming weeks he will prepare a response to the panel's decision. He said he might try to get the hearing dismissed, on the grounds that the commission in the past has not gotten involved with the Nevada Campaign Practices Act, which handles disclosures by public officials. The Nevada Secretary of State Election Division handles such complaints.

The complaint against Boggs McDonald, filed by Henderson resident Barry Levine, asks the commission whether the councilwoman could list a flight, room and board and other trip expenses as an in-kind campaign donation.

Two weeks ago the city's ethics commission heard the identical case but dismissed it because the resident who filed the complaint, Tim Lafferty, didn't show up to the hearing and had failed to notarize the forms. He was friends with Mark Solomon, Boggs McDonald's opponent in the primary race, which she won.

"These complaints all stemmed from the political race," Mowbray said. "We didn't take a bet on whether the city's ethics commission would dismiss the case, but no one was surprised when they did."

Montandon will have to explain his vote on a proposed casino site on the Craig Ranch Golf Course.

The panel said Montandon failed to disclose his relationship with his business partner Shawn Lampman, who was involved in the property that was being rezoned from Martin Luther King Boulevard and Craig Road.

North Las Vegas resident Chris Grant, who said the mayor and Lampman are close friends and are business partners in a limited liability company named MMSL LLC, filed the complaint in early March.

Lampman is a real estate agent who represents Las Vegas Gaming Investments, which has been working with Station Casinos to build a casino on 36 acres next to the Craig Ranch Golf Course.

The complaint said Lampman is trying to buy the property from the Stimson family and resell a portion of it to Station Casinos.

Grant said the purchase by Station Casinos is contingent on getting the Craig Ranch Golf Course rezoned to permit the gambling company to build its project.

The complaint said, "Mr. Lampman was successful in having the zoning changed ... with the help and votes of his business partner and friend Mayor Michael Montandon."

The City Council voted on Sept. 20 on two zone changes, and Montandon did not disclose his friendship or business relationship with Lampman.

Montandon disclosed the relationship prior to a Feb. 7 approval of a gaming enterprise district for the Craig Ranch site. That approval, however, was overturned by the state Gaming Policy Committee review panel on March 27.

"I'm not afraid of anything," Montandon said Wednesday night. "I have nothing to hide."

Lampman acknowledged in March that he and Montandon are friends, but said they are no longer in business together.

He said he is confident that the investigation will clear the mayor.

"The truth will come out in the process," he said.

Sun reporters Erin Neff and Cy Ryan

contributed to this story.