Columnist Jon Ralston: Mayor at pivotal point in political career

Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2001 | 9:01 a.m.

Jon Ralston hosts the public affairs program "Face to Face" on Las Vegas ONE and also publishes the Ralston Report. His column for the Sun appears on Sundays and Wednesdays. Ralston can be reached at 870-7997 or through e-mail at ralston@vegas.com

I ALMOST felt sorry for Mayor Oscar Goodman on Monday. Almost.

Imagine how the happy mayor with the robust ego must have felt appearing in front of the TV cameras at the George Federal Building to eat crow. Or perhaps that was humble pie he swallowed as he literally and rhetorically hugged Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., who gazed at him with a pasted-on smile as Goodman unequivocally endorsed her re-election -- only days after equivocating at his news conference and sending Team Berkley into apoplexy.

Goodman generally endured the humiliation with grace, excepting a few snipes at the media, which had highlighted how he had hemmed and hawed over whether to endorse Berkley or his council colleague, Lynette Boggs McDonald. And he probably was being his usual blunt self when he averred he was affected by his desire last week "not to hurt" Boggs McDonald.

But he knew -- he must have known -- that he had taken the chicken's way out last week. So when Berkley told everyone in town who would listen that she was ready to wring his neck, the chicken became a rooster and crowed his support for his fellow Democrat.

It was painful to watch -- the cock of the walk suddenly stumbling for an explanation. But, I think, this incident, as silly as it was, also could be a pivotal point in Goodman's political career.

His Honor is either going to learn a very important lesson from this and profit by it. Or he will return to bad habits and he -- and the city he loves -- will lose because of it.

One of the most refreshing aspects of Goodman's brief strutting about on the political stage is that even though we know he is a practicing thespian, his act is so irreverent, so charming, so guileless that we want to believe him. And it is his honesty when others would not be so forthright -- he's a performer, just as he was as a criminal defense lawyer, but he is a method actor -- that has prolonged his honeymoon so long.

That's why his recent trend -- or is it that it has been more pronounced? -- toward a lack of seriousness is so disturbing. Goodman seems to be totally oblivious to the obvious fact that words do matter -- especially words spoken by the most popular elected official in Southern Nevada, especially in the wake of Sept. 11, when the public looks to its leaders for guidance and strength, not flippancy and foolishness.

Goodman's "I'm neutral, no I'm not" performance follows on the heels of his ludicrous "I'm not running for governor but the governor is incompetent" announcement, his blithe handling of an anthrax scare at City Hall and his arrogant defense of a golf course contract juice job. But these are only a few examples.

The act, I'm afraid, is wearing thin. The lines -- "I'm the mayor" -- have become hackneyed. The performance, once rich with humor and distinctiveness, now is looking tired and worn.

It's one thing to be irreverent and even display a titanic ego, especially if its energy is directed toward productive pursuits such as downtown redevelopment. But if everything's a laughing matter or a cause for bluster, he will become the mayor who can't be taken seriously.

And that would be a shame. Goodman, through the force of his personality, has drawn more attention to this city than any mayor ever has. And even through the performance, you can see that the man truly loves his job, loves the city and craves success.

He desperately wants to be taken seriously. This is a man whose appellation has gone from "mob lawyer" to "Your Honor," a chameleon-like acting tour-de-force that has taken him from villain to hero in the second act of his life.

They love him. They really love him.

And they may still love him. But he is at a turning point and I hope he knows it. In the last year and a half of his first term -- and potential second -- he can choose to either be characterized as a maverick who is to be taken seriously or a loose cannon who becomes a caricature.