Columnist Jon Ralston: Salesman and Budget Man form dynamic duo

Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2001 | 9:46 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

WHO WOULD have guessed it?

As Nevada braces for an economic crisis that could be ephemeral or perpetual, the state's biggest assets are two men who don't particularly like or respect each other, two men who are seen as the most popular figures of their political parties, two men who are seen as the fiercest of political rivals and possible opponents on the ballot next year.

One is a budget detail man whose laid-back style and steady hand may be just what the state needs -- a man who is sensitive but conservative, determined but flexible. If cuts are needed, he'll make them. If drastic action is needed, maybe even finding more money, he'll find it.

The other man is a charismatic salesman who eschews details as if they were fatty foods and may be just the man the valley needs -- a man who sees the big picture and can paint a compelling scene. If any one person can help bring people back to Las Vegas, he can. If anyone can be Pollyanna in a sea of Chicken Littles, he can.

Kenny Guinn and Oscar Goodman -- a team for the new millennium? The governor and the mayor -- together again, for the first time? Say it ain't so?

They are not hand-in-hand as New York's political rivals Rudy Giuliani and George Pataki are these days. But Guinn's caring and conscientious persona is providing a perfect complement to Goodman's unquenchable enthusiasm and boosterism. While Guinn pores over budget figures, Goodman sells the Strip on national TV and in national magazines, as well as to locals.

Just listen to them do what they do best:

Guinn, who plans to try to reassure the public in a Thursday night speech, this week is promoting the robust state of the unemployment benefits fund.

At half a billion dollars, he says, that should be good for a year, unless something worse happens.

The governor knows, though, that the economy was shaky even before Sept. 11.

Gaming revenues, projected at 5.4 percent, were actually at 3.7 percent for the first two months of the new biennium. The last 10 days, he says, gaming "certainly was down substantially ... It was a slight downward spiral, now it's kind of off the cliff."

Guinn said he and his budget advisers are extrapolating to measure the effects of growing unemployment -- about 8,000 people, almost all of it in the South, during the last two weeks.

Guinn has met with banks to try to work out plans for people to pay off their mortgages. He has met with gaming CEOs to urge them to do layoffs in a staggered way -- he made those suggestions quietly, unlike Goodman, but the points were similar. And the governor has met with union leaders to try to set up a "one-stop shop operation," perhaps at Cashman Field, where unemployed workers can come to meet with government officials and charitable folks.

Guinn also is fretting over the state's mandated obligation to local school districts, which get a percentage of sales tax revenue and could soon be hurting. The state has to make up the difference, which, he said, could cause the budget to hemorrhage millions of dollars.

Meanwhile, Goodman, obviously desperate to help the city he obviously loves, has tried to send his message of unbridled optimism through appearances on local TV stations, CBS' "Early Show" and interviews with the likes of Fortune Magazine. He wants to, as he put it, "make a very positive statement."

The happy mayor takes to the airwaves? Indeed. And there never has been a better ambassador for the city -- both externally and internally. He can both inform potential tourists that Las Vegas is alive and well while also urging locals to patronize casinos -- a page he admits he lifted from Giuliani's playbook.

Goodman acknowledges flak he has taken from casino bosses who think he has stuck his nose where it doesn't belong with that letter urging casinos not to lay off people -- that includes one of those ear-piercing calls from Steve Wynn. But he has no regrets.

He still gets frustrated -- with the transportation secretary calling to talk to him about an airport he has no jurisdiction over or that he is promoting a venue (the Strip) he doesn't control. He must bluster his way through those questions, whether it's Norman Mineta or Bryant Gumbel.

"The mayor should be in charge of all that stuff," he says. Some messages he can't stop delivering.

But these days, with Kenny the Budget Man crunching the numbers, and Oscar the Salesman hawking the town, the one message both are proffering is a simple and sunny one: This, too, shall pass.

Who would have guessed it?