Las Vegas Sun

November 15, 2009

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Editorial: Special prosecutor isn’t the way to go

Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2002 | 9:03 a.m.

In 2001 Las Vegas City Councilman Michael Mack failed to disclose that, while voting to stop a car dealership from being built in northwest Las Vegas, he also owed $60,000 to a rival car dealer. Last week Mack was acquitted of criminal charges that he violated the city's ethics codes. While the judge didn't think the city met the burden to prove Mack's actions were criminal, it hardly was an exoneration.

The special prosecutor in the case failed to call two key witnesses and didn't subpoena bank records that could have shown whether Mack signed checks to car dealer Joseph Scala prior to the 2001 votes. It's not known for certain if those failures affected the case's outcome, but in the future the city should heed a growing call that the ethics panel instead refer prosecution of political corruption cases to the district attorney's office, which is better suited to oversee the kind of comprehensive probe needed for such important matters.

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