Potential for abuse cited in ethics cases

Diana Sahagun

Friday, Feb. 22, 2002 | 10:56 a.m.

East Coast car dealer John Staluppi Jr. didn't make secret his reasons for launching last summer a massive legal and ethical campaign against Las Vegas Councilman Michael Mack.

Staluppi was intent on securing a site for a new Nissan dealership in northwest Las Vegas after his original application was denied in June 2001, even if the effort involved lawsuits, ethics complaints and mudslinging.

Richard Wright, who represents Mack, says Staluppi ultimately used the Las Vegas Ethics Review Board for his own benefit, then disappeared after he received approval for a new site for the dealership. Staluppi's actions left Mack to deal with the consequences.

"I don't think it's fair the way it evolved here, when the motives of (Staluppi) are questionable and self-serving," said Wright. "The abuse is in the motivation of the complaint to begin with, and in abusing the system."

The city's ethics system is open for abuse, several council members say. Still, they aren't sure how to resolve the problem.

"There's no way to stop it," Mayor Oscar Goodman said. "It comes with the territory, and if these types of people want to file a complaint, they can do that. But we have to have an open process to ensure the integrity of public officials."

Even if complaints are politically motivated, they may still be legitimate. In Mack's case, he was found guilty Feb. 14 of intentionally violating the city's ethics code on five occasions.

Staluppi wasn't the first to use to system to further his cause.

Boggs McDonald -- who last year introduced new rules to strengthen the ethics board -- says it's typical for the complaints to be politically motivated, although the situation, short of eliminating the board, is impossible to prevent.

"I'm a big believer there has to be a place, whether at the city or state level, where citizens can file ethics complaints to be researched and pursued," she said. "However, it's just been within the last four years the board has been used as a tool to use against one's political enemies. That's just unfortunately been the case."

Goodman has stayed at arms-length from Mack's ethics case, but said once it is resolved he would review the advantages of retaining the board and will examine the possibility of the Nevada Ethics Commission handling complaints.

Boggs McDonald said she will also review the case and decide whether to propose new changes for the board.

There are five vacancies on the seven-member board. The terms of Chairman Earle White Jr., and members Robert Fleming and Linda Young expired last year. Member Lou Johnson resigned from the board the day of Mack's hearing, Feb. 14, and a newly created seat for a Ward 6 representative will remain vacant until Mack's case has been concluded.

Mack became the target of a lawsuit and ethics complaints after he voted on three occasions to postpone and ultimately deny Staluppi's application in June without disclosing that he had accepted a $57,000 loan -- which had grown to $60,000 -- from a rival car dealer.

Staluppi's attorney, Tony Sgro, responded by hiring a private investigator; he also released to the media allegations about Mack's private life.

The allegations were never proven, and Staluppi ultimately lost interest in the ethics complaints after the Planning Commission approved a new location for a dealership in January.

"The reality was a lot of horrible accusations were made that were unfounded and became published, and all that we ended up with were the ethical violations that he had admitted from the beginning," Wright said.

The two men who filed the complaints on behalf of Staluppi -- Frank Maione, who was hired by Staluppi to be the general manager of the dealership, and Mike Bellon, a local consultant -- didn't attend last week's hearing.

Wright -- who represented Councilman Michael McDonald before the ethics board in February 2001 -- could have argued that the complaints be dismissed because Mack's accusers were absent. According to a provision added to the ethics code last year, if the person filing the complaint fails to attend the hearing "the board shall dismiss the case."

Wright said he discussed the provision with Mack but the councilman wanted the case to be heard so he could admit he made a mistake when he failed to disclose the loan, rather than arguing the complaints be dismissed on a technicality.

"I agreed with his judgment, that it would look like I was using loopholes, and he was ducking responsibility," Wright said.

Even without their testimony the board unanimously voted that Mack violated city code by intentionally failing to disclose his financial relationship with Courtesy Automotive dealer Joseph Scala. Mack has maintained that he thought the loan had been repaid.

The board directed its attorney, John Graves, Jr., to take the case to municipal court for criminal prosecution. Graves on Wednesday filed one criminal complaint against Mack, and four others are expected to follow. If convicted of breaking city codes, Mack could be removed from office.

Ted Jelen, a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas who studies politics, said ethics boards can be abused because they can used by people with a political ax to grind. Other complaints are made by sincere individuals who believe some injustice has occurred, he added.

"Yes, (the boards) can be abused, and I can't imagine what you would do to prevent that because we like neutral, impartial, interested, competent people to handle these things," he said. "That's what politics is. People use business means and political means to get what they want. I don't see anyway to avoid it."

Wright, who said the board should be abolished, said he also struggles with how to prevent the abuses when the motives of the complainant aren't moral. But he admits that the public may be more concerned with an official's behavior, rather than the motivation behind the complaint.