Columnist Jon Ralston: Lawyer doubles as travel agent

Friday, June 7, 2002 | 5:16 a.m.

So imagine McCarran Airport boss Randy Walker's reaction last month when he found out someone wanted him to get a passenger on a plane who did not have an ID. By the time he discovered the whole story, Walker, known for his equanimity, was incensed and unleashed his anger in uncharacteristic fashion.

"In the wake of what happened on 9/11, anyone who tries to get someone on a plane without an ID is either an idiot or arrogant," Walker said recently.

Turns out the person Walker was referring to was David Chesnoff, the well-known criminal lawyer who has defended reputed mobsters and drug dealers. Chesnoff called and told Walker's secretary he had a client without any identification whom he needed to get on a plane.

According to a memo she later sent Walker, the McCarran director's secretary told Chesnoff he had to call the airlines and that Walker couldn't help him, that there are procedures that have to be followed through the carrier.

"He was rather upset that you could not help him," Walker's secretary wrote. "He told me to let you know that he was Oscar Goodman's law partner."

Walker was not amused. "For someone to call to ask us to do something improper is offensive," Walker said in an interview. "And to assume I would do it because of some high-level official is doubly offensive."

Walker said he did not believe Goodman even knew Chesnoff had used his name -- the mayor was not available late last week to comment.

For his part, Chesnoff bristled at any notion he had done anything improper. "I was just trying to find out the procedures," the attorney said, saying he was helping a client whom he would not identify. And this client, not surprisingly, had not simply mislaid his driver's license; his ID had been taken by Metro for reasons Chesnoff would not elaborate upon.

Chesnoff added that he would "never throw Goodman's name around that way." He said if he mentioned His Honor's name, it was just to let Walker's secretary know he was credible.

"I was not trying to hide anything," Chesnoff said. "I was just trying to go through channels."

Walker scoffed at that explanation. "There is a process," he said, referring to an application that can be made to individual airlines if a passenger is without ID. "That's not what his intent was. I've been in this business a long time. I know when someone's calling and asking for a favor."

Chesnoff claims that even though he did not get satisfaction from Walker's office, he managed to get his client on the plane through other methods, including contacting law enforcement for assistance.

If so, the moral of this story is simple. If you can't find your ID, or the cops confiscate it, and you need to get on a plane, don't call Randy Walker. Call David Chesnoff.

Sometime this week, state Sen. Jon Porter, who is running for Congress, will have a prefix appended to his title: ex. That's because Porter plans to resign from the Legislature after a Legislative Counsel Bureau official advised him he had no choice because he no longer lives in his district.

Well, sort of. Porter actually does live in his district -- his newly redistricted state Senate district. But when he recently moved from Boulder City to Green Valley, he moved beyond his old district boundaries. And, with filing completed, election officials discovered that Porter, by state law, is not eligible to continue serving because the old district boundaries apply until after the election.

So because of a quirk in the law that says Porter technically represents his old district until the day after the election, he actually is no longer a state senator. So he plans to submit a letter of resignation this week.

Whether or not that has any effect on his congressional campaign (I suppose it's marginally better to be a state senator than an ex-state senator) is not nearly as interesting as what this vacancy could cause. Suppose Gov. Kenny Guinn ultimately decides to call a special session on the medical malpractice issue. There would be two vacancies to fill in the upper house, both Republicans -- Porter and Mark James, who is running for the County Commission and moved out of his Senate district to do so.

And, ironically, who appoints those replacements? The Clark County Commission, chaired by Dario Herrera, Porter's opponent. So Herrera, and the four other Democrats, could appoint any Republicans they choose and my guess is they would be trial lawyers to help their friends fend off jury caps in Carson City. Maybe they could appoint Tom Christensen, whose bid for James' seat helped usher the incumbent out of the race and who is an attorney.

What a strange, small world Nevada politics remains