Columnist Jon Ralston: System invites corruption

Friday, Aug. 29, 2003 | 5:49 a.m.

That's the obvious question about strip club boss Mike Galardi and his cell-phone-happy delivery boy Lance Malone, who were accused last week in a San Diego federal indictment of a conspiracy to pay off city councilmen to affect a lap dance ordinance.

If Galardi and Malone wanted to ensure the San Diego elected officials kept their hands off a no-touch ordinance by greasing their palms, wouldn't they have tried to execute the same kind of illicit handshake deal with Las Vegas pols? The situations are almost identical -- everyone recalls the lap dance controversy last year. So if Galardi and Malone had loose lips on calls to the San Diego folks, wouldn't they have been flapping away with the locals, too?

The devastating San Diego indictment has led some observers to speculate that the Las Vegas feds will act expeditiously to name names in court papers, too. George Togliatti, a former organized crime expert for the FBI, said Friday on "Face to Face" that he believes indictments here are "imminent," perhaps within a week or so. That's ominous news for the likes of ex-County Commissioner Erin Kenny, Commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey -- and perhaps ex-Commissioner Dario Herrera and ex-Councilman Michael McDonald, too. If any of them talked extensively to Malone on his phone -- and records show Kenny talked to him dozens of times -- how likely is it that both parties were careful?

I especially enjoyed one snippet of a wiretap cited in the indictment in which Malone informs a San Diego councilman that he can get money for him "very very discreet this time." This from a former commissioner who behaved as if cretinous outbursts were the better part of discretion.

Stupidity may be an absolute (and the only) defense in some cases. But methinks Malone will greatly tax skilled attorney Dominic Gentile's talents.

For instance, on March 7, 2002, when his boss Galardi said, according to the indictment, "We could bribe him, too," what did Malone reply? That's not in the court document. But something tells me Malone didn't retort, "What do you mean bribe him, boss? That's an outrageous suggestion."

Kenny has a problem of a different kind. Unlike Malone, she was never seen as a dummy. But her brazenness and ruthlessness were well-known. And my guess is she was found to have said some things on those wiretaps that would make some feds blush. Whether she was simply spouting off or engaging in a conspiracy will be the stuff of a trial, I'd guess.

And if reports are true that she is cooperating -- and she has told friends she did wrong -- you can be sure that Gentile and the roster of legal luminaries involved will attempt to fillet her if she takes the stand as a prosecution witness.

Kincaid-Chauncey continues to profess her innocence, including in a recent interview on "Face to Face." The commissioner flatly said she never took money from Malone, so she better hope there isn't a tape that contradicts her.

As for McDonald and Herrera, who appear less in the crosshairs than the others, they must be worried about what tales Kenny might be telling (as are a few developers and lobbyists) and what Malone might have said about them. Even if they are guilty only of bad judgment, they have to be anxious about exactly what's on those wiretaps, which we may know soon if Togliatti is right.

What again seems lost to me, though, is how the line has long been blurred in this city between legalized corruption and illegal corruption. The first definition of corrupt in Webster's simply is "immoral and perverse: depraved." For years in Las Vegas, condoned corruption has been rampant -- part-time elected officials using their jobs passively or aggressively to try to enrich themselves. Often it has been blatant and grotesque, even as their colleagues and lawmen stood mute.

(Speaking of which, may I implore my Fourth Estate colleagues to stop quoting irony-challenged Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates as being concerned about how these developments are eroding trust in government -- this from the woman who is the standing record-holder for ethics complaints, including for her role in putting the arm on casino owners for an incipient business and for maneuvering to get friends on a list for lucrative airport contracts. Spare me, Ms. Gates.)

Malone, the indictment asserts, paid for Blue Man Group tickets for a San Diego councilman. How many comps the average citizen could not obtain to events an average citizen could not readily afford do you think local politicians have taken? Tee times at luxury courses. Boxing and show tickets. Rides on corporate jets. Illegal? No. Immoral? Well ...

The problem is so complicated that it goes beyond the inherent venality (worst case) or cluelessness (best case) of the elected officials. Mediocre salaries too often attract mediocre people into a system where lesser lights are coached to shine during elections by campaign consultants who could elect a ham sandwich. Then their true characters and flaws emerge once they begin serving.

Malone was elected to the Clark County Commission against a vulnerable incumbent -- all he had to do was say his opponent's name. So, too, was McDonald elected to the City Council. Both then began to sink in ethics quicksand and lost their jobs to relative ciphers -- Chip Maxfield and Janet Moncrief, who now are proving (Maxfield) or must prove (Moncrief) their worth beyond campaigns they won simply by not being the incumbent.

Many ifs remain as this public corruption probe plays out. But if officials here are indicted for taking cash for votes, the real question is how much insidious corruption of the system will continue unabated as less obvious transactions continue to be de rigueur.