Columnist Jeff German: What’s next for battered McDonald?

Wednesday, June 11, 2003 | 11:04 a.m.

Losing his re-election bid may turn out to be the least of City Councilman Michael McDonald's problems in the coming weeks.

McDonald still faces the challenge of staying out of the sights of federal prosecutors in the most publicized political corruption investigation in Southern Nevada in more than two decades.

You might want to consider McDonald's 37-minute experience with a federal grand jury Tuesday the first stretch of a legal tightrope he's walking in the investigation.

McDonald left the grand jury smiling, but the defeated two-term city councilman had to be churning inside over his predicament.

Officially, prosecutors regard McDonald as a subject of the two-year probe, which means they don't have enough evidence to call him a target, like several other local politicians.

That's good news for McDonald. It's an indication that FBI wiretaps and informants in the investigation, which is eyeing the political influence of topless nightclub operator Michael Galardi, haven't come up with any indictment-worthy dirt on McDonald.

Prosecutors may never uncover evidence of wrongdoing on McDonald's part. There may be no wrongdoing. He acknowledges having a consulting contract with Galardi and insists that he maintained an above-board relationship with the man, never once voting on matters involving Galardi's clubs and always paying taxes on money he received from the strip club owner.

But McDonald can't feel totally at ease until the grand jury either takes no action or returns an indictment without naming him as a defendant.

One explanation for McDonald's confident smile outside the grand jury Tuesday was that he showed up with Richard Wright, one of the most experienced criminal defense attorneys in the business. It was Wright -- not McDonald -- who was carrying a thick legal briefcase of documents.

If McDonald said anything at all under oath within earshot of Wright, it probably was very little, other than to acknowledge the validity of the records brought to the panel.

No smart defense attorney will allow a client, who is one step away from being a government target, to testify at length before a grand jury without a grant of immunity from prosecution. An immunity order prohibits the government from charging the witness with any crimes related to his testimony.

Because of the secrecy of grand jury proceedings, we can't say for sure what's next for McDonald in the coming weeks.

But we do know that his name isn't likely to disappear from this investigation anytime soon.

Will McDonald be called back to testify? Will he seek immunity? Will he be granted immunity? Does he not need immunity?

Whatever is next for McDonald, we can expect him to continue walking a fine line at the federal courthouse -- with his big-name lawyer, of course.

If only we could be a fly on the wall in the grand jury room.