Columnist Jon Ralston: Show us the indictments

Friday, May 23, 2003 | 6 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

May 25, 2003

Jon Ralston hosts the news discussion program Face to Face on Las Vegas ONE and publishes the Ralston Report. He can be reached at (702) 870-7997 or at ralston@vegas.com.

ON THE IDES of May, when news broke that the FBI had clubbed several prominent politicians by tying them to raided strip joints, I was in Carson City covering a run-of-the-mill scandal known as the Nevada Legislature.

The first two people I ran into as I entered the Legislative Building, where word of the developments had wafted already, were Clark County Manager Thom Reilly and Commission Chairwoman Mary Kincaid-Chauncey. They both looked ravenous for information.

"What's going on down south?" Reilly asked me. I mentioned the raids on Cheetahs and Jaguars but left out that I had heard the commissioner was one of the putative targets.

"Jaguars?" Kincaid seemed to ponder sincerely. "Isn't that the one Lance (former Commissioner Malone) works for?"

It struck me then that either Kincaid is a Kate Hepburn-quality thespian or that she really had no idea her previously pristine public image was about to be blackened.

That's what makes this story and all the follow-ups so titillating and infuriating: Are Kincaid and the others really guilty of political corruption, or is this yet another example of the Feeble Bureau of Investigation here talking big and delivering little?

Perspective is difficult, too.

In an ever-forgiving city where county commissioners five years ago fixed lucrative airport concession contracts for their cronies, where city councilmen can solicit business from those they regulate and where a county commissioner can be a paid lobbyist for a garbage monopoly he oversees, we are supposed to be outraged over the possibility that some pols might have had some cash stuffed in their pockets so they would perform for topless clubs? And how does that cash, which would amount to an illegal campaign contribution or bribe, compare to the hundreds of thousands of dollars given by that same garbage company, casinos and developers, which would amount to a reported contribution or bribe, that obviously influences government decisions?

When you have a mayor setting the ethical Zeitgeist by consorting with thugs and acting like a thug when challenged by anyone, and who wanted to use taxpayer resources to change the law so he could profit in an area he controls, it's hard to tell the difference between a felony and a misdemeanor in these matters of ethics.

Discerning where stupidity or naivete ends and criminal behavior begins is a challenge, too. But from the day the names of Kincaid-Chauncey, Councilman Michael McDonald and ex-Commissioners Lance Malone, Dario Herrera and Erin Kenny were fed by the feds to the media jackals, their reputations were forever tarnished.

Make all the "what reputations?" jokes you want. But so far all we have in the public domain is scuttlebutt and innuendo probably leaked by law enforcement types who are eager to make their case in the media to apply pressure and justify the prominent names being showcased.

So I say: Show me the indictments.

So far, there's only evidence -- and it is plentiful -- of incredibly naive and incredibly dumb actions by public officials. Stop the presses.

Should McDonald have a consulting contract with strip club owner Mike Galardi? Would he have that contract if he were not a city councilman with access to inside information? If you have trouble giving the answers to any of these questions, your name must be Michael McDonald. McDonald, who seems to be the only one of these folks not served with a target letter, is fighting for his political life -- now, it appears, from inside a coffin the feds made for him.

As for Kincaid-Chauncey, some will find it hard to believe that she was so garrulous when the feds came calling, sitting there in her bathrobe and chatting with the men who would soon serve her with a target letter. But many others will see her performance in that interview and her alleged acceptance of money from Galardi for a trust fund as just evidence of her ingenuous nature. If there's more, then show me the indictment.

It's a different perceptual story for Malone, Kenny and Herrera, whose past actions have induced many observers, fairly or not, to draw the old where-there's-smoke-there's-fire conclusion.

If it weren't for Councilman Michael Mack, Malone would have all the top-ranked gaffes in local government annals. He also became an ethical convict after helping a family friend win one of those airport contracts. His lack of an ethical compass and his tendency to hop around with his foot in his mouth made him a one-termer. But a bagman for Galardi? Show me the indictment.

Kenny and Herrera opted for up-or-out political moves last cycle and found voters preferred the latter option. They were seen as aggressive to the point of heavy-handed and eager to cozy up to insiders and major community players. They went through the revolving door so fast that the centrifugal force could be felt across the valley -- both now work for prominent developers.

But does that mean that they would have been willing to go beyond the usual incestuous, mutual back-scratching stuff to more venal pursuits? Show me the indictments.

By the time this is over, we'll know whether all of this strip club intrigue is more outrageous than watching major donors make local officials perform lap dances for them, with the politicians' tips coming either before or after (or both) in the form of a legal campaign contribution.

Even if the feds prove that these pols took money under the table, I really don't see that much of a difference.com