Mayor clarifies remarks on legal hookers

Sito Negron

Thursday, Oct. 23, 2003 | 11 a.m.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman allowed the host of a radio talk show to float the idea of allowing legal prostitution in the city on Wednesday, but punctured the balloon in clarifying his remarks shortly after the show.

"I'm firmly convinced at this point in time a lot of folks in this community have a very strong moral objection to it and that will guide me appropriately," Goodman said after the Alan Stock and Heidi Harris Show on KNXT 840-AM. When asked whether the issue would be brought forward any time soon, he said, "Not by myself as the mayor."

During the show, Stock, who has supported the idea of legalizing prostitution in Clark County, asked the mayor what he thought. The mayor said he agreed that it was a good idea to discuss.

"All I'm doing is talking about it, to see what people think," he said. A few minutes later, he said, "I'm delighted to throw this out for discussion."

Stock supports the concept, while Harris said she thought it was simply too much. "You guys can be bought for a buck. It's immoral," she said of legalizing prostitution.

When one caller asked, "At what point do we stop selling our morals for a dollar?" Harris replied, "There is no point this morning."

Stock said he doesn't personally approve of prostitution, but he thinks it makes sense to legalize it because it's out there anyway, and if it were legalized and controlled it would be less harmful to the client and the provider, and could be taxed.

"I eventually see the opportunity to allow people to vote on it," he said.

Goodman said afterward that the show had been meaningful for him. He was quoted in an October Las Vegas Life magazine article as saying that a hotel and casino owner recently suggested legalizing prostitution and drugs downtown. Article author Jack Sheehan quotes Goodman's response to the proposal: "It surprised me that such a legitimate guy would be so open-minded and smart."

Goodman said such discussion is "healthy."

"As you know I've had discussions about this. Discussions are healthy. To limit discussion is unhealthy," he said. "Today is the first day I've heard serious objections to it. So I'm glad Alan brought it up."

He said despite the image of Las Vegas -- which to many across the country and world is that of a lawless, anything-goes town -- "as far as our philosophy is concerned, we're very middle-American, very moral and very upright. ... If we put whether or not to have gambling in Las Vegas (to a vote) it would probably fail."

State law would have to be changed to allow prostitution in Las Vegas. Under Nevada's current law, prostitution is allowed in counties of less than 400,000 people. Clark County's population makes it ineligible.

George William Treat, who registered as a lobbyist for the Nevada Brothel Owners Association in the 2003 Legislature, said he would expect any changes in state law to come from a legislator who was backed by a coalition of interested parties.

He said religious opposition, and opposition from casino owners who don't want to lose gamblers to brothels, make the task of changing the laws very difficult. And if such a change were to occur, he said, lawmakers would have to be very careful in managing it.

"If not, you'd have the same problem you had before corporate gaming ... for lack of a better word, undesirables in the industry," he said.

Treat also pointed out what he though was an "asinine" situation: "We send out a message that anything goes in Las Vegas, and we send out the message that we have (legal) prostitution in Nevada, and then people come (to Las Vegas) and look for that."

Metro Police Vice Unit Sgt. Gil Shannon said Treat's right about that, and it fuels problems for the community, but the answer is less prostitution, not more.

Shannon said he was disappointed to hear that Goodman was willing to even consider the prospect of legalized prostitution in downtown Las Vegas.

"We're going to let down our standards if that happens," he said. "Don't we have some standards?"

He said he particularly worried that such a move would lead to more child prostitution.