Columnist Erin Neff: Embattled Williams needs positive turn

Erin Neff

Friday, Sept. 26, 2003 | 5:40 a.m.

ASSEMBLYMAN Wendell P. Williams was once a strong Democratic voice, an up-and-comer in the party and a champion of minority rights.

Williams first won election in 1986, and over the course of his service has focused a light on issues many wanted kept in the dark -- racial profiling, independent review of police and the education needs of blacks and Hispanics.

He has been honored for that work by having his name put on a street and an elementary school.

But recently, Williams, the speaker pro tem and Assembly education chairman, has had his name attached with more dubious distinctions.

After a session in which he was anything but a leader, Williams' name has come to represent a series of events unworthy of someone of his stature:

As Nevadans await indictments in the largest public corruption scandal in decades, Williams' actions might not appear to be more than the poor performance of a politician in comparison to allegations of bribery and extortion.

But his actions still show an arrogance as he has ignored the laws he is supposed to uphold.

Consider how the assemblyman responds when he gets into trouble.

Facing the aggressive driving charge -- and jail time because he failed to appear on the original citation, Williams called the judge instead of showing up in court to answer. On the phone he promised to pay the fine. You or I would have been thrown in jail.

When Williams failed to file campaign finance reports, again and again, the secretary of state's office fined him like everyone else, but also extended him an interest-free payment plan to pay off his $15,000 fine.

The average person wouldn't get to pay $100 a month until 2016 on that kind of debt any more than they could arrange $70 a paycheck to pay for close to $2,000 in personal calls made on their employer's dime.

But that's Wendell P. Williams in the nutshell.

And it's the kind of behavior that has been made possible by a system that appears to be afraid to confront someone it perceives to have power.

The courts, the Democratic Party, the city, the state and community college have all let Williams have whatever he wants.

The shame is that without some accountability, it's more than just a man's name that will wind up muddied. The public's faith in elected officials and government itself is at risk.

It's time for Wendell P. Williams to make his name stand for something positive again.