Mayor’s gin loot still in the mill

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2004 | 11:04 a.m.

Nearly a year and a half after Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said he would donate $50,000 to the homeless that he earned endorsing gin, the money is still locked up in an account, the mayor said Tuesday.

Goodman announced that he would get $100,000 for pitching Bombay Sapphire gin in October 2002, giving the nod to the brand after two others had courted the martini-loving mayor. The mayor initially said money from gin endorsements would go to city coffers.

In announcing the Bombay Sapphire contract, which earned national publicity for Goodman, he amended his statement, saying half of the money would go to programs for the homeless and the other half would provide scholarships at the Meadows School, which was co-founded by his wife, Carolyn.

The Meadows School received its share that October, Carolyn Goodman said. When asked about the homeless money on Tuesday, the mayor said it was in a "special revenue fund." It hadn't been earmarked for a specific project or program, he said, because "$50,000 represents an awful lot of gin -- I'm not just going to spend it on anything."

Oscar Goodman went on to say he would bring the subject up at a meeting Thursday of the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition, a body that represents the region's local governments. Goodman said he was thinking "the money would be well-spent" on a triage center run by WestCare, a Las Vegas nonprofit organization.

In December 2002 the City Council agreed the money would be earmarked for the triage center.

The center diverts about 6,000 people who have problems with alcohol and mental illnesses from local emergency rooms or jail and provides them treatment.

But WestCare was unable to get nearly $200,000 from the state for the program in November 2003 and has had to fire a third of its staff and cut back nearly the same amount in services. The nonprofit agency hopes to see on Thursday whether local governments will ante up funds, at which point the valley's hospitals will also decide whether to continue funding the program.

When asked about the possibility of getting money the mayor had earned pitching gin to help alcoholics, WestCare President Richard E. Steinberg said, "I'll have to walk a tightrope on that one."

"We live in a community with a lot of alcohol and gambling -- it's part of the Las Vegas culture," he said. "And this is where the alcohol industry could do a little to help those that can't handle the alcohol."

Steinberg said the program has been "in a kind of Catch-22" in recent months, faced with increasing demand and a decreased staff.

When asked why he had taken so long to decide how to spend the money, Goodman said, "$50,000 is what I earn in a year -- it's a lot of money and I want to make sure it is spent on something that works."

Goodman said he originally thought of donating the money to MASH Village -- but that shelter closed due to a lack of funds.

Another endorsement by the mayor, however, has provided some money to help the homeless. In November 2003 the mayor said he would put his photo on bottles of water to raise money for a program that buys homeless people bus tickets home.

Sandra Lewis, director of Lutheran Social Services, which runs the program said the water had raised about $420 in two months -- about 5 percent of the $7,705 the program has spent helping 86 people since starting last July.

Lewis said the results were disappointing. "I hope the mayor helps to promote the water more," she said.

When asked what her program -- and other programs the agency runs -- could do with $50,000, she said, "It would be tremendously helpful ... to help people get back home, back to work and into housing."

Gus Ramos, chairman of the Southern Nevada Homeless Coalition, an umbrella group of public and private agencies, said he was "appreciative of (Goodman's) positive support -- but hope it would be focused on something a little more monumental ... since he has a tremendous leadership position."

Meanwhile, the gin money is in an account with other funds, earning about 4 percent interest, said Mark Vincent, director of finance and business services for the city.

But the $3,000 in interest earned so far wouldn't go to the homeless, he said. The City Council decides how the interest is spent during its regular budgeting process, he said.

If the triage center is not funded, Goodman said he doesn't know where the $50,000 would go.

"I'm not going to propose that it be flushed down the toilet," he said.

As for whether he had set any deadline on using the funds, he said, "I give other people deadlines -- not myself."