Goodman defends touting son’s firm at conference

Sito Negron

Thursday, Jan. 29, 2004 | 8:56 a.m.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman insisted Wednesday that he did nothing wrong when he gave his colleagues at the National Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington, D.C., invitations to a mixer sponsored by his son's business.

"If anybody tells me I can't help my son, who I love, they can drop dead," Goodman said.

Goodman said Wednesday that he had handed out invitations at the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting with his name and title on them.

Last week's event, he said, was paid for by his son's business partners, and the mayor's role was limited to inviting people, greeting them at the door, and telling them they'd be interested in the product.

"Then I went to the bar and said 'Make it a triple,' " the mayor said.

Ross Goodman, the mayor's son and Las Vegas Councilman Michael Mack's business partner in the venture, called Ipolitix, did not return a telephone call seeking comment Wednesday.

Mack, who said he was not involved in the planning for the event and did not attend, said he didn't think the mayor did anything wrong.

"My understanding is no city time, no city dollars, no city efforts" were involved, Mack said. "It was all funded by Ipolitix."

Mack said at such large gatherings, it's common for people to host cocktail parties to network issues and products.

At League of Cities conferences he has attended, Mack said, "one of the biggest cocktail receptions and parties usually is held by Yucca Mountain proponents. You walk in and they're handing all sorts of goodies out."

When asked if he thought Goodman misused the mayor's title by including it on the invitations, Mack said, "The mayor's a smart guy, and I'm sure he knew exactly what he was doing before he would put his name on an invitation."

Ipolitix is a partnership between Mack, Ross Goodman and a California company called iMedia International.

According to a news release issued by the company on Jan. 14, Ipolitix "will market its interactive products to governmental communities such as political action committees, political candidates and lobbyists to help promote their candidates, campaigns, agenda's and ballot initiatives."

"The Company's custom discs exploit a proprietary measurement reporting system allowing candidates, in real-time, to accurately gauge their constituents' political interests, registered by their usage of the discs," the release states. "They will be invited to complete surveys and questionnaires as well as enter chat forums to share opinions thereby allowing for the most accurate and up-to-date evaluation of voter sentiment."

It goes on to say that: "Disc users will be exposed to the most interactive, participant friendly political landscape available. These techniques stand alone or can be used to enhance or corroborate conventional telemarketing and polling."

When asked if his company has received any business from the cocktail party, Mack said, "I haven't been briefed yet but I know it was successful."