Goodman persona, job collide

Sito Negron

Thursday, May 13, 2004 | 11:02 a.m.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman promotes the city like nobody else, creating a persona that sometimes makes it difficult for public information officials to determine where he ends and the city begins, testimony at the Commission on Ethics hearing showed Wednesday and today.

For example, Goodman's chief of staff, Stephanie Boixo, who has the formal job designation of city management analyst 2, said that Communications Director David Riggleman sometimes felt that press releases were too focused on the mayor. But, Boixo said, "I didn't feel that was the case. ... From an advertising and marketing perspective he (Goodman) sells Las Vegas like no other."

Riggleman was testifying this morning.

Boixo made her comments during questioning about a 2002 party to celebrate Goodman's $100,000 contract to promote a brand of gin. Half of the money went to the Meadows School, co-founded by Goodman's wife, and half went to city programs for the homeless.

Employees of the communications department taped the event, made "video news releases," and helped send those releases to media outlets across the country.

"I had a very candid conversation with (Communications Director David) Riggleman and he approved this. I can't make a city crew go out there and do anything. This was done with the director's approval," Boixo said. "I did feel it was city business. If the city receives $50,000 from a corporate entity, I cannot see anything more newsworthy than that."

A city policy adopted in April 2000 states that activities by the public information office -- such as video or press releases -- must be related to city business or functions.

Commissioners asked former mayoral spokeswoman Elaine Sanchez whether the gin event ran afoul of that rule.

Sanchez said she thought not. "There was a city nexus (to the event) ... the city of Las Vegas was going to benefit by receiving $50,000," Sanchez said.

When asked what type of coverage the city received as a result of the promotional tapes being sent out, Sanchez said "one that I recall was a news station in Texas, and it was focused on the mayor partying with gin and receiving money for it."

Commissioner Mark Hutchison asked whether Sanchez thought "that publicity of Mayor Oscar Goodman was good for the city no matter what the publicity was?"

"No," Sanchez said. "There are some things that are not good for the city ... but I do not make those decisions. I only bring to the table what those requests are."

Commissioners spent more than eight hours Wednesday going over testimony from: Ross Goodman, the mayor's son; Scott Kapp, a founder of iMedia and Ross Goodman's business partner; Larry Ruvo, senior managing partner for Southern Wine and Spirits; Carolyn Goodman, the mayor's wife; city Finance Director Mark Vincent; and City Manager Doug Selby.

Ethics commissioners are considering charges that Goodman broke ethics rules by:

Commission Chairman Rick Hsu asked whether the rule regarding city involvement in promotion was followed with the Jane Magazine deal, where the mayor appeared in a full-page ad that also featured logos for commercial brands.

Sanchez said "that question did not come up."

As for the use of the city-owned tapes featuring the mayor on the disc for iPolitix, Ethics Commissioner Caren Jenkins asked whether that was something that generally would be handled by Sanchez.

Sanchez said it was, but that she was not involved in this case.

Sanchez, in what turned out to be a taste of testimony to come later from Boixo, said that the mayor's chief of staff told her during a meeting with Riggleman that Southern Wine and Spirits was going to pay for the tapes to be sent out. Boixo, however, said that Riggleman agreed that the event was city-related so it made sense for city staff to send the tapes out.

During her testimony, Boixo said that the day before or the day of the event, someone -- she wasn't sure who -- had the idea that because the city was getting $50,000 in a unique arrangement, it was worth publicizing through a city video news release.

The disagreement led to some of the most startling testimony in the hearing, which came at the end of the day Wednesday, when Boixo said that she thought Sanchez had been leaking information to the press.

Goodman elicited the statement. He led Boixo through a series of questions that culminated with the accusation, which spurred Hsu to ask the mayor, "Where are you going with this?"

"I thought you were entitled to all the facts," replied Goodman, in explaining why he asked Boixo to describe her suspicions about former mayoral spokeswoman Elaine Sanchez.

Boixo, who has been the girlfriend of Eric Goodman, a son of the mayor who is not involved in the ethics complaints, said Sanchez had been banned from the mayor's office, because "I felt she was betraying the trust our office had given her. Not that there are any secrets in our office."

Sanchez, who recently took a job in the McCarran Airport public information office, previously had testified in response to a Goodman question that she thought she left the city on friendly terms.

The questioning during the hearing generally focused on the iPolitix cocktail party, with the gin contract getting the second most attention.

Ross Goodman testified about how the iPolitix cocktail party, which took place Jan. 22 in Washington, D.C., during a U.S. Conference of Mayors' meeting, came about. He said that his father mentioned to him that part of the conference theme was technology in elections, which fit with the iPolitix product, a disc that allows a candidate to track what issues people are interested in by following what items they click on.

However, Ross Goodman said, that was the extent of his father's involvement. He said that it was too late to become part of the conference agenda, but an official with the event suggested the cocktail party.

Ross Goodman said his father passed out a handful of invitations, and arrived at the cocktail party late. He said the mayor never tried to use his influence as mayor to sell the product.

He did say that attendees "came initially because of my dad. However there was a placard in front of the cocktail room with (promotional) discs ... and people were interested to see what it could do."

Scott Kapp, president of iMedia, the parent company that owns the iPolitix product, said Ross Goodman told him about the conference. Part of the agenda was new technology for voting and elections, and Kapp said "I felt the product was perfect."

Kapp said it was his idea to use video clips of the mayor on the demonstration disc for the iPolitix product. He said it was in late November or early December, and the mayor handed him some tapes to use.

Kapp said he was introduced to the mayor through Ross Goodman, whom he met more than a year ago. Kapp said he was introduced to Ross Goodman by Mack, whom he has known for more than 20 years.

The video clips originally were meant for a press kit featuring the mayor, Kapp said. However, the press kit was not finished when the conference came, and the video clips fit with the cocktail party promotional disc so they were used for the that, Kapp said. Kapp said the mayor didn't know about it and "didn't even see it until the cocktail party."

Kapp said that the mayor's press kit was being paid for by Jim Ferrence, Goodman's campaign manager.

Goodman asked the city officials who testified whether he ever told them to do anything wrong, and whether he told them how to answer his questions prior to the hearing.

In one exchange with Vincent, the mayor asked him whether he was doing anything wrong in promoting the city of Las Vegas.

"The city has benefited greatly from your promotion," Vincent said.

"We're not here to judge his performance as mayor," Hsu said.

Goodman used the theme of his unconventional manner of promoting the city several times.

City Attorney Brad Jerbic, during his testimony this morning, said, "We have a mayor who in many ways is Las Vegas. His face is Las Vegas. It's very hard sometimes to separate where his personal life is and where his public life is."

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