Columnist Jeff German: Goodman’s ignorance plea works

Friday, May 14, 2004 | 10:46 a.m.

After the Nevada Ethics Commission slapped him on the wrist with its little pinky, Mayor Oscar Goodman could hardly be blamed for greeting a crush of reporters outside Thursday's hearing with a big smile on his face.

"Now that I know what the rules are, I can sleep better at night," Goodman said.

It was an amazing statement from an elected official who should have known the rules of ethics after taking his oath of office five years ago.

And it was equally amazing that, after two days of testimony, the four ethics commissioners sitting in judgment of Goodman found that he violated the law -- but not intentionally -- when he promoted a company tied to his son Ross at a mayoral cocktail party in Washington.

Without a finding of willfulness, the commissioners were unable to punish the mayor.

Throughout the hearing, Goodman, an attorney for 35 years, pleaded ignorance, a typically weak strategy that is more than 300 years old and taught to law school students today: Ignorance of the law is not a defense.

Most of us could never get away with that excuse when fighting a simple traffic ticket because, as licensed drivers, we pledge to know the rules when we obtain our driver's licenses.

In Goodman's case, he testified during the hearing that he signed a statement after he took office in 1999 acknowledging that he read the ethics laws.

And yet the Ethics Commission allowed him to claim ignorance of the important law that forbids public officials from granting unwarranted benefits to themselves and family members.

The commission also cleared him of charges that he violated the law by promoting a big gin company at the "world's largest happy hour" bash on Fremont Street as part of a series of "Martinis with the Mayor."

Goodman went to great lengths during his defense to make sure people knew that everything he did in question was for the good of the city. Some of the commissioners agreed.

If he had Teflon coating before the hearing, he's going to be bulletproof now.

For city staffers, that may not be good news when the "happiest mayor in the universe" returns to his offices on the 10th floor of City Hall.

Goodman has long advocated a strong mayor form of government instead of the current system, in which the mayor is just one of seven council members.

This hearing made it clear who's running the city.

Staffers, including City Manager Doug Selby and Stephanie Boixo, the mayor's loyal chief of staff, carefully toed the party line under Goodman's questioning.

Now, the mayor already appears to be gunning for Communications Director David Riggleman who, according to testimony, is among those who believe that Goodman's relentless self-promoting isn't always good for the city.

Even though he really has no authority to do it, Goodman told the Ethics Commission that he plans to bypass Riggleman and handle all national media inquiries through his office from now on. Goodman criticized the city's communications staff for being slow to put together a media kit promoting the mayor's many appearances on national television.

The mayor also turned his back on his former spokeswoman, Elaine Sanchez, who spent long days defending his actions and chastising reporters who were critical of the mayor.

Goodman led Boixo, who is dating his son Eric, through a line of questioning in which Boixo accused Sanchez of being disloyal to the mayor.

Boixo testified that in the days before Sanchez left to take a job with the county, Sanchez was banned from setting foot on the 10th floor because she wasn't trusted.

Not, as Boixo said, that they had anything to hide.

What's clear from all of this is that Goodman, with the blessing of the Ethics Commission, proved something he advocated during his years as a mob lawyer: You don't have to be right to win.