Friday, Sept. 10, 2004 | 5:19 a.m.
Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.
WEEKEND EDITION
September 11 - 12, 2004
Some apolitical thoughts in the middle of a political maelstrom.
Nevada's attorney general, Brian Sandoval, has responded quite eloquently to a column I wrote last week in which I criticized him, specifically, and other Nevada Republicans in leadership positions, generally, for not standing up for Nevadans on the Yucca Mountain issue, choosing instead to give President George W. Bush a political pass after he decided -- and he was the only human being on the planet who could make such a decision -- to put the high-level nuclear waste bull's-eye on the backs of every man, woman and child living in this state.
I was critical because Brian Sandoval, most likely because he is a pretty face with a good mind and a much-needed Hispanic name, was given four minutes at the Republican National Convention to give a speech. He gave one, but it was not the one that should have been given by the chief law enforcement officer of the Silver State.
Sandoval had a captive audience of Republicans in the hall and a nationwide audience in the millions of people who would have been far more interested in learning about Yucca Mountain -- the violation of state's rights, the abdication of scientific discovery and the pure political power playing exhibited by the nuclear power industry and its puppets in the Department of Energy -- than they would about whatever piling on he was doing in the name of the Bush re-election effort.
After all, wouldn't it have been interesting if our attorney general had told the American people -- as "60 Minutes" did a few weeks earlier -- that the deadliest substances known to man would be trucked and trained through the major cities across America?
Wouldn't it have been helpful to Nevadans if the man we elected to represent our interests told his fellow Americans how wrong it was for the federal government to force this down our throats and how muddle-headed it was for them to put such a plank in the Republican Party platform so everyone who worries about the dump, its travel schedule, and the terrorist activities it invites, would know which party and which party leader -- that would be President Bush -- is to blame for their troubles?
Those are rhetorical questions because everyone in this state above the voting age knows the answer, and it is not the one that Brian Sandoval came up with when he allowed his party to manipulate his obligation to the people who elected him. That, in short, is the message I wrote last week.
This week you can read below what Sandoval responded with, which, I am happy to say, is some good news and, potentially, some better news if the courts uphold the lower court decision. And, if the DOE and the EPA are not forced to change the rules by a president hellbent to shove that stuff down our mountain and into our lives for thousands and thousands of years.
It is interesting reading and I commend all readers to pay attention to what is happening on the legal side of the ledger. But, with all due respect to Sandoval, who knows exactly what he is doing, you did not respond to my criticism!
You did not explain to the people of this state why you squandered four minutes of prime national television time and didn't even once mention Yucca Mountain or the great fear in which every Nevada family lives, concerned that the first and worst nuclear accident will happen in our backyard.
You didn't share one idea with the American public about alternatives to burying that poison in our back yard -- or anyone's back yard -- and the few extra dollars it might take to accomplish that 21st century solution.
You didn't because you couldn't. Instead, Brian, you allude to the difficulty of discussing such a grave concern in the middle of a political year and let it go at that.
Sorry, sir, but a political year is exactly the time when the American people should hear as much as they can about all matters which affect their lives and their well-being. And a political year and your political opportunity was the time for you to have stood up for this state and the people who placed their faith in you.
Unless I have this thing all wrong, you are a Republican to be sure. But, first, Brian you are a Nevadan. And you didn't act like it in New York.
And now, much closer to home.
I couldn't help thinking back to the rough and tumble days of Las Vegas while listening to Mayor Oscar Goodman's little press briefing earlier this week.
I think about those early days a lot, partly because it is easier to remember 50 years ago than it is to recount what I had for breakfast this morning but, mostly, because much of what is happening in 2004 has already happened to us before. The old saying that if we don't learn from history we are doomed to repeat it is as true today as it was when first uttered.
Our good mayor was being questioned -- far more politely than his self-defensive and agitated answering deserved -- about one of his son's activities in buying land next to some land earmarked by the city of Las Vegas for redevelopment dollars. The effect of such a designation would be to drive land values up all around the designated area, which would make the young Mr. Goodman a handsome penny or two for his troubles.
The questions, of course, centered on the propriety of a member of the mayor's family taking advantage of a city action with which his father would obviously play a part. They were legitimate questions and unworthy of Oscar's short and smart-alecky answers that basically said his son is his own man and there is nothing the mayor could do about his offspring being smarter than most and taking advantage of a good deal when he sees it.
Maybe Oscar is right. Maybe there is nothing wrong with the actions of his son who, incidentally, is suing an 85-year-old woman who won't get out of the way of Goodman the Younger's growth plans. But, in this day and age, I think the people of this city who elected Oscar as a reformist of sorts who promised to make government transparent and work for the people not just the moneyed few, deserve better answers to the legitimate questions raised.
As for the rough and tumble days? The whole episode reminded me of the time when someone involved in city government teamed up with a businessman of renown and purchased much of the land tracts that just happened to be bordered by the new roads and infrastructure that was going to be approved by the city fathers but which had not become public. The two in question had, what you would call it, a leg up on the competition.
I remember my father writing about those two fellows. He called them, for obvious reasons, the Gold Dust Twins. There is probably no connection between those times and today and the hundreds of acres tied up for pennies 50 years ago that today are worth millions. In fact, I am almost certain there is no connection.
But, just the same, don't you think, Mr. Mayor, whether legal or not, either you or your son should be more sensitive to the lessons of history? It sure would make those press conferences go a little easier and it would go a long way in making the public think they are getting a fair shake under your steady hand.
It's just a thought from a guy who loves this city, loves your family and loves the storied history of Las Vegas.
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