Columnist Jon Ralston: No scratch in mayor’s Teflon

Friday, Sept. 17, 2004 | 5:20 a.m.

Jon Ralston hosts the news discussion program Face to Face on Las Vegas ONE and publishes the Ralston Report. He can be reached at (702) 870-7997 or at ralston@vegas.com.

WEEKEND EDITION

September 18 - 19, 2004

Let's suppose it is all innocent.

Despite all the smoke, maybe there is no fire burning from the circumstances surrounding the mayor's son and his serendipitous investment in downtown land adjacent to a city redevelopment parcel, as well as his lawsuit against a feeble, elderly woman to secure the property.

Like anyone else, Ross Goodman could simply have decided to make the expensive investment in two pieces of land on Las Vegas Boulevard because, as Dad says, he is "a very astute businessman." Maybe without any inside information -- and there is no smoking gun that he received any -- Ross Goodman simply assumed the city would do something with its one-acre parcel and thought it would be a good idea to get a piece of the action.

But if the mayor and his extended family, including mayoral protege and Goodman the Younger business partner Louis Palazzo and His Honor's departing aide, Stephanie Boixo, want us to take them at their word, why are their words so contradictory? Why, if they have nothing to hide, are they acting as if they are trying to hide something?

Since this story broke almost a fortnight ago, police have begun a probe of whether Goodman the Younger and Palazzo abused the elderly woman, the state Ethics Commission soon will be involved and the state Bar should be interested.

All of this, coming so soon after the mayor was found in May to have violated a state ethics law to help his son's bank account, seems to indicate a new level of City Hall arrogance and a reaffirmation of the ineluctable truth: Under the Goodman regime, the city has become a cesspool of incestuous relationships and questionable transactions, a government overseen by a mayor who, as he once memorably declared, is "going to run the city the way I want to run the city."

And that includes being able to deny facts even when they are manifest. This Sonny and Louis land deal and the statements so far of the mayor and the principals have, to coin a phrase, Boixed them all in:

So he knew his son bought one piece of land but had no idea he had an agreement to purchase the other? Is this credible? And why did the mayor, who once coveted the land himself, deny several times that the city had ever been trying to assemble the block his son is now trying to assemble -- when everyone on Stewart Avenue knows that is exactly what the city was trying to do?

Even if Ross Goodman is the business genius Dad says he is -- and there's no evidence to back that up -- and even if he is the peerless barrister Papa claims he is -- again, desperately seeking evidence -- why isn't it more likely they tried to overpower the old lady, hoping it would never get to court? Speaking of Von Sturm, Palazzo last week described her as a "sophisticated businesswoman ... very savvy, very confident ..." I can't wait until Metro interviews her to show this for the canard that it is.

Von Sturm's California attorney, Ted Cohen, wants strong action, as he told the Las Vegas Sun's Sito Negron last week: "I don't want to speak for our Nevada counsel but I would expect we intend to file a cross complaint against a lot of people, and I won't mention any names now, charging conspiracy (to commit fraud) and elder abuse."

The problem with a story like this is no one seems to care that much. The mayoral Teflon coating seems unscratched and expansive, covering his family and friends, too. Their confidence level is so high, in fact, that another member of the mayoral extended family, Councilman Michael Mack, is out trying to drum up support for a Goodman for Governor exploratory committee.

That's good news for supporters of His Honor and increases the chances that in a couple of years he will be able to run the state the way he wants to run the state. And that has to be even better news for his family and friends.