Columnist Jeff German: The police union’s travels down the county paper trail

Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2005 | 8:21 a.m.

Jeff German's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in the Sun. Reach him at german@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4067.

Let the games begin.

If you talk to lawyers for the police union, they'll tell you the county has been slow to cough up the public information they requested in their battle to get officers a decent pay raise.

The Las Vegas Police Protective Association, which represents some 2,400 officers, wants cell phone records and e-mail correspondence for all seven commissioners for the months of September and October.

Those are the two months leading up to the Metro Fiscal Affairs Committee's rejection Oct. 24 of a new police contract guaranteeing cops a 25.6 percent increase in wages and benefits. The collective bargaining process is now headed to binding arbitration.

PPA lawyers believe the county resorted to some political skullduggery to influence the Fiscal Affairs vote.

County officials, who deny any improprieties related to the vote, insist the turnaround time for supplying the information to the union has been "reasonable" for the most part.

"I would think everything is an open book around here," county spokesman Erik Pappa says. "We're trying to provide them with complete and accurate information in a timely fashion."

Last Wednesday, however, after the county sat on on the PPA's requests for two weeks, Pappa informed the union that it would have to pay as much as $3,000 for copies of the e-mail correspondence.

Pappa told me on Monday that the $3,000 would cover the cost of paying 40 to 60 overtime hours to a couple of technicians to pull the e-mails together.

That drew a skeptical response from John Dean Harper, the PPA's chief legal counsel.

"I don't know what kind of computer system they have," Harper said. "But if you were to ask me for two months of e-mail from everyone in my office, it would probably take me -- not a computer technician -- a few hours.

"A reasonable person would assume that they're stalling here."

* * *

It's almost fitting that Wednesday's local Republican Party reception at the Golden Nugget takes place on Pearl Harbor Day.

Two of the party's favorite sons -- Attorney General George Chanos and District Attorney David Roger -- are listed as the guests of honor.

Somebody, however, forgot to tell GOP bigwigs that the just-appointed Chanos hasn't started out as the best of friends with Roger.

The district attorney is angry over the high-profile way in which Chanos launched an investigation into the City Hall dealings of golf course developer Bill Walters.

Chanos soaked up plenty of media attention when he moved quickly to announce the probe without consulting Roger.

There's no word on whether both Chanos and Roger will show up for the bash at the Nugget.

And maybe that's a good thing.

Putting them in the same room could set off World War III.