Two LV black men lose airport concession

Launce Rake

Monday, Feb. 7, 2005 | 11:02 a.m.

The termination of a McCarran International Airport lease held by two prominent black Las Vegans has raised the specter of a 7-year-old Clark County ethics scandal affecting the airport.

Hudson News, a New Jersey based company that holds the main concession contract for bookstores at the airport, last month terminated the lease of CDI News and Gifts, a company co-owned by two men with a long history of political contacts in Las Vegas. Groups including the Urban Chamber of Commerce and the Caucus of African American Nevadans have rallied to support the local company.

The two owners also have met with Clark County commissioners, who have oversight of the airport and make final decisions over which companies will win potentially lucrative concessions. One of the two owners of CDI News and Gifts is Michael Chambliss, who has worked as a paid political consultant for Commission Yvonne Atkinson Gates.

The other co-owner of CDI News and Gifts is William Dougan, a Las Vegas physician.

Dougan, Chambliss and Chambliss' attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.

Philip Ballif, an attorney representing Hudson News, said questions on the appropriateness of county commissioners calling the airport on the issue should be directed to Chambliss or the county commission.

He would not say why the lease was terminated.

Urban Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Louie Overstreet said his group is asking Hudson News to reconsider its decision because of what he called a poor record of local governments, including the airport, with minority-owned businesses.

Aviation Department Director Randy Walker said the airport surpasses its goal of 10 percent participation in contracts with minority and female-owned businesses.

"The airport has a distinguished record when it come to Disadvantaged Business Enterprises," he said. "As a matter of fact our goals are approved by the federal government and we have not only met, but have exceeded our intent. When it comes to concessions that are a part of the DBE program, the airport achieved a 21.3 percent DBE participation rate.

"Hudson has a contractual agreement with the airport to attain a 20 percent DBE goal," he said. "This is an annual accounting and if Husdon does not meet this goal it would be considered a material breach of our contract."

Walker said that although activists would like the airport to get involved in the issue, there would be little that management could do.

"The airport has no direct contractual relationship with CDI. The contract between CDI and the Hudson Group expired more than a year ago. It is my understanding that Hudson recently gave a notice to CDI," Walker said. "The airport has no legal right to interfere in Hudson's contractual relationship with any sub-lessor."

In a letter to Hudson News, the chamber, the Caucus of African-American Nevadans, Las Vegas branch of the NAACP and the Las Vegas affiliate of the Urban League asked the company to reconsider its lease decision.

The letter called the decision to terminate the lease with CDI News and Gifts "grossly unfair" in Nevada, which had in the past earned a reputation as the "Mississippi of the West."

"Adding insult to injury, to our collective knowledge, CDI News and Gifts have not been given any legitimate business reason why they are being singled out for such punitive action on the part of Hudson News," officials from the groups said in the letter.

Atkinson Gates has called airport management over the issue, according to Walker. Atkinson Gates herself, who was taken to the hospital after experiencing chest pains while attending a county commission meeting Wednesday, was not immediately available for an interview, but issued a short written statement through the county's public information office.

"The county commission receives calls, letters and e-mails from constituents every day about county operations," Atkinson Gates said in the statement. "Often, before we can respond, it is our responsibility to investigate those complaints to determine the facts and, if possible, solve them by working with county staff. At this time we have not received all of the facts regarding this matter."

Chambliss and Atkinson Gates have long been linked in the media. In 1998, the Nevada Ethics Commission ruled that the county commissioner violated state law by adding Chambliss to a "preferred" list for consideration of airport concession contracts.

Although the ethics commission did not assign a monetary fine for five violations of the rules, Atkinson Gates successfully sued in state court to overturn the decision in 2000.

Chambliss is a former Las Vegas city planner who took early retirement last year after facing discipline for unspecified actions uncovered in an audit related to the double-dipping scandal involving his former colleague, then-assemblyman Wendell Williams.

Williams, who was fired after taking city pay while working in the Legislature, lost his re-election bid last year.

Walker, aviation department director, said the call from Atkinson Gates "was simply to ask me what was going on."

"She did not ask me to intercede in any way," he said.

Clark County Manager Thom Reilly said a request for information was not necessarily inappropriate.

"Legally, that's between the contractor and the subcontractor," Reilly said. "I'm not sure we're involved by asking questions. The county's ability at any level to influence, to impact the contract relations with the subcontractor is pretty minimal."