Friday, July 8, 2005 | 4:56 a.m.
Jeff German's column appears Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays in the Sun. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4067.
WEEKEND EDITION
July 9-10, 2005
As a longtime ethics professor at UNLV, Craig Walton has seen about every ethical breach you can imagine over the years.
But even Walton, who now runs the nonprofit Nevada Center for Public Ethics, a political watchdog group, admits that he's baffled by the actions of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
Walton doesn't understand why the LVCVA, a public agency funded through a room tax, would give away the rights to its most popular marketing slogan, "What happens here, stays here."
The slogan happens to be a valuable public asset.
"It doesn't make any sense," Walton says. "It makes you wonder what kind of operation it is. This is supposed to be a public body that gets its authority through the people and the democratic process."
How the LVCVA's longtime advertising agency, R&R Partners, wound up with the lucrative rights to the prized phrase is anything but an example of the democratic process. It is the result of an arrogant backroom deal.
Neither the public nor the LVCVA's board of elected and civic leaders had a chance to weigh in on the lopsided deal before it was sealed in a written agreement Nov. 9 between LVCVA President Rossi Ralenkotter and R&R CEO Billy Vassiliadis.
That irks Walton just as much as the LVCVA's decision to give up the rights to the "What happens here, stays here" slogan.
"It should have come out in front of the public for an open discussion," Walton says.
Though it's eight months late, that discussion is supposed to take place Tuesday during the regularly scheduled LVCVA board meeting.
Ralenkotter, a 32-year veteran of the LVCVA, and Vassiliadis, one of the state's biggest power brokers, have insisted that the agreement was merely to enhance R&R's standing to pursue legal action against those who try to rip off the slogan.
But it also may have been part of an effort to clean up a legal mess both agencies created for themselves months earlier.
In March 2004, even though it had no written authority, R&R was already claiming in court that it was the rightful owner of the mark.
It filed a federal lawsuit against a California woman marketing a risque line of clothing under the similar phrase, "What Happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."
But why did R&R -- and not the LVCVA -- sue the woman?
We now know, thanks to the reporting of my colleague Steve Kanigher last week, that turning over a valuable mark like this to an advertising agency is a departure from the standard practice within the tourism marketing business.
Other tourism bureaus, including the New York State Division of Tourism, which owns the famous "I Love New York" mark, retain the rights to their slogans. And they hire their own trademark lawyers to protect those rights in court.
For whatever reason, the LVCVA has been allowing R&R to protect its marketing slogans over the years.
The tradition continued with "What happens here, stays here" which, unlike previous slogans, turned into something of value because of its broad public appeal. But in its desire to let R&R do its dirty legal work, the LVCVA didn't bother to make sure the mark's value remained with the LVCVA.
It's hard to believe that the LVCVA could be that careless with public property.
"It's a big flaw in their system," Walton says. "They ought to have a process, when they give away a property like this, to justify their decision."
In other words, the LVCVA board has an obligation Tuesday to get some answers and make this deal right.
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