Editorial: Judgment in San Diego

Tuesday, July 19, 2005 | 9:01 a.m.

On Monday in San Diego a federal jury convicted the city's acting mayor and a councilman on political corruption charges. The convictions reverberated in San Diego, the nation's seventh-largest city, but they were felt here, too, since the prosecution is part of a larger investigation with Las Vegas roots that will culminate in a federal corruption trial here in January. Federal prosecutors maintained that Michael Galardi, the owner of three strip clubs in Clark County and one in San Diego, had bribed officials in both locales in order to get favorable treatment for his strip clubs. Adding to the intrigue here was that former Clark County Commissioner Lance Malone, who was a lobbyist for Galardi, also was convicted on one count of conspiracy and 32 counts of wire fraud for what federal prosecutors said was his role in delivering the bribes to the San Diego officials. Malone and the San Diego officials were done in largely by none other than Galardi, who pleaded guilty and test! ified for the prosecution.

In light of the convictions, even more attention will be focused on the upcoming political corruption trial in Las Vegas -- one in which Galardi is alleged to have used Malone as a middleman to bribe three members of the Clark County Commission in order to receive preferential treatment for his clubs. Commissioners Mary Kincaid-Chauncey, Dario Herrera and Erin Kenny, who no longer are in office, were indicted on political corruption charges, and the prosecution's case could be aided by the fact that Kenny, like Galardi, already has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with federal prosecutors.

Despite the convictions in San Diego, residents here shouldn't automatically assume that the outcome of the Las Vegas trial will be the same. In fact, the judge in the San Diego case refused to allow into evidence any references to allegations of corruption in Las Vegas. Nevertheless, the convictions in San Diego certainly aren't encouraging for Kincaid-Chauncey and Herrera, who have pleaded not guilty and will stand trial in January.

The San Diego convictions might increase public cynicism about the conduct of elected officials, but accountability in a democracy demands that no government official be above the law.