Columnist Jeff German: Public’s trust is trampled

Thursday, June 30, 2005 | 11:09 a.m.

We've heard two very different stories over the last few days about the Great Giveaway by Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

This is the secret deal the LVCVA struck in November to give advertising giant R & R Partners all rights -- for $1 -- to its valuable and most popular marketing slogan, "What happens here, stays here."

LVCVA President Rossi Ralenkotter and R & R Partners CEO Billy Vassiliadis, who signed the agreement but never took it to the LVCVA's board, say the transfer of the rights was nothing more than paperwork -- a way to protect the award-winning trademark. No big deal.

They describe it as a routine transaction between two agencies that have been working closely together for 25 years. No big deal.

It's one of those things that flies under the radar -- just as the high-powered players involved would hope. Who ever gets upset at the LVCVA, the feel-good agency dedicated to promoting Las Vegas? It's funded by the room tax, which tourists pay.

So why should we care?

Because, much like the slogan, what happened here is a classic Vegas deal, hidden from the public's eye.

It's the kind of political backroom dealing that's going to stay here until it's no longer acceptable.

Here's what's troubling: The deal has big public policy implications, but it was done without any public discussion.

The 13-member LVCVA board, with about half of its members absent, voted unanimously Nov. 9 to pave the way for the agreement, apparently without even knowing what was planned.

LVCVA officials slipped a clause in some written policy changes that allows Ralenkotter to "register, protect and assign all intellectual property" at the LVCVA without informing the board. The prized "What happens here, stays here," slogan is regarded as intellectual property.

After the meeting, on that very same day, Ralenkotter and Vassiliadis secretly signed the agreement turning over the slogan's rights to R & R. Then, R & R lawyers express-mailed an application to the U.S. Commissioner of Trademarks in Alexandria, Va., to market "souvenirs and clothing" under the "What happens here, stays here" logo.

And just like that R & R won control over the famous "mark."

Despite what anyone says, the catchy phrase could be worth millions of dollars. This is being dismissed by the high-powered players involved, but if it isn't worth that much, why is R & R Partners suing one company and threatening others who've sought to copy the slogan?

The bottom line is that the slogan is a public asset and should be used to make money for the LVCVA. How many T-shirts and coffee mugs could have been sold by now? If they ever are sold, experts tell us it will be R & R that stands to reap the benefits. Of course that's not what R & R and the LVCVA say. But the legal agreement they signed sure does.

If something like this is going on, what else is out there?

This is why it's important: It goes to the heart of how the public's business is conducted. It goes to the heart of how our tax dollars are spent.

Otherwise, it's Vegas backroom politics at its best: What happens here, will stay here and no one will know any better.