Columnist Jeff German: Shouldn’t mayor run the city?

Friday, May 20, 2005 | 11:08 a.m.

It's starting to look as though there may be no limit to how far Mayor Oscar Goodman can go without causing public outrage.

He once suggested creating a red light district with legalized prostitution downtown and opening a mob museum to glorify the darker side of the city's past.

He signed a deal to pitch Bombay Sapphire gin and later told some fourth graders that gin is the one thing he would want if stranded on a deserted island.

This week Goodman became the first elected official in the country to serve as a celebrity Playboy photographer. Pictures of Goodman photographing a topless Miss January 2001 are plastered all over Playboy's Web site.

If Goodman were mayor in any other city in America, he would have been drummed out of office long ago.

But in Las Vegas -- a city that craves attention and lures visitors with the slogan "what happens here, stays here" -- Goodman is loved and admired. He has turned the office of mayor into a one-man Las Vegas marketing machine.

"He's generated so much publicity for the city that maybe he's the brand for the city," said his longtime friend and new colleague, City Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian.

When I asked Tarkanian what she thought of Goodman's R-rated stint as a Playboy photographer, she said in a nonchalant voice, "That's the mayor."

Tarkanian wasn't concerned that Goodman's association with Playboy might be construed as demeaning to women and embarrassing to the city.

Her reaction, I'm willing to bet, was typical of many Las Vegans who have become desensitized to Goodman's never-ending outrageous conduct.

"He has developed such a deep reservoir of good feelings from the citizens, that these things don't bother them that much," Tarkanian said.

The reason for this is that Goodman has managed to disarm us by openly admitting that he has vices.

"I drink to excess, I gamble with both fists and when I eat, I eat like a gourmand," he's quoted as saying on Playboy's Web site. "I can do whatever I want. I'm the mayor."

Is there a more perfect mayor for Sin City?

Goodman constantly reminds us that he's the mayor, but most of the time he doesn't act like one.

We rarely hear Goodman talk about things that matter, such as bringing relief to our gridlocked streets or lowering our crime rate.

Goodman would rather shill for the tourism industry, which already has plenty of shills.

Bringing visitors here is important for the long-term health of the city, but focusing on the other less glamourous issues is what improves our quality of life.

That's what real big-city mayors strive to do. They don't get into politics for the parties.

"I think Oscar needs to really think about the legacy he wants to leave the city," said Goodman's predecessor and fellow Democrat, former two-term Mayor Jan Laverty Jones. "He shouldn't diminish the importance of the office when he has the talent and the vision to do otherwise."

Jones, now a senior executive with Harrah's Entertainment, knows something about the mayor's job. In her eight years at the helm, before Goodman arrived on the scene in 1999, Jones probably did more than anyone in recent memory to bring respect to the office.

Oh, how that respect is slipping away now.

"A mayor's primary job," Jones said, "is to worry about growth, infrastructure, education and social programs, and let the industry worry about how we entertain our visitors."

I keep waiting for Goodman to figure that out. But he never does.

Instead he stays on this reckless, self-aggrandizing course that gets more obnoxious by the day.

And I worry that very few people seem to care.