Tuesday, April 11, 2006 | 7:22 a.m.
Most Clark County commissioners insist they are not worried that the sleaze of some of their predecessors - now on public display in a federal corruption trial - will rub off on them in the court of public opinion.
But then, they weren't at Legacy Vineyard Church on Sunday. And they apparently haven't been talking lately to some of their constituents, either.
Barry Diamond, pastor of the church just off Cheyenne Avenue west of U.S. 95, spoke about the Old Testament story of Balaam and his donkey. Diamond used the ongoing local corruption trial to drive home the moral in the story of Balaam, who is traditionally reviled for disregarding God's commands in exchange for money.
After comparing the actions of former commissioners to prostitution, Diamond lightened the tenor of his talk by putting up a piece of mock campaign literature on the church's projection screen.
It read: "Balaam for County Commissioner: I promise not to make an ass of myself."
With shocking testimony about former Commissioners Dario Herrera and Mary Kincaid-Chauncey surfacing with the relentless melodrama of a soap opera, the kind of cynicism expressed from the pulpit at Legacy is difficult to resist.
"I've heard people expressing absolute outrage," said Craig Walton, a professor emeritus at UNLV and the president of the Nevada Center for Public Ethics. "The problem with outrage is that it can tar the good guy with the bad guy."
Last week, the trial oozed with tar.
Former strip club owner Michael Galardi testified that he arranged sexual rendezvous for Herrera and paid Herrera and Kincaid-Chauncey thousands of dollars for votes favoring his clubs.
Former Commissioner Erin Kenny has turned federal witness after admitting to taking bribes from Galardi and others. Another ex-commissioner, Lance Malone, is accused of operating as a middleman between Galardi and others on the commission at the time.
Despite the apparent brazen malfeasance of some former commissioners, most current commissioners say they do not think they will be tarred by association.
"I don't think it affects those who didn't participate in this," Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates said.
"I have no concerns," Commissioner Myrna Williams added. "Certainly I had no involvement with those situations, and I think the people in my district know that."
Commissioner Bruce Woodbury has sat through several scandals during his 24 years on the commission, including the Yobo scandal of the early 1980s, when two Clark County commissioners - Jack Petitti and Woodrow Wilson - were convicted on charges stemming from bribes they took from undercover FBI agents.
Woodbury said the politicians' wrongdoing in those earlier scandals did not reflect poorly on him or others not involved.
"I don't think it will have a significant impact," he said of the current scandal.
But talk to an average resident and you're likely to find the commissioners' analysis overly optimistic.
Commissioners are not in touch with reality, said 59-year-old Larry Menze, a real estate agent and Las Vegas resident for 42 years.
"They've obviously done things that are a conflict of interest and unethical, and there's been no consequences," he said. "The people at the top are self-serving."
And for residents who have been burned personally by the scandals, the damage is even worse.
Kenny testified that she took $200,000 in exchange for favorable treatment for developers tied to Don Davidson, who often gave her envelopes of cash.
One of the resulting developments - a CVS store that landed in a residential neighborhood at Buffalo Drive and Desert Inn Road - now mars 55-year-old Carolyn Edwards' view from the rear of her home.
Although Edwards said she trusts current commissioners more than those on trial, her overall confidence in county government has been eroded by the information coming out in the case.
"Those things raise doubt," she said of Kenny's testimony. "Some commissioners have connections they need to disclose, and they usually do that, but you can never know what's going on behind the scenes."
Josh Ramos, 29, is another Las Vegan whose faith in government and politics has been shaken - perhaps permanently - by the trial. Several years ago, he volunteered on Herrera's campaign. He's not likely to do so again - for anyone running for office.
"You don't know who to trust," he said. "It's all about the money, I guess."
While such comments suggest that commissioners' assessments that they will not be tainted by the trial's revelations perhaps are based more on wishful thinking than cool, detached analysis, at least some commissioners concede that cynicism is on the march.
"It's all very troubling," Commission Chairman Rory Reid said. "I can understand why anyone would be very cynical hearing what they are hearing in the trial."
The misconduct of their predecessors can make it more difficult to persuade jaded citizens to participate in government, said Reid, who won Herrera's seat in 2002 after Herrera abandoned it for a failed congressional run.
"I think it does make it more difficult to do our jobs," Reid said.
Regardless of whether commissioners are viewed less favorably because of the scandal, they need to restore the public's confidence in the office. If they don't, the consequences could be huge.
"Requests for needed development and infrastructure are going to be turned down if (voters) feel like it's a sleazy person doing it or a sleazy process," Walton said. "A lot is hinging on this."
That threat, some argue, demands that current commissioners go out of their way to demonstrate that county government is legitimate.
"In the current setting, (commissioners) are in the group of elected folks who need to go the extra mile in terms of ... saying, 'Face time is not for sale,' " Walton said.
Commissioners are three years into a cleanup process, Reid said.
"This is a different commission than that one," he emphasized. "Any observer of the commission over the past three years knows we don't do business the same way."
The reforms began months before Herrera and Kincaid-Chauncey were indicted, he said.
In late 2002, several controversial land-use decisions were made, with commissioners from outside the affected district often leading the push for zoning variances.
With red flags flying, a majority of the commissioners decided to completely revamp land-use plans for the rapidly growing county's communities. Many of those plans were more than 10 years old - ridiculously outdated in light of the Las Vegas Valley's booming population, Reid said.
The updated plans forced commissioners to provide much stronger justifications if they wanted to allow a proposed development to vary from the master plan, Reid said.
They also introduced a new policy that allows the commissioner whose district would be affected by the zoning issue to lead the discussion and make proposals.
After indictments came out against Galardi, Herrera, Kincaid-Chauncey, Malone and Kenny in 2003, the county asked an ethics task force - Walton was among its members - to revisit county policies.
In January 2004, commissioners acted on the group's recommendations and toughened policies on conflict of interest and other issues, including a one-year "cooling off" period during which former commissioners are restricted from lobbying the commission.
Commissioners also now are more careful to abstain from votes when there is a potential conflict of interest, Atkinson Gates said.
"I think we are all very careful to make sure there isn't even the appearance of impropriety," she said. "We are very conscious of that."
Reid said the new ethics policies require commissioners to refrain from behind-the-scenes discussions on issues in which they might have a personal interest.
Walton said he believes the current commission can restore public confidence.
"That body there may be more sensitized than any other," he said, pointing to Clark County's establishment of an ethics task force - a step, he noted, that neither Las Vegas nor the Legislature has taken.
But the path to legitimacy is a two-way street, he said. It's up to outraged voters to hit the polls with new enthusiasm rather than allow disenchantment to keep them at home on Election Day.
"It's easy to be cynical and sit on the sidelines and throw stones at the commission," Walton said. "It's easier to do that if you don't participate."
archive
