Tarnishing public’s perception

Wednesday, April 12, 2006 | 7:36 a.m.

As testimony in the federal corruption trial involving former Clark County commissioners and a former Las Vegas strip club owner becomes more lurid and tosses more public officials' names into the mix, some local politicians not involved in the case say they aren't worried about the public's lingering perceptions.

In some of the most astonishing testimony since the trial began a month ago, former club owner Michael Galardi said former Commissioner Erin Kenny performed oral sex on him and accepted cash as bribes for supporting ordinances and measures that benefited his chain of topless clubs.

He also said he provided cash payments to a number of other public officials, including Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and District Attorney David Roger. Goodman and Roger have denied the allegations and are not facing any charges in connection with the cash-for-political-favors case against former Commissioners Dario Herrera and Mary Kincaid-Chauncey. Kenny has pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from Galardi and is a federal prosecution witness.

Testimony in the ongoing criminal trial will, on some level, affect the public's perception of how local government operates. That's the trouble when public officials are accused of manipulating the public's business for personal gain. And Las Vegas, with its history of organized crime bosses - both real and Hollywood - already has a tough reputation to overcome.

In a Las Vegas Sun story Tuesday, Larry Menze, a 42-year Las Vegas resident, said that the image emerging from the federal courthouse is pretty clear. "The people at the top are self-serving," Menze told the Sun.

The very thing that drives Las Vegas may also play some small role in the undoing - real or perceived - of local government's image. Our tourism industry encourages self-indulgence, greed and personal gain without shame or consequences. That's fine for visitors seeking a little make-believe. But it has no place in the real world, and the testimony heard the past month shows us that, somehow, it has ended up there.

Commission Chairman Rory Reid told the Sun that "Any observer of the commission over the past three years knows we don't do business the same way." Unfortunately, as the details continue to unfold in court, the public just isn't so sure that's true.

While we don't know whether anyone charged in this trial will be convicted and sent to prison, the elected officials who must regain the public's trust will definitely serve a lengthy sentence.