Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2006 | 7:39 a.m.
Jerry Airola says the "Old Boys Network" is out to get him.
Jerry Airola says the "Old Boy's Network" is protecting its own.
Jerry Airola says he is an alternative to the Old Boys Network. Or is it Old Boy's Network? Or is it Old Boys' Network?
Jerry Airola, as apostrophe-inconsistent as he may be in his news releases, is right.
Whether it's one old boy (retiring Sheriff Bill Young) or more of them (Undersheriff Doug Gillespie and Police Protective Association Dave Kallas, who says he will retire if Airola is elected), it's clear that Airola doesn't think they are good. But what's even more apparent, as Young and Kallas unleashed a scorching fusillade Tuesday at the businessman-who-would-be-a-cop-who-would-be-sheriff, is how dangerous the old boys think the new kid on the block truly is.
And who says the good old boys are always wrong?
In an unprecedented show of force, Young, a lame duck who seems stronger than ever, seethed at a news conference at PPA's downtown Las Vegas headquarters. He and Kallas painted Airola as a disingenuous poseur who is trying to buy the race and would be devastating for Southern Nevada.
And who says the good old boys are always wrong?
Airola has given Young and others every reason to believe something's not quite right, as he has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on television with slick but empty messages about cleaning up Metro. He has morphed from being a cop to being a part-time cop to being "a businessman with a law enforcement background."
His claim of being a cop never made sense, even after he dramatically pulled out a badge on "Face to Face" weeks ago. Part of it was common sense: How could he have been a successful businessman in Southern Nevada for 11 years and still claim to be a cop in California?
Channel 8 investigative reporter George Knapp ultimately unmasked the charade - Airola had been a cop for only a couple of years before being fired. He then escaped to Las Vegas, the Land of Second Chances for many, and made the most of it. And now he is hyping that minimal law enforcement experience to try to buy the sheriff's office.
And who says the good old boys are always wrong?
It's easy to say this is Young being overly defensive about the police department he leads and that Metro, which has always been led by insiders, is fearful of an outsider such as Airola. But that is as facile as a Jerry Airola television commercial. And there have been a lot of them.
Tuesday's news conference was a product of raw fear by Young & Co. The thought of Airola being in charge of Metro frightens them and not because they are protecting their turf. Young suggested something is wrong with a system where Airola could become sheriff but doesn't have the experience to "get a second interview" to be a Metro street cop.
Young and Kallas painted a picture of Airola as a Harold Hill-like figure, talking a good game and playing sweet tunes through his TV ads to sway the public. But the Airola they described is no Music Man trying to start up a band but a Pied Piper leading Metro - and the community - off a cliff.
And who says the good old boys are always wrong?
Airola's business record, the subject of recent news reports, does not disturb me nearly so much as his polishing of his cop bona fides. Entrepreneurs have dissatisfied customers and get sued.
So that part of the attack seems secondary or even irrelevant.
Young and Kallas insisted the news conference was only about Airola and not about their chosen one, Gillespie. But of course it was all about Gillespie and destroying Airola before he gets too much momentum to defeat the undersheriff in the primary and then the general election.
They are scared.
And who says the good old boys are always wrong?
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