Brian Greenspun on how taxpayers got the better of Bill Walters in Royal Links deal

Sunday, Feb. 19, 2006 | 12:35 p.m.

Stop the presses. Bill Walters made a bad deal.

Contrary to the opinion of the Review-Journal, its minions and a few assorted complainers in this town, my friend Bill Walters is not getting a sweetheart deal from the city of Las Vegas. In fact - perhaps for the first time in his life - he is getting by far the worst of the deal in his desire to develop his Royal Links Golf Course into homes.

In a Las Vegas Sun exclusive today, we reveal the results of an independent study we commissioned to determine whether or not the purchase by Walters of a deed restriction from the city was fair and reasonable. The study concludes that it was certainly reasonable for the city but, and these are my words, perhaps Walters should go back to the negotiating table.

The offense, though, well beyond the abuse that the Review-Journal likes to foist upon Walters, is what that newspaper has ginned up against the Las Vegas City Council, a former longtime, responsible and decent city employee in Dick Goecke and, worst of all, the already low opinion that the voter has of government in general.

One of the great benefits of this new arrangement between the two newspapers is that the Las Vegas Sun is now delivered to every newspaper subscriber. The R-J and Sun have the same circulation. Readers no longer have to accept just what that other newspaper says as true. There is another, I believe much better, source for news and information and that is the Sun.

In the past, elected leaders and others have been browbeaten by the other paper, which has its own point of view about how this country, this state and this city should run. That has resulted in politicians, always afraid of the next election and too often willing to kowtow to the editorial opinion of the largest newspaper in the state, doing and saying things that they might not if they weren't under such pressure.

That pressure, by the way, may be the real reason why our attorney general, George Chanos, inserted himself into the Royal Links-Las Vegas controversy. After all, a newly appointed AG in for the political fight of his life against a very able, well-liked and competent opponent might be looking for an issue that will keep his name in the limelight for months, seemingly on the side of the taxpayer. Enter Walters and, voila, a made-for-primetime issue.

Before I go too far, let me declare myself. Besides being my friend, Walters is also a business partner in a deal we did in Henderson in which Henderson got a first class public golf course and we got some developable land. It remains to be seen whether we made a good trade but, given the expertise of our real estate company, American Nevada, and the incredible growth of land values in this town, the odds are good we will do well.

So that's it. Henderson wins, the taxpayers win, the golfing public has a big win, and the private entrepreneurs who took all the risk will probably win, too. Hooray for America.

Back to the Walters deal. There are a number of questions which I hope Chanos' high-priced law firm will ask in its investigation. You know the firm I am talking about, Senn Meulemans of San Francisco, the one the governor and secretary of state have so far approved paying $265,000 of taxpayers' money to investigate this transaction. I know how much the Sun paid and, believe me, we could have saved the taxpayers a bloody fortune!

Of course, the most obvious question is why Republican Chanos bypassed the sheriff of Clark County, Republican Bill Young, and our district attorney, Republican David Roger, when he snatched the investigation from where it properly belonged - with them - and into his own clutches. Did he think they were incompetent? Dishonest? Or otherwise incapable of doing the job the voters of Clark County have elected them to do and, until Chanos questioned their ability, thought they could do? Don't know the answer to that one. Bet Chanos does. There are many other questions that cry out for answers that I hope the law firm will ask. Most of them start with the word "why." And now that we know that the deal that Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and the City Council made was clearly in the best interests of the taxpayers, the questions that should be asked should be those of the voters, and they all begin with the same word, "why." And "when." As in when will the attorney general admit ! that Las Vegas was acting in the interests of the taxpayers - making more money on this deal than it had a reasonable right to make and paving the way for some kind of affordable housing for people in this valley who are being priced out of the market - and let this thing go.

I know that Chanos' political future may hang in the balance, and that may encourage him and his law firm to find something, anything, to hang his hat on - but enough is enough.

At the core of this entire matter is whether or not Bill Walters took advantage of Las Vegas and whether our elected leaders let him do it. The answer is a resounding "no."

Walters should be the one to ask for an investigation. He needs to find out how he let this happen!

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.