Friday, July 28, 2006 | 7:48 a.m.
A potpourri of end-of-the-week nuggets:
Do you approve of Kenny and Harry? In a recent survey by national pollster Peter Hart, he measured feelings about the state's most visible statewide officials - Gov. Kenny Guinn and U.S. Sen. Harry Reid.
The governor's numbers were strong among the core Republican primary voters and inveterate Democratic primary voters surveyed - there were 500 of each polled. Guinn is seen positively by 59 percent of GOP voters and seen negatively by 18 percent, while he is viewed positively by 52 percent of Democratic voters and seen negatively by only 19 percent.
Pretty impressive numbers for the lame duck.
Reid is not so lucky. Sixty-eight percent of GOP primary voters have an unfavorable impression of the Senate minority leader and only 20 percent feel positively about him (love to see who they are!). Seventy-six percent of Democratic primary voters have positive feelings about Reid and 13 percent have a negative view.
Love him or hate him, it seems.
So is Lois Tarkanian lying, does she have a faulty memory or is she telling the truth?
If you didn't watch the special meeting on redistricting Wednesday, you missed the City Council railroad through a new map despite the objections of Councilwoman Tarkanian and many of her constituents who believe the plan is slanted toward Gary Reese's desires to grab parts of her ward.
Tarkanian pointedly referred during the meeting to a conversation in which redistricting consultant Fred Kessler told her, in the presence of others, that she would lose on a lopsided vote because council members were retaliating against her for her performance on some issues. Here's the colloquy:
Tarkanian to Kessler: "Could you tell me why you told me it would be a 6-1 or 5-2 vote at most?"
Kessler: "Unfortunately, I don't remember."
Yes, how unfortunate.
Tarkanian: "Then I'll say what I remember and what the other people there remember. That the reason why I could not get votes to change ... the reasons why was because council members stated they were friends with Councilman Reese and he had done things that had helped out in their situations ... but also because, perhaps, there was retaliation for votes I had made. You had said that to me ... We were very surprised and discussed it after you left."
Kessler: "I wouldn't know if anybody was engaged in any retaliation action I don't recollect any such statement that I ever made."
So I see one of two possibilities:
Either Tarkanian made this up out of whole cloth or Kessler made some foolish statements (i.e., the truth) behind closed doors that he never thought would be repeated.
I wonder what's more likely.
And the ever-glib Goodman kicker: His Honor was asked at his news conference Thursday about his relationship with his old law firm, which still bears his name, and he said that he hasn't talked to David Chesnoff, who is also on the firm's letterhead, about a case "in two or three years ... About any case."
I'm no lawyer - I only play a prosecutor on TV - but I say again what I said last week: If the mayor is telling the truth, that's a clear violation of national and state bar rules that say you can't do it.
"The name of a lawyer holding a public office shall not be used in the name of a law firm, or in communications on its behalf, during any substantial period in which the lawyer is not actively and regularly practicing with the firm," is how the national rule reads, and the state has a similar one.
The intent of the rule is obvious: To prevent a public official from using his name on the letterhead to attract business for the firm.
Is the state bar that toothless?
Goodman, when asked about a quote from Chesnoff from less than two years ago provided to my colleague Dan Kulin that he regularly consults with Goodman, the mayor retorted: "If you're quoting someone from the Sun, I can't tell you that it's accurate."
As opposed to the unbroken record of accuracy of the man being quoted.
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