Mayor Goodman gets a gift fit for a king

Dan Kulin

Wednesday, June 21, 2006 | 7:16 a.m.

He certainly behaves like a king, even if his words and actions are sometimes anything but regal.

And you'd have to say that anyone with 11 bobblehead images of himself has a monarch-sized ego.

So it seems perfectly fitting that Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman now has the one accessory that every king needs: a throne.

The mayor now sits in a wood and leather replica of a throne owned by Bavarian King Ludwick in the mid-19th century.

The chair was a gift from the World Market Center, given to the city earlier this month when Goodman and a group of visiting mayors attending the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Las Vegas toured the center.

"This was a fun gift and an interesting way for us to demonstrate our enthusiasm for the city," center spokeswoman Dana Pretner said. "It's quite perfect for the king of Las Vegas, Mayor Goodman."

With lions' heads carved into the ends of the arms and a back nearly 6 feet high, the chair looms behind the mayor's City Hall desk.

Goodman, for one, thinks it makes a perfect addition to his 10th-floor office.

"It's beautiful, it's regal and it gives me a feeling of invincibility," Goodman said.

City Councilman Gary Reese said he doubts the mayor will use the chair for long.

"He said, 'You can't have it,' and I said, 'I don't want it,' " Reese said. "To me it looks uncomfortable. But I thought it was cute."

Cute? That's probably not how a Bavarian king would describe it.

Las Vegans can find out for themselves, provided they have a couple thousand dollars. The chair, which is made in Indonesia, sells for $1,832, and has been a hot seller to designers and retailers at the World Market Center.

Councilman Larry Brown is not surprised by the kingly trappings in Goodman's office.

"Just like everything else the mayor says and does," Brown said, "it fits his persona."

Now, if only he can get his hands on a crown and an ermine robe.