Editorial: Heart of the matter

Saturday, July 7, 2007 | 7:09 a.m.

C lark County hired Griffin Crowley Group, a top-tier lobbying firm, to represent the local government in the 2007 Legislature, knowing there was a built-in conflict of interest. Griffin Crowley also represents MGM Mirage, the gaming leviathan on the Strip that is under some county regulation.

As reported Sunday in the Las Vegas Sun by Tony Cook, that conflict manifested itself when the Legislature dealt with a bill to reduce the tax breaks for environmentally friendly construction projects. The county wanted to cut the tax incentives because those breaks cut deeply into tax revenue . But MGM Mirage, which is building the massive CityCenter and other potentially eligible casinos , wanted as much of a tax break as possible. Ultimately, although the Legislature lowered the "green" tax break, the county was left to shoulder much of the burden in lost revenue.

The county had employed other lobbyists as well, not to mention that two county commissioners are former longtime members of the Assembly, so it wasn't as if the county was sidelined in Carson City. Still, county officials are reassessing their lobbying effort and their relationship with Griffin Crowley, which the county paid $105,000. (Griffin Crowley also lobbied for The Greenspun Corporation . The Greenspun family owns the Las Vegas Sun.)

The conflict meant that one of the more powerful lobbying firms was no longer exclusively in the county's corner, but it is hard to imagine it had a significant effect on the outcome. There is no love lost between the Legislature and the counties, particularly when money is at stake.

How many state lawmakers view local government in Southern Nevada can be summed up by Assembly Ways and Means Chairman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, who remarked this year that Clark County had "more money than God." And that's from someone who lives here. Imagine what lawmakers from Reno and rural parts of the state think about the economic engine of this state.

Thus the rise of local governments hiring the best lobbyists money can buy.

The underlying problem is that local government officials and state lawmakers - particularly those from Southern Nevada - unnecessarily are at odds when they should instead be working together to serve the public's best interest. Ultimately, such strained relations end up hurting Southern Nevadans - and no one wins .