In 27 years, Woodbury ‘was always a public servant’

By Michael Mishak

Sunday, Aug. 3, 2008 | 2 a.m.

You’ve heard by now that the Nevada Supreme Court’s decision on term limits last month tossed 21 elected officials from the ballot. But there’s one official in particular whose impending departure has Clark County contemplating life without him: Bruce Woodbury.

What’s the big deal?

Woodbury is the longest-serving county commissioner in the state’s history, appointed to the post in 1981 by then-Gov. Bob List. Since then he’s been the quiet force at the center of some of the county’s flashiest and most ambitious projects: The expansion of McCarran International Airport. The creation of the Clark County Regional Flood Control District. Transportation. (The county named a beltway for him, after all.)

“He was Mr. Infrastructure,” said Jacob Snow, general manager of the Regional Transportation Commission. “There’s no way Las Vegas could have been built into the 2 million-person megapolitan (area) it is today without the infrastructure. He provided the leadership.”

Fine, but what’s to say his successor can’t continue that work?

Nothing. But Woodbury will be missed for more than his work on important issues. He developed a reputation over the decades as the consummate consensus builder, someone who approached issues calmly and methodically, involving his constituents every step of the way.

“He’s a rarity in political life,” said Mike Sloan, a longtime friend, Democratic fundraiser and former gaming executive. “Bruce was never a politician. He was always a public servant. I have never heard a person suggest that he made a decision for any other reason than he thought it was correct.”

Were any of those decisions controversial?

Perhaps Woodbury’s biggest feat was persuading voters to approve three tax hikes — quite the coup in tax-averse Nevada. But Woodbury saw the need for a mass transportation plan in 1989 and realized state and federal resources were grossly insufficient. He cobbled together the interested parties — casinos, developers, taxpayers — and proposed a “fair share” funding plan that voters approved in 1990. Voters approved another tax increase in 2002 for supplemental funding.

The result: public transit (for the first time in county history) and the country’s only locally financed freeway (I-215).

Voters also approved a tax increase in 1986 for flood control.

What was his secret?

The public was at the core of Woodbury’s approach, said Carole Vilardo, president of the Nevada Taxpayers Association. “Bruce saw that things were done in such a wide arena, with so many meetings and accepting so much input, that people were comfortable they were not done in a vacuum or in a back room,” she said.

Former County Manager Thom Reilly said Woodbury’s institutional knowledge gave him a commanding presence on the county’s big issues. When jurisdictional fights arose, parties would ask for Woodbury by name. “When Bruce spoke on an issue, people listened,” Reilly said.

Does he have any advice for his successor?

“Remember who’s the boss,” Woodbury said. “It’s not you. It’s the people ... Some individuals have gotten into trouble when they began to think they’re important and they’re the ones in charge.”

What about all that corruption?

During Woodbury’s tenure seven of his colleagues were indicted. Six have been sent to prison and another remains under investigation.

Woodbury says no one has ever tried to bribe him. Shortly after he joined the commission, FBI agents posed as businessmen and offered bribes to state legislators and county commissioners. Two commissioners — Jack Petitti and Woodrow Wilson — were nailed.

During one tape-recorded conversation, an undercover FBI agent asked Petitti whether any of his colleagues could be bought off. Petitti suggested several. When the agent asked about Woodbury, Petitti said: “Woodbury, huh. I wouldn’t touch him with a 10-foot pole.”

But didn’t he know what was going on?

Not until he read it in the papers, Woodbury said. Sure, he says, he noticed when certain commissioners seemed awfully deferential to certain powerful interests, but he gave them the benefit of the doubt.

“I never did think to myself that there was something illegal going on,” Woodbury said. “I wanted to believe otherwise.”