Ex-councilman Michael Mack behind pawnshop push

Against existing stores’ wishes, proposed change would pave way for more

Monday, Sept. 28, 2009 | 2 a.m.

The former councilman, a real estate agent, seeks to again run (and expand) a pawnshop business.

A familiar and controversial name is behind Las Vegas’ proposed ordinance to increase the number of allowed pawnshops: former Councilman Michael Mack.

In an interview, Mack confirmed he’s been representing a Beverly Hills, Calif., pawn broker looking to expand to Las Vegas. The two have been working with city staff on changes to the way the city licenses pawn shops.

The proposed ordinance, still in its early stages, would change a 17-year-old law that says only one pawnshop license can be granted per population increase of 50,000.

Under the proposal, the council could grant up to four pawnshop licenses per year.

The ordinance would also create a new category of pawnbroker, one who could lend money on only 11 categories of goods, including jewelry, watches and antiques. The purpose would be to allow this limited type of pawnbroker to open in areas where larger stores aren’t allowed.

Mack said the city was already planning on increasing the number of stores, but that he and his client, Jordan Tabach-Bank, CEO of the upscale Beverly Loan Co., came up with the idea of a second pawnshop category.

“It allows jewelers to lend to their customers,” Mack said. “You could move to a nicer area and go after a different market.”

Part of his decision to assist Tabach-Bank is self-interest, he said. Mack used to own the First Class Pawn shop, which went out of business in 2001. He is about to take over an existing pawn store if he can get a pending license approved — and would like to be able to grow his business further.

Tabach-Bank’s store in Beverly Hills, which Mack calls an “upscale collateral lender,” caters to high-profile Hollywood types. He said he’s eager to gain entry into Las Vegas, but encountered the current restrictions when inquiring about placing a store in the World Jewelry Center, a development slated for Symphony Park.

The proposed ordinance has raised the ire of existing pawnbrokers, who have hired several lobbyists to try to quash the measure. They’re arguing that the existing law has worked well and that changes could lead to a city glutted with pawn shops.

But Mack, currently an agent with Prudential Real Estate, plans to lobby each council member, alongside Tabach-Bank.

Soon after his April 2001 election to the council, Mack was the subject of an ethics complaint for voting to postpone and then deny an application for a car dealership — while failing to disclose he owed $60,000 to a competing car dealer. Mack was acquitted in Las Vegas Municipal Court of four criminal charges.

Mack might have a leg up in his lobbying efforts. He and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman have been closely connected. When Goodman formed a political action committee in 2005, for example, he tapped Mack to be its executive director.

•••

Rick Rizzolo’s old strip club, Crazy Horse Too, might have a buyer (9-25-09)

It’s bad enough that a centuries-old federal law enforcement agency such as the U.S. Marshals Service has found itself in the Las Vegas strip-club business. Now it’s in the lobbying business, too.

The agency has owned the Crazy Horse Too since 2007, when it seized the property as part of a plea agreement with its former owner, tax evader Rick Rizzolo.

Ever since, the agency has been trying to get the necessary city licenses so that the strip club can be sold — and millions in debts can be paid off. According to a spokesman, the agency realized it needed legal assistance in July 2008 when it retained Chris Kaempfer and Tom Amick, top local lawyer/lobbyists.

But the agency says it didn’t retain the duo to lobby the City Council — which is precisely what they’ve been doing, according to the city’s “lobbyist registration forms” that note their recent visits to Goodman and Councilman Gary Reese.

Kaempfer and Amick were hired “for legal advice, not for lobbying activities, concerning the local zoning and licensing issues that affect the forfeited property the Crazy Horse Too,” agency spokesman Dave Turner said.

To date, the Marshals Service has paid the pair $85,851.24, Turner wrote. Then he reiterated: “The U.S. Marshals never discussed lobbying with our contractors, nor was lobbying activities part of their contract; the U.S. Marshals Service contracted only for legal services and representation.”

Discussion: 9 comments so far…

By doubledown_deadender

9/28/09 at 7:42 a.m.

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A pimp is a pimp...No matter how you dress him.

This exemplifies what is broken with America...Shameless politician/pimps, past and present, selling out via the corruption of lobbyists/pimps...past and present.
You map a pawn shop and section 8 housing and you better buy 1000 red tacks to mark the crime that follows. Auto and residential burglary, robbery and strong arm robbery, shoplifting...The uptick is guaranteed. Pawn shops are guise for "fences""just as Payday loan outlets are guise for "loan-sharking".

The amount of legitimate business conducted by these purveyors of SWAG? About 18%.

Thank you LVS for the exposure on this one.
By KillerB

9/28/09 at 8:56 a.m.

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Thanx, Sun, for two examples of government going where it was never meant to go. What could possibly be the rational basis for this rule limiting free enterprise according to population? And what could possibly be the rational basis for allowing U.S. Marshals to compete with local commerce?

doubledown_dd -- attitudes like yours are best expressed like the rest of the herd: "baaaaaaaa"

Do the math, people -- the reason for the current depression is limits on commerce, which includes free enterprise. When it prospers so do the rest of us.
By gold1020

9/28/09 at 10:31 a.m.

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To have a law limiting a type of commerce based on the population size is idiotic. If you have a town with 12,000 people-that's one thing. Las Vegas is not a cow town. In a recession, new commerce should be welcomed with open arms-not stifled. There's plenty of commercial real estate owners who would love to have a pawn shop as their tenant.
By tvegas

9/28/09 at 11:18 a.m.

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gold

Las Vegas is as corrupt as any cowtown of 12000.
By doubledown_deadender

9/28/09 at 12:16 p.m.

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killer b the sad faced clown looking for a birthday gig".but he pawned his 14' unicycle and can't get it out unless he gets a "Payday Loan" at 37% compounding interest.

If you call handing a car stereos and jewelry (mixed with shards of broken glass)through the plexi-glass slot at the local pawn shop - for .20 cents on the dollar "commerce" then you must support the sales of Meth in the same light?

Please tell us how a pawnshop helps the community - when surrounded by 24/7 casinos and hoards of compulsive gamblers and drug addicts... do tell!
By longtimevegasres

9/28/09 at 1:46 p.m.

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Killer B

Limits on commerce is the reason for our current recession? What are you nuts? Complicated derivatives and no regulation on lending was the reason for the recession. wake up. What "math" are you referencing?
By wizardofOz

9/28/09 at 1:50 p.m.

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Another fine example of a Clark County smilin' bio pic gone bad.

If it weren't for articles like this one from the SUN, the 25% or so functionally literate populace of Clark County would be left to the designs of dung-artists like this guy and the other 75% or so that can't write a complete sentence or do basic math.

So... He's a friend of the Martini-In-Hand-Never-Met-a-Cocktail-Lounge-I-Wouldn't-Vote-For Mayor AND a Prudential real estate agent...?

Where's the esteemed Real Estate Division on his alleged criminal complaints? Why does this guy even have a real estate sales license in the first place, anyway?

Hey, SUN, call the Real Estate Division. Get the lowdown on EXACTLY WHO IN MANAGEMENT down there approved this guy's license application (a document signed under the penalty of perjury).

Someone in the Nevada Real Estate Division's MANAGEMENT is REQUIRED to approve a license application with this type of alleged criminal complaints on it, OR Mr. Smilin' Bio Pic LIED through his prior-City-Councilman teeth and didn't put this stuff on his application to get a license in the first place.

Nevada Real Estate Divison: (702) 486-4033

Ask for the Chief Investigator.
By KillerB

9/28/09 at 4:01 p.m.

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double_dd -- when you resort to childish mocking you make yourself irrelevant. When you're ready to post something reasonable and mature, maybe then you can be taken seriously.

longtimevegasres -- not really hard to figure out. Healthy commerce = jobs. It's what used to be called the capital + management + labor combo. Pawn shops are just one option for people to get quick cash -- hardly the reason for this depression brought on by high finance and corrupt federal government at every level. "The math" just means none of this is hard to reckon. People driven into survival mode will do what they have to do -- they really can't be blamed for it.
By Lenny_V

9/30/09 at 1:54 a.m.

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MACK, YOU'RE A CLASS A SCUMBAG. I can't stand Pawn Shops, everytime I see one I want to burn it to the ground.