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Tuesday, July 5, 2011 | 2:01 a.m.
Since taking office 12 years ago, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has marketed himself as the “happiest mayor in the universe.” He saunters around town with a showgirl on each arm and a martini in hand, talking up his love of gambling and gin. He cracks jokes and obliges doting fans. There are legions of them.
Goodman is Southern Nevada’s most popular politician, an adored figurehead who would continue running City Hall if term limits weren’t forcing him out Wednesday.
But ask Goodman the wrong question, double-cross or even criticize him, and a different mayor emerges. His face reddens. His voice deepens to a growl. If you’re lucky, he’ll flash a dead-to-me glance and storm off. More likely, he’ll bark orders, insults or threats at the offender.
It turns out, the world’s happiest mayor isn’t so happy when he’s not getting his way. Maybe that’s why he usually does get his way.
“Oscar Goodman has loyalty to Oscar Goodman. Everyone else is pretty much expendable,” said an associate who asked not to be identified.
Even as Goodman leaves office, insiders are loath to speak publicly about his flaws for fear of angering him.
The strategy works well for Goodman. It has won him successes, both personal and professional. And it has ensured his continuing influence at City Hall.
Depending on who describes it, Goodman is smart enough or manipulative enough to turn his off-the-cuff, call-it-like-I-see-it persona into a beloved shtick. Few in Las Vegas seem to bat an eye when their mayor threatens to have someone whacked. In fact, it’s one of his go-to lines when he’s annoyed.
Las Vegas mayoral candidate Carolyn Goodman gets a kiss from her husband, current mayor Oscar Goodman, after the race was called in her favor Tuesday, June 7, 2011.
At Carolyn Goodman’s election night party, Oscar yelled at her “If you don’t be quiet, I’ll have you whacked!” when she failed to stop talking for an announcement he wanted to make. She fell silent and all eyes settled on her husband, not because of his threat but because they wanted to hear him talk.
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman waves before leaving the stage with showgirls after delivering the annual State of the City address at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in downtown Las Vegas on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011.
In any other city, Goodman’s antics would cause others to cringe. Think about it: How many mayors can get away with photographing a Playboy bunny and bragging about it? Or telling fourth-graders that he’d bring a bottle of gin to a desert island?
Bob Herbert, a New York Times columnist, wrote that there is “probably no city in America where women are treated worse than in Las Vegas” and “the tone of systematic, institutionalized degradation is set by the mayor, Oscar Goodman.”
Yet he is lauded. The town wants to see Goodman down his gin or be escorted by his showgirls.
At worst, most Las Vegans dismiss Goodman’s behavior with an “Oscar will be Oscar” shrug.
He was a counterintuitive pick to become the Las Vegas mayor. He was the defense lawyer of choice for mobsters and others, earning acquittals for an oral surgeon accused of molesting anesthetized patients, a man charged with murdering a federal judge and famed mob boss Meyer Lansky, to name a few. Goodman boasts that he kept Anthony “Tony the Ant” Spilotro out of prison for 14 years, with the exception of one week when Goodman was out of town and Spilotro chose to wallow in a cell rather than call a different lawyer.
That mob hero Oscar Goodman wanted to be mayor, much less hold onto the job after term limits force his ouster, seems at once strange and oddly appropriate. The job provided the spotlight he craves. Some speculate it’s his way of giving back to the community after decades of defending criminals. And indeed, he has come a long way from his days going head to head with the government and comparing FBI agents to Nazis.
But he hasn’t completely transformed. As Sun columnist Jon Ralston once noted, “You can take the mob out of the thug, but you can’t take the thug out of the thug.”
Goodman today speaks to critics much like he did to the prosecutors he faced in the courtroom. “I’ll bury you,” he roars. “I’ll have your job,” he threatens. He has promised to ban from City Hall reporters who write unflattering pieces about him and once threatened to break the legs of a journalist who dared ask a difficult question.
“I’ll take a baseball bat and break his head if he ever comes here,” Goodman said of Herbert.
A reporter for The New Yorker wrote that Goodman kept a list of people who opposed his campaign so he could later “get them.” Goodman denied the statement, but he has been known to flip-flop on comments that portray him in a negative light. (He said he had proposed a “mop” museum after some bristled at his suggestion of a mob museum.) Even his wife concedes that Goodman is thin-skinned and testy about criticism.
As the cheerleader, Goodman fulfilled his promise of redeveloping downtown. His legacy includes the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, the Las Vegas Premium Outlets, the Mob Museum, the new City Hall and the emerging Fremont East District. Even critics are hard pressed to argue Goodman didn’t improve the city.
Using those two aspects of his personality, Goodman succeeded by squashing his critics and wooing those he needs — in the old days, juries; these days, voters and City Council colleagues. His relationship with Councilman Steve Ross is a good example.
Ross for years was one of Goodman’s most loyal allies, but he turned into his loudest critics after Carolyn Goodman entered the mayoral race that Ross already had entered. The Goodmans for more than a year had promised Ross and other candidates that she wouldn’t seek the post. Days before the filing period ended, the couple went back on their word.
Ross campaigned hard. He accused Oscar Goodman of causing 50,000 residents to lose their jobs. He said the mayor’s policies hurt the Clark County School District. The effort was futile. Ross lost badly in the primary.
Weeks later, he stood with the Goodmans and couldn’t find enough flattering words for them. “I’ve seen what a great mayor can do, and I see another great mayor standing next to me,” he said, referring to Carolyn.
Councilman Steven Ross makes remarks during a recognition ceremony to honor Mayor Oscar Goodman and Mayor Pro-Tem Gary Reese on June 15, 2011.
Ross offered little explanation for his change of rhetoric. He said simply: “That was the primary.”
Others elaborated on what Ross wouldn’t. Oscar Goodman got to him, they said. Ross learned the danger of crossing a Goodman and was smart enough to fall back in line rather than face Goodman’s wrath. Goodman needed Ross to ensure a friendly City Council for his wife. Ross needed the Goodmans to maintain his influence and political clout.
Like most power players in Las Vegas, Ross knows it’s never a good thing to be on Goodman’s bad side.
Insiders say the mayor’s voice booms across the 10th floor of City Hall when he’s angry and berating someone. Many describe him as a bully. And indeed, during council meetings, he has called speakers names and ordered them out of chambers. He called a bidder who he thought wasn’t generous enough at a charity auction a “short and fat Bette Midler.”
Others say he’s just an effective lawmaker using the bully pulpit and his perceived power to get things done. (In reality, the mayor has little control of the city; the main duties are running council meetings and declaring emergencies.)
No one and nothing will render him impotent. So he rages on with his bravado and audacity. He threatens to cut off the thumbs of graffiti artists. He proposes shipping homeless people to a closed desert prison. He calls President Barack Obama “a real slow learner” and vows to “give him the boot back to Washington.”
Goodman wants to make sure people are paying attention, and they are. In fact, rarely if ever has the world taken such interest in a municipal mayor.
Critics wonder if the city has paid a price for its mayor’s flamboyance. Do people have the wrong impression of Las Vegas? Has economic diversification been hampered?
Both Goodmans shrug off such questions, even if Carolyn occasionally cringes at what comes out of her husband’s mouth.
“Sometimes I’m like, ‘Oh my God, did he say that?’” she said. “But it’s satire. He’s cunning. When he does and says something, he knows what reaction it will get.”
The King is dead! Long live the Queen! (But please don't replace the showgirls with Chippendales' dancers.)
If anything ever does come of East Fremont, it'll be in spite of Bozo the Thug, not because of him. The wooing and relocation of Zappos was a done deal before Bozo ever heard about it. Now, he did preside over giving away the perfectly good city hall, along with some 8 more acres of prime, citizen-owned land, to a wholly owned subsidiary of multi-billion dollar corp. Amazon.com. That, I'll give him. And I'll grant that every two-bit real estate hustler who ever passed before Bozo's cowed city council was able to get his empty box development rubber-stamped, and that's precisely why we are overrun with empty boxes that pollute the downtown skyline, contributing to the depression of downtown real estate prices, and depriving us of any future *productive* development and tax base. Lou Ruvo? Yes, let's talk about that, too. It's Frank Gehry's big, secret, middle-finger joke which he played upon Las Vegas -- a HIDEOUS monstrosity which not even someone with brain disease could relate to. Yet we paid for that insider's insult to our community: millions to Gehry, who has since returned to his usual clientele, designing exquisite hotels in Hong Kong, museums in Barcelona, and other projects that enhance, not ridicule, the cities they grace. But yeah, the BIG MIDDLE FINGER that we paid through the nose for -- that happened on Bozo's watch.
Oh, and then there was the complete mismanagement of the Neonopolis. Sure, he vowed it's ruin -- on that, he did deliver. You and I are stuck with it's failure. Just as we paid for giving Boyd Gaming plum, downtown acreage for just ONE DOLLAR. Just as we had our city parks taken away from us. And not just Circle Park, but Freedom Park is lost to a private developer for 25 years! And ANY city park is lost to you if you are a legal adult but not accompanied by a child. In Bozo's pissing contest with the hobos, he took away ALL of our city parks.(Thankfully, Metro has better thing to do than actually enforce this travesty of governance.)
The list of Bozo's crimes against the citizenry go on and on. There were also the campaign cheating for his wife (the city-paid-for robo calls he made, the city-paid-for mailers in the middle of the campaign, and the possible/probable nepotism towards his son. But while some of us know all these things all too well, the masses of Las Vegas don't know, or don't care, and don't deserve any better.
They say people get the government they deserve. Apparently Las Vegas deserves malfeasance and riff-raff.
"A series of cheap shots attacking our beloved mayor"...don't forget our valiant mayor came to the defence of hapless naked women who were going to be hunted by paint balls out in the desert (not in Las Vegas by the way)...
...yes leave it to the NYT to analyze the plight of Vegas women, from $50k a year pit bosses and cocktail waitresses, to beleaguered execs like Jan Jones and Sue Lowden, to Cher, Bette Midler, Celine Dion, Rita Rudner, Marie Osmond, Gladys Knight, etc. ...gee they are sure exploited...
Historically, Vegas boosted the status of women and their pay. Where else could Phylis Diller, Joan Rivers, make a buck in the 60s?
http://www.aauw.org/learn/research/state...
Nevada is 7th for college educated women and 19th for overall employees in terms of gender gap pay rankings in similar professions.
A Nevada reporter quoting the NYT about Nevada? Gee, maybe we should cut out the middleman, and just read the Times?
A Gin-ney in a bottle? Excellent choice! A short fat Bette Midler? That's quite a compliment; Bette Midler is one of the BEST! Comparing FBI agents to Nazi's? If they act like Nazi's then lets call a spade a spade!
Course the media can slant any story,.....and usually does.
I raise my glass to you mayor Goodman! You were a hell of a mayor & wish you the best of luck!! You will be missed, I just hope that your wife gets a major league sports team out here fast... (keeping my fingers crossed for the NHL)
The news media and the local newspapers in Las Vegas encouraged this image of Oscar Goodman. Y'all are dead wrong about Oscar's image outside Las Vegas. Oscar is not respected, nor is Las Vegas look upon in a good light when Oscar Goodman name is mentioned. It is the media that only talk about things said about Oscar from People who fear Oscar---just like the media. Anyone with half a brain knows Oscar has bullied the council and the city manager. But, you all won't talk about that, will ya?
Surprising, you will see Carolyn doing what many will see as being different. Carolyn may not have the qualification to be major of Las Vegas, she does have integrity. Expect new and surprising things during her term. Things not so good for Oscar Goodman.
Oscar Goodman? You all got it all wrong, and, you know it!
Hopefully the City leaders (that would be R&R marketing) will keep Oscar around. He was the best at marketing Las Vegas to the world.
He was and will be a better spokesperson for Las Vegas that Jan Jones was or any other Mayor.
The fact that the Sun and others don't like it when they don't get their way with the politicos, is proven by this piece.
Oscar did his job and did it well. He will be missed.
Oscar was my friend's father's attorney during a serious scandal involving the planned robbery of a major casino back in the day. He sold him out for the higher-ups. Too bad for Oscar that Spillotro ended up dead.Hopefully Anthony paid up front.
Some of us have been here too long to believe Oscar's BS. He was going to be part of OJ's dream team, but he was in jail, or under injunction at the time. It seems the govt. wanted to ask him about all those cash payments.
No. I'm not kidding.
REAL news reporters aren't bullied.
Upstate NY, they really know how??, and Wall Street raped the nation and no one went to jail. Where are the Newscasts coming from? NYC mostly. They have always come to Vegas to party, then trash the area.
"As the cheerleader, Goodman fulfilled his promise of redeveloping downtown. His legacy includes the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, the Las Vegas Premium Outlets, the Mob Museum, the new City Hall and the emerging Fremont East District."
What? Are you kidding? What about neonopolis and the unnecessary city hall, not to mention the sweetheart deal on the old city hall. Or, how 'bout his son's less than clean real estate dealings downtown. This guy is a joke and it goes to prove that las vegans are at the bottom of the gene pool. But, thanks for the article.
"At Carolyn Goodman's election night party, Oscar yelled at her "If you don't be quiet, I'll have you whacked!" when she failed to stop talking for an announcement he wanted to make. She fell silent and all eyes settled on her husband, not because of his threat but because they wanted to hear him talk."
I was willing to give Carolyn the benefit of the doubt, but after this statement, we all know who will be Mayor of Las Vegas...She needs to grow some cajones and stand up to her husband...He is an over-grown child...
Interesting to see the dissident, dissatisfied and sore loser Oscar detractors here. Some may not like his style, but his persona and over-the-top style enhanced Las Vegas' reputation as a place to gamble and have fun. Like it or not, that's what Las Vegas is about. And Oscar was excellent at promoting Las Vegas, gaining concessions from the unions, and balancing the budget - even if he jokingly threatened to whack a few people to accomplish that.
If you're that unhappy with the place - leave. There're plenty of places with better employment options and lots better places to raise children than here.
Just when I thought Tarantula's comment couldn't be any stupider, he throws in the tried and true mark of a feeble mind: the "if you're unhappy... leave" line.
Yep, the Oscar-the-Thug fanboys would fall right in line in an Oscar police state, where questions and criticism would be outlawed and swiftly punished.
Why leave if you're unhappy with a place Tarantuala???????? Why not make it better????????? The medical & educational & real estate situation in Las Vegas is HORRIBLE. Goodman was a terrible mayor based on the shape of Las Vegas today.
Don't let the door hit you in the A**!!!!!
Funny but the Mayor of Las Vegas has nothing to do with Education, nothing to do with Medical and the price of real estate yet everyone feels it is Oscars fault that Vegas is in the tank.
You should look around the country, just about all cities are in the same boat as we are.
What I do see is that many here expect the government to cure all their ills, pay off their debts and want a free ride. Seems if nothing else the shape of Vegas is dependent on the people that live here, not those that you blame as leaders.
Many say how Oscar and Las Vegas is viewed outside of Vegas yet many/most of you really have no idea how we are viewed out side of this state/country.
You are expressing your hatred for Vegas and feel that the rest of the world feels the same way.
Vegas is and has always been what you make of it. For 50+ years it has been good to me and my family but we made it that way. We did not stand back begging the government to give us a great life.
If I hated it here as mush as many of you I would just have to man up and move. Maybe you should consider doing just that if you feel there is a better life someplace else.
Poor leadership ......Las Vegas should elect someone who can uplift the image of this place. We always saw Mr Goodman posing with sexy showgirls. Vegas needs a leader who can deal with problems and give solutions.Soon poeple in Vegas will realize what I'm trying to emphazise. Vegas needs change.