Consternation, coronation and confusion

By Jon Ralston

Friday, March 4, 2011 | 2:01 a.m.

Of expiring careers, mayoral mash-ups and Henderson indecision — here’s your Friday’s Flash of the week’s events:

• Tick, tick, tick: A report this week in the capital hourly Politico that Senate Ethics Committee investigators interviewed John Ensign’s gynecologist, aka Oklahoma’s Tom Coburn, is more ominous news for The Man Who Has Not Yet Come to Earth.

Coburn, who once claimed doctor/patient confidentiality to protect Ensign, was involved in some of the soon-to-be ex-senator’s attempts to extricate himself from the grim fairy tale of boy-meets-best-friend’s-wife-and-wife’s-best-friend, boy-sleeps-with-best-friend’s-wife, boy-has-parents-pay-off-couple, boy-tries-to-get-husband-a-job.

The key sentence in the Politico piece by Manu Raju and John Bresnahan: “It is unclear precisely what Coburn told Senate investigators and whether the information could further implicate Ensign, but sources say the scope of the ethics committee’s investigation into the Nevada Republican is widening and that more information that could be harmful to him could emerge just as Ensign gears up to run for another term in 2012, a race Democrats privately hope he continues to wage.”

The reporters also pointed out Ensign has raised more money for his legal defense fund than for his re-election bid — $125,000 versus $4,200 during the last half of 2010. That may be changing now, but news that Rep. Dean Heller is poised to challenge Ensign surely has reduced the money flow.

Politico says gaming giants Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson found something to agree on, which is that Ensign’s legal defense fund is a worthy cause. Adelson and his family gave $30,000 and Wynn wrote a $10,000 check.

I can only think of one other thing Adelson and Wynn agree on: Stopping Rep. Shelley Berkley from becoming a senator.

The Politico piece is here.

• Dynasty interruptus? Like many, I wish Las Vegas could save the money spent on the election, an expensive exercise just to confirm The Family still runs the city the way the Goodmans want to run the city. Carolyn Goodman is ahead in all of the polls by at least 10 percentage points, so the outcome isn’t really in doubt, right?

Well, it does appear she will not surmount 50 percent on April 5, so that means there will be a runoff. So who in the, ahem, mob is going to challenge the boss’ wife?

Seems that Councilman Steve Ross, who is in single digits in surveys, has decided he needs to take on The Family and Commissioner Larry Brown to make the runoff. It may be quixotic but it sure is great sport.

Ross has accused Oscar Goodman of being wrong on prostitution and of being asleep on unemployment — tell me any other elected official who has ever taken on the head of The Family? So give Ross, who was stunned when the mayor told him his wife was running and doing so to block Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani, credit for not surrendering without a fight.

I have yet to hear Brown or Giunchigliani take on The Family. And only 15 days until early voting starts!

• Undecided in Henderson: If I were an incumbent on the Henderson City Council, I’d be worried. Yes, that means you, Gerri Schroder and Debra March.

Polling conducted last month by SGS Strategies for the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors indicates Henderson voters generally have no idea what they are going to do in the three council races on the ballot this spring. Yes, Henderson voters, there are three council races on the ballot this spring.

The survey of 300 likely primary voters, which has a 6 percent margin of error, indicates that Schroder and March, both in their first terms (March was appointed), have a lot to be concerned about.

Schroder leads ex-cop and erstwhile council hopeful Tom Wagner by 21 percent to 15 percent, an insignificant lead, especially when about two-thirds of the electorate is undecided. March leads longtime Henderson staffer John Simmons by an even less solid 17-12 (Kevinn Donovan had 4 percent) and just as in the other contest, about two-thirds are undecided. That means with just over a fortnight left until early voting begins and a month until the primary, those races are wide open.

The third seat, which is open, also is up in the air. Mike Mayberry, the former police chief and failed mayoral candidate, gets only 19 percent of the vote in this survey. Sam Bateman (6 percent) and John Brislin (3 percent) barely register. Almost three-quarters are undecided.

So what do those numbers mean? That predicting a winner in any of those contests — especially because some of those trailing have skilled consultants — is about as good a bet as playing Russian roulette with all but one chamber loaded.