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Oscar’s mailer: City business or politics?
Mayor Oscar Goodman and his wife, Carolyn, candidate for mayor, walk together during a tour of new businesses in downtown Las Vegas on Tuesday, April 26, 2011.
Thursday, May 19, 2011 | 2:01 a.m.
Chris Giunchigliani
Sun coverage
Sun archives
- Mayoral candidates go negative in televised debate (5-18-2011)
- Four days before early voting in mayor’s race, Oscar Goodman sends out “Look what I’ve done for you” mailer (5-17-2011)
- Poll shows tight mayoral race; Carolyn Goodman stumbles at luncheon (5-11-2011)
- Key differences emerge between candidates in Las Vegas Chamber mayoral debate (4-20-2011)
- Poll: Carolyn Goodman up 14 in mayor's race, but negatives of two candidates same (4-8-2011)
- Goodman and Giunchigliani headed for June runoff for Las Vegas mayor (4-5-2011)
- Expect an escalated election battle for Las Vegas mayor (4-6-2011)
- The real primary race for Las Vegas mayor was for second place (4-5-2011)
- Chris Giunchigliani launches mayoral ad in Spanish and English (3-16-2011)
- Carolyn Goodman: ‘I’m pretty good with a mop. I have four children’ (3-2-2011)
- Mayoral candidate Carolyn Goodman's motive — the spotlight or Las Vegas' future? (2-23-2011)
- Carolyn Goodman leads by huge margin in first poll of race to succeed her husband (2-5-2011)
- Carolyn Goodman says she, not Oscar, would call shots if elected mayor (2-3-2011)
- Carolyn Goodman, wife of Oscar Goodman, enters Las Vegas mayor race (2-2-2011)
- Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani announces run for Las Vegas mayor (2-2-2011)
- Retired car salesman enters Las Vegas mayoral race (2-1-2011)
Every resident and business in Las Vegas received a glossy blue mailer last week extolling the successes of Mayor Oscar Goodman’s administration — cutting administrative bloat, winning union concessions, protecting emergency services.
“We’ve been listening to you as we work to keep the city financially strong, while trying to maintain as many services to you as possible,” stated the flier signed by Goodman and City Manager Elizabeth Fretwell.
About 225,000 copies went out, and the city footed the $49,000 bill. City officials said they sent the mailers to keep residents in the loop in advance of a city budget hearing. Large print warned: “This is not a political mailer.”
But Goodman’s critics call it exactly that.
Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani, who is running against first lady Carolyn Goodman for mayor, accused Oscar Goodman of using the mailer to promote his family’s brand and help get his wife elected.
Early voting in the mayoral race begins Saturday. Election Day is June 7. The city sent the mailers out Wednesday.
“Sending this by U.S. mail three weeks before the election isn’t ethical, it could be illegal, and it is certainly a waste of the very tax dollars (Goodman) says he’s trying to save,” said Gary Gray, Giunchigliani’s campaign manager and husband.
Political observers say they can’t remember the last time the city distributed such a mailer.
Oscar Goodman argues the flier is just good government. “The letter is the way we do business in the city,” he said. “We’re an open, transparent government. It was an honest letter.”
The mayor has tried to keep his wife’s campaign separate from his official duties since she announced her candidacy in February. At his weekly mayoral news conference, he brushes off questions about her campaign, saying little more than that he supports her.
Still, many accuse Goodman of using his office and influence to help Carolyn Goodman win. The mayor attends fundraisers for his wife, makes calls on her behalf soliciting donations and attends constituent meet-and-greets with her. His supporters have been instructed to become her supporters. Carolyn Goodman calls the mayor immediately after most events (if he’s not there) to debrief him, and once during a debate, Oscar Goodman shouted an answer to his wife.
Oscar Goodman insists that when he is campaigning, it is as a husband, not the mayor. “When I make my phone calls, I say ‘it’s Oscar calling,’ ” he said.
The pair have been married for decades and are each other’s closest advisers. That makes it hard to distinguish whether Oscar truly is a helpful husband who happens to be mayor, or a mayor who’s actively working to get his wife elected.
Carolyn Goodman has described her husband as a resource for her campaign and said continuing his legacy is her top priority. That invited, in part, the criticism about the city flier. It’s easier to view the mailer as political when it touts the mayor’s achievements while his wife’s main campaign platform is continuing them.
Oscar Goodman and city spokesman David Riggleman said the mayor played no role in creating the mailer; they said the city manager’s office designed it.
“It was a follow-up letting people know the budget hearings were coming,” Riggleman said.
Last year, the city advertised its budget hearing with a $15,000 newspaper ad. Riggleman said they shifted their approach — and tripled the budget — to reach more people.
“We thought it might be more effective to do something that touched every household,” Riggleman said. “We weren’t sure if everyone saw (the newspaper ad).”
Gray didn’t buy it. “There’s more information on that flier about Las Vegas than Carolyn Goodman has told voters this whole campaign,” he said. “But why bother to debate if the city will do your work for you?”
Gray was referring to the fact that Goodman has declined to participate in several debates. Giunchigliani’s campaign says it is because she has no real understanding of the issues.
Critics also point out that Oscar Goodman has previously been accused of using his city position to help family members.
In 2004, he was charged with eight ethics violations based on gifts he received and events he promoted. Goodman came under fire for using city resources to purchase and produce videotapes of appearances he made on TV and during endorsement events, some of which were later used to promote a business owned by his son, Ross Goodman.
A few of the ethics charges stemmed from the fact that Goodman hosted a cocktail party for Ross’ company, allowed his mayoral title to be used on the invitation, personally handed out some invitations and appeared as a featured politician in his son’s marketing materials.
Goodman also came under investigation for giving $50,000 from an endorsement check he received from Bombay Sapphire gin to Carolyn Goodman’s private Meadows School.
Review-Journal columnist Steve Sebelius at the time observed that Goodman had “turned an entire department of city government into his own personal public relations agency.”
Later the same year, Metro Police investigated a downtown land dispute in which Goodman was accused of granting Ross access to insider information about downtown redevelopment zones.
Goodman was eventually cleared of all charges.
Discussion: 7 comments so far…
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Goodman is a fool. Period.
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His wife is way unqualaified to be Mayor. And how stupid was it not to meet the President of the United States and shake hands .... ? Agree or disagree that was immature and moronish.
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Ola. Can we have a little class the next time around, please?
Oscar never did have an ethical bone in his body before so why start now on his way out the door?
Shameful. The City is laying people off and reducing services but yet Goodman found it imperative that he spend the salary of an employee for a year on a little cardboard mailer promoting the Goodman name.
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Why not use the website to 'brag' about accomplishments? Why was only Goodman and Becky's photo on the mailer? Why not the entire City Council? Good man was only one vote on the Council, he is not to be hailed alone for anything accomplished over the last 8 years.
.Purely political.
I live outside the Las Vegas city limits, yet I, and my neighbors, received this mailer. How many taxpayer dollars were spent sending this fluff piece to non city residents?
oscar is doing a great job and always has had las vegas as his #2 and his wife as #1 the way it should be. I live in henderson and can't vote but i would vote for mrs. goodman for sure.
Yet one more reason NOT to vote for Goodman #2.
Im voting for goodman for sure since chris has been a complete failure in the county. She has sat on her butt on the commission and let the fire unions walk all over us and turned a blind eye to the abuses. It took Sisolak getting elected for something to get done. And now chris wants to act like she is concerned. Chris is just a career politician. Carolyn is someone who cares and is genuine.
If the Goodman people didn't think for a second that it could be construed as a political promo piece for Carolyn, why add the big bold line, "THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL MAILER" at the top?
Budget shortfalls, City employee layoffs, cuts in services...isn't this when every penny counts? Why were thousands of taxpayer dollars used to print this piece of propoganda?
Of course this was timed and sent out just in time to help Oscars Wife.
SHAME!!!
Take a MUCH closer look at the son, Ross C. Goodman, he is a seriously bad egg and one that is bad enough to not have this family dabble in Vegas political positions any longer.
Ross is tremendously bad news and the fact that Oscar Goodman would not meet the President made Nevada as a whole look pretty bad.
Carolyn is THE WRONG person for this position and sadly she would only continue to embarrass our state even further.We need someone qualified, that will focus on improving our state, not the wife of a man that is famous for drinking and having showgirls at his side, it's such a bad gimmick and makes Nevada seem sleazy.
Nevada has so much to offer, we need someone in office to represent us that is not part of a cartoon clan.
@Uhavetolaff(Marla Turner) The line was probably added to get people to at least open the thing. Far too much text for many Las Vegas residents to read, let alone understand.
There needs to be a federal investigation here, it is clearly obvious that some rules were broken. This might just be the action that seals the election for Chris and finally exposes to everyone what some of us already knew, the Goodman regime isn't qualified to be Mayor, and will break the law to try to win the election.
Hello, MEDIA? Where's the investigation? Taxpayers were stolen from in order to support an election, hello?
What a tief. They all are. No good leaders like when I and the fellow founders were running things. Your leaders are a joke.
A lame duck mayor has no reason to send out a promotional mailing - unless it's political.