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Friday, Aug. 3, 2012 | 2 a.m.
Despite promising county officials not to do a reality TV show based on his office — after the Sun last year discovered embarrassing reality TV-like footage of his staff on YouTube — Las Vegas Constable John Bonaventura appears to be doing just the opposite.
Sources from his office say Bonaventura in recent weeks has allowed a film crew from California to tape his staff on the job. In addition, Clark County’s animal control staff reported a video crew filming Deputy Constable Patrick Geary at a July 18 eviction. Animal control was there because cats were left in the residence.
Bonaventura did not return a call for comment Thursday afternoon. A state lawmaker, however, said she would push for tighter controls on constables or to eliminate their autonomy altogether.
“They are funded through enterprise money,” said Assemblywoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick, D-North Las Vegas. Enterprise-funded agencies get their money through fees. “That probably needs to go away,” she said.
Filming a reality TV show would fly in the face of what Bonaventura’s staff told the County Commission. At a January commission meeting, a member of Bonaventura’s executive staff, Jason Watkins, told commissioners that the Constable’s Office was finished with reality television.
“We are not moving forward with any reality TV show,” Watkins said. He further said the uncovered YouTube video was some kind of “training video” of how not to act on the job. Geary was in that earlier video, too.
But staffers from the Constable’s Office, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the office was about to allow or had allowed a California-based crew to film employees on the job.
The Sun also obtained recordings from a former employee who secretly recorded office conversations before being fired a few weeks ago. In one recording, the employee is talking to the office’s public information officer, Lou Toomin, who denies the office is doing a reality TV show. However, Toomin adds, any talk about such matters “is a secret … after the exposure we got from (the YouTube video).” He later adds, “It’s not back out in the open again.”
The recordings also contain comments from Deputy Chief Dean Lauer, who asks for “a few paragraphs” from the same employee. He wants the employee’s background information written down.
“I’m not so interesting,” the employee replies.
“Yes you are,” Lauer answers.
Toomin also says on the recording that he doesn’t know why people want the employee’s “bio.”
In another recording, a different office employee says the bio is needed because writers “want to develop” the employee’s character.
Told about the potential of a Constable’s Office reality TV show, County Commissioner Steve Sisolak expressed dismay.
“I took them at their word,” Sisolak said Thursday, adding that months ago he met with Bonaventura one-on-one and was assured the office’s issues were a thing of the past. “Obviously, I was mistaken to take them at their word.”
Since that January commission meeting, two former Constable’s Office employees have sued Bonaventura after being fired. The two, Dan Palazzo and Tim Beckett, claim they were dismissed because they refused to lie to county commissioners.
The YouTube video drew criticism because of the language used and how the Constable’s Office staffers carried themselves.
The video no longer is available online, but an edited version can be found on Clark County’s website, which contains archived video of the Jan. 3, 2012, commission meeting during which the video was broadcast.
Toomin is featured in the video, calling himself “kind of a rabble-rouser.”
“I don’t conform to the spit-and-polish (expletive), the Marine Corps crap,” he adds. “It’s way beyond me. It’s nitpicking (expletive).”
The video also shows a deputy constable stopping a motorist without vehicle registration, then handcuffing and arresting the man.
Later in the video, Geary talks about evictions as “not all hugs and kisses; you’ve got to get into people’s (expletive) sometimes.”
“I wait all day long for someone to (expletive) with me,” he says.
After the January meeting, during which Bonaventura originally wanted permission to hire two more clerical workers, county commissioners sought ways to oversee the Constable’s Office. They’ve since found, Sisolak said, that isn’t easily accomplished.
The constable is an elected position, and the office staff is funded through fees the office collects for the services it performs, such as evictions and serving court papers. The state only sets the fee schedules. Although the office needs Clark County approval to hire clerical workers, the county has virtually no control over the Constable’s Office or its deputies.
Unlike Metro Police, which is overseen by a Fiscal Affairs Committee consisting of local politicians, the Constable’s Office controls its budget on its own.
Kirkpatrick said one of the areas she was looking at was limiting the scope of what the Constable’s Office can do. She doesn’t like the fact that deputies are pulling people over and giving them traffic tickets. She said parents of out-of-state students are complaining about tickets that constables are giving their sons and daughters for not having their vehicles registered in Nevada.
“We have to lay down some parameters,” she said. “We need to clarify their role.”
John Bonaventura...
The man has told SO MANY LIES associated with this bit of jackassery, I wouldn't trust him to take out the trash, let alone run the Constable's office...
What an udder embarrassment to the Las Vegas law enforcement community; and that's no mean feat!
Time to reign in this sad, sorry clown act, before the next 'episode' writes itself.
"Clark County's animal control staff reported a video crew filming Deputy Constable Patrick Geary at a July 18 eviction. Animal control was there because cats were left in the residence. . . . ."They are funded through enterprise money," said Assemblywoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick, D-North Las Vegas. Enterprise-funded agencies get their money through fees. "That probably needs to go away". . ."
I'm glad this has happened. It exposes Bonaventura for the lying buffoon he really is, especially his and his minions' despicable disrespect for the people they put out of their homes by force. The County Commissioners, his bosses, should use this as cause to cut him off at the knees. It's also disturbing to see government has more respect for pets than people.
Kudos to Kirkpatrick. Paying any police commissions is a sure way to guarantee abuse of the powers entrusted to any law enforcement agency.
"What an udder embarrassment to the Las Vegas law enforcement community; and that's no mean feat!"
gmag -- amen to that!
"[O]ur law holds the property of every man so sacred, that no man can set his foot upon his neighbour's close without his leave; if he does he is a trespasser, though he does no damage at all; if he will tread upon his neighbour's ground, he must justify it by law." -- United States v. Jones, 132 S.Ct. 945 (01/23/2012)
There is no "reality TV" at all. Reality is not edited. Just call it for what it is crap TV!
I think the question that needs to be asked is Money changing hands for this video production?
Is Mr. Bonaventura being paid by the company in CA. to use OUR resources to produce their show?
Mr. Bonaventura is paid $103,459.20 plus benefits each year by the people of this county. Is he also being paid by the production company? Is he profiting from taxpayer owned resources and employees? Is this being done on county time when he is already being paid?
No reason to complain about him since the voters elected him. The voters can elect someone to replace him if they get off their butt and vote.
Another question that should be asked is how much money if any has this production company or it's subsidiaries donated to Constable's campaign.
What a disgrace that man is. He has been nothing but bad news for that office. Its one thing after the other. I find it hard to believe that NOONE can do anything about him.
Las Vegas Constables, and all other elected constables in the State, should be eliminated by the 2013 Legislature led by Kirkpatrick. Their authority should be divided into each jurisdiction and given to the Marshalls in that jurisdiction. Those Marshalls would be overseen by their City / County Manager and City Council / County Commission. Make it localized, not elected and highly responsive.
Comment removed by moderator. ALL CAPS
i met that bonaventura guy one time. what an idiot. i also had paperwork served to me by the guy in video(geary) he was completely professional and extremely polite. dont pick on the deputies out that working hard. fix the real problem. BONAVENTURA or more realistically..... "CON AVENTURA"
Oh my god, Jaye, that is so funny you wrote that because my brother in law said that Geary evicted him last year but the guy couldnt have been nicer. just because he was blowing off steam in a vdeo doesnt mean squat. get rid of those idiots running the place. PROBLEM SOLVED. SISOLAK WHERE ARE YOU??????????????
This is one of the many reasons I am thinking of putting my hat in the ring, I may not be perfect but I am not a baffon.
I moved here a year ago and noticed how bad the law enforcement is here in Vegas, I know they have a tough job but come on, these are still our citizens and we need not treat them with disrespect.
Even the Homeless here get treated like second class citizens.
The Color of ones skin or there occupation should not dictate how a person gets treated, we all live on this earth and we need to respect that,I am not saying i never get upset I do but I do not take it out on others....
This kind of thing drives me harder to run for this post so I can give back to the community that I fell in love with.
Also this guy seems to not care about he awesome responsibility he has been given, He carries a gun for the protection of himself and the citizens he works for, sorry i am ranting on but It is just wrong to use power like this, he is the employee of all of us in the valley.