COLUMN: Thomas Mitchell

     Here we go again.
      No sooner do our imperious elected officials get through with a round of secret talks about tax equity, than they launch into a round of secret talks about infrastructure needs.
      When will they ever learn? (On Election Day, we hope.)
      Clark County Commission Chairwoman Yvonne Atkinson Gates and a gaggle of her cronies in the cloistered halls of various county municipalities on Thursday wadded up the state Open Meetings Law, spindled it, mutilated it and threw it in the faces of the voters.
      By meeting in secret to discuss a then-secret report on our infrastructure needs written by gawd-knows-what mystery collective of self-serving consultants, Ms. Gates and company have once again established just what our elected officials think of us voters and taxpayers.
      And that message is: You are too stupid and/or impotent to be trusted with your own money. You are not worthy of peering into the inner sanctum of governance, where your tax dollars are being divvied up among the Centurions.
      The commission chairwoman canceled a scheduled press conference Friday that was intended to upstage a legislative hearing on the infrastructure topic. Instead, she met secretly Thursday with officials from the cities of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Boulder City -- who apparently got their tails tweaked by being excluded from previous secret talks.
      Gates said she and the others were working out some small issues, but that "the point is we're all at the table talking." All but the taxpayers, that is.
      Gates said she is trying to reach consensus on how to fund the infrastructure needs of the county. You know, infrastructure -- water, sewer, roads, street lights, parks, monorails, new office furniture for commissioners, monuments ...
      So, who is meeting secretly on this infrastructure? Various elected officials and Punam Mather, director of government relations for Mirage Resorts Inc.
      Let's see, who met secretly on the tax equity issue? Various elected officials and Barry Shier, president of the Golden Nugget.
      Now how does that law read again? "In enacting this chapter, the Legislature finds and declares that all public bodies exist to aid in the conduct of the people's business. It is the intent of the law that their actions be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly."
      I guess meeting brazenly with executives of certain favored casinos is open enough for government work, especially in a company town. At least, we know who their real constituency is.
      Now what is it Ms. Gates and company are trying to do? Oh yes, try to build a consensus.
      Gates reportedly is eyeing these sources of income for funding infrastructure: room tax, real property transfer tax, water connection charges, state and local government resources and "other stakeholder contributions."
      It must be just a coincidence that the gamers recently stepped forward with a room tax plan. It must be serendipity that the developers laid out a real estate transfer tax plan. Since these meetings have been secret, how did they know? Great minds travel in the same plane?
      On Friday, Gates appeared before that legislative committee with a speech bereft of facts and meaningful figures but piled high with platitudes about stakeholders and such.
      Now, about those stakeholders, and we can only assume she is including the common garden variety taxpayer. Were any of you stakeholders in those secret meetings? When are you going to step forward with your contribution?
      Do you ever get the feeling that the powers that be are getting all their ducks in a row? That your wishes are superfluous? That one day you will wake up to a done deal, nicely rubber stamped by all your elected officials who have gone hat in hand to the gamers and developers but thumbed their noses at you, the common taxpayer?
      We at the Review-Journal would love to tell you what's going on, but your elected officials have slammed the door in our faces, and by proxy in your faces.
      Those who attended the secret meetings invariably brushed aside queries by saying the talks were too delicate to discuss in public.
      The rest of us are on the outside trying to look in. Because when it comes time to pay the tab for all this infrastructure, we wonder who'll be reaching across that table Ms. Gates is sitting at to pick up the check.
      When will we ever learn? (By Election Day, we hope.)
     
     Thomas Mitchell is editor of the Review-Journal. He writes an occasional column explaining the newspaper's role and functions. He may be contracted at 383-0261 or Thomas_Mitchell@lvrj.com.