TODAY'S HEADLINES
HOME PAGE
SECTIONS
• NEWS
• SPORTS
• BUSINESS
• LIFESTYLES
• NEON
• Dining
• Showguide
• Nightlife
• Transportation
• Movies
• TV Listings
• OPINION
• Columnists
• IN-DEPTH
• CLASSIFIEDS
• WEATHER
Recent Editions
• Monday
• Tuesday
• Wednesday
• Thursday
• Friday
• Saturday
• Sunday
• Archive
Fun Stuff
• Crosswords
• KIDS AREA
• Gallery
• Buy Tickets
• LV Links
• Site Index
• Newspaper Subscription
• News Tips
• Contact Us
• Corrections
• Rate us
|
Tuesday, July 28, 1998
Past, present airport officials to appear before ethics panel
By Steve Friess
Review-Journal
The state Ethics Commission revived the long-festering controversy surrounding airport concession contracts by setting an Aug. 13 date to question the present and former airport directors on their roles in contract decisions.
Aviation Director Randy Walker and his predecessor, Bob Broadbent, are scheduled to face a closed hearing before the ethics panel to decide whether to proceed with a public inquiry on the complaint filed against them.
That complaint, filed by Las Vegas resident Robert Rose, alleges Walker and Broadbent violated laws by allowing the operation of an unqualified business at McCarran International Airport under the airport's disadvanĀtaged-business program. Rose claimed in the complaint that Broadbent and Walker, who was at one time Broadbent's assistant aviation director, allowed seven businesses to operate without appropriate certification, including Gary Naseef's Las Vegas Gourmet Coffee.
Naseef, a childhood friend of Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, was evicted this spring because his shop was not certified as a minority-owned business under the federal law that requires airports to provide a certain number of concession contracts for certain minorities. Naseef is suing Host Marriott, the master concessionaire that forced out his business.
Notice of the Aug. 13 hearing surprised everyone, including Rose. The commission is required by law to hold a hearing like this on every complaint it receives, but Rose filed the complaint in November and figured it may have been forgotten.
Since then, the Ethics Commission held protracted and highly publicized hearings into whether four Clark County Commissioners voted in August to give airport concession leases to their friends and political associates without disclosing their relationships.
The panel found commissioners Yvonne Atkinson Gates and Lance Malone to have violated the law but did not sanction them. Two others, Myrna Williams and Lorraine Hunt, were cleared.
A similar complaint against Woodbury regarding Naseef was thrown out in November because Woodbury abstained from voting on Naseef's contract to avoid the conflict.
Walker said Monday he is not aware of seven businesses operating out of compliance and noted he was working as an assistant county manager, not at the airport, when Naseef received his contract.
"I am looking forward to having that discussion (with the Ethics Commission) because, quite frankly, I don't understand what the issue is," Walker said.
Broadbent was unavailable for comment.
Give us your FEEDBACK on this or any story.
Fill out our Online Readers' Poll
|
|
