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Las Vegas City Councilman Michael McDonald, shown in his City Hall office Thursday, secretly recorded a private meeting with Mayor Oscar Goodman. Photo by K.M. Cannon. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman announces at a Thursday afternoon news conference that Councilman Michael McDonald refused to relinquish his post as mayor pro-tem. At the time, Goodman didn't know McDonald had secretly taped their discussion. Photo by K.M. Cannon.

Friday, November 10, 2000
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Goodman vows McDonald's ouster

Mayor enraged after councilman secretly records their private conversation about ethics woes

Long-simmering tensions between Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and embattled Councilman Michael McDonald erupted into open warfare late Thursday after the councilman secretly taped a conversation with the mayor.

"If he played a tape ... of what I said to him, man to man, I will do everything within my power to see that he's not in office," an angry Goodman said after being informed that McDonald had taped a private conversation in which the mayor criticized the city's ethics review process as "a joke."

The mayor's reaction came after Goodman called a hearing for Nov. 16 in which the City Council will debate whether to revoke McDonald's status as mayor pro-tem, the city's highest elected position after mayor. Goodman moved to revoke the designation a day after a city ethics panel found McDonald guilty on two counts of having a conflict of interest and giving special treatment to friends in connection with a controversial zoning issue and the sale of a troubled recreational center.

At Wednesday's hearing, McDonald's lawyer repeatedly tangled with Ethics Review Board Chairman Earle White over the rules of evidence. Several times, Richard Wright complained that he was not allowed to introduce evidence that might be exculpatory of McDonald or compel certain witnesses to testify.

White grew increasingly testy during the course of the 12-hour hearing when Wright questioned why he could not call certain witnesses and demanded that Las Vegas police detectives turn over tape recordings of interviews conducted during an investigation of McDonald.

"I think you understand that the rules of evidence don't apply here," White told McDonald's lawyer in a typical exchange.

Speaking privately Thursday afternoon to McDonald, Goodman said of the ethics process: "It was a joke. You had no chance. If it was me -- if I was Wright -- I would have thrown the (expletive) book at White's head."

Goodman, an attorney, also suggested to McDonald that the board's decision was strong enough to stand up in Municipal Court.

Attorney Frank Cremen, who was retained by the ethics panel as an outside counsel, will decide by Dec. 21 whether he thinks McDonald should be prosecuted based on the findings. If McDonald is convicted on misdemeanor ethics charges, he would automatically be removed from office.

"I think that's the end of it -- that's my personal opinion," Goodman told the councilman.

Goodman, clarifying his remarks after having them read to him, said he was merely giving his opinion of the administrative process.

"I said it was an administrative procedure, and there are different standards," Goodman said. "Had it been in court, there would have been different standards. (But) there was no way in the world he would ever win in front of the ethics commission."

Goodman asked for the meeting with McDonald because he wanted the councilman to resign his mostly honorary position as mayor pro-tem. The pro-tem is chosen by a vote of the full council, and the titleholder is expected to assume the mayor's duties if the mayor becomes disabled or is absent.

During the meeting, McDonald told Goodman he would not resign and preferred to bring the matter before the full council for a vote. "Out of respect for the entire board, I'd like to put it on the agenda because the mayor doesn't choose the mayor pro-tem," McDonald said.

Asked about the McDonald matter at his Thursday morning news conference, Goodman declined to comment until he had talked to the councilman in person. When the two finally met, Goodman prefaced his request for McDonald's resignation by colorfully complimenting the councilman on his resilience.

"You got balls the size of a (expletive) elephant," Goodman said on the tape. "I've been around a lot of tough guys in my life, and you're as tough as it gets."

McDonald said he taped the conversation by accident because he had been taping a conversation with a reporter that took place just before he entered Goodman's office. "It wasn't on purpose," he said. "It wasn't as if I walked into his office intentionally to tape him."

News of McDonald's recording so disturbed the mayor that he appeared on television news programs late Thursday to announce the councilman's betrayal. In television interviews, Goodman called McDonald a "government rat," a "wimp," the "lowest form of human being," and a "sleazeball," adding that he had "no use" for McDonald and was "going to get rid of him."

Wednesday's decision by the ethics board was based on testimony confirming that McDonald repeatedly contacted his council colleagues and City Manager Virginia Valentine and tried to broker the sale of the Las Vegas Sportspark, a financially ailing northwest Las Vegas sports complex in which McDonald's boss is part-owner.

Witnesses also said McDonald assigned two city surveyors to conduct additional surveys in a controversial zoning matter involving a proposed topless club. The City Council finally granted the zoning request for property owned by high-profile political consultant Sig Rogich. McDonald had recused himself from the matter because Rogich had been an adviser to McDonald.

An October prosecution memo by District Attorney Stewart Bell concluded that McDonald's actions were meant to deny the lucrative zoning license to Rogich, who had a political falling out with McDonald.

McDonald has had a tense relationship with Goodman since the defense attorney was elected mayor in 1999. The two have frequently jockeyed for influence on the council, with Goodman winning the largest skirmish when his choices to fill two new seats on the council were granted above McDonald's objections.

McDonald's influence has waned in the past several months as his ethics problems mounted. In July, he was cleared by a state ethics panel of charges that he improperly voted to grant a lucrative trash-hauling contract to a political supporter. Shortly after that, his involvement in the Rogich issue and the Sportspark spilled into public view.

Symbolically, McDonald's colleagues on the 10th floor at City Hall had rendered a verdict on his future before Wednesday's decision by the ethics board. A placard on his office door identifying him as the mayor pro-tem had been thrown on the floor when he arrived at work several days ago. In the hallway, someone had taken a marker and defaced a framed copy of a newspaper article describing him as the "shadow mayor."