Thursday, April 17, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

COLUMN: Steve Sebelius

The importance of being Erin

Nobody expected they'd heard the last of Erin Kenny when she was defeated in her bid for lieutenant governor in November. If we learned anything from Kenny's eight years on the Clark County Commission, it was that she never rests and is always working on a secret plan for world domination.

Now, Kenny is working on behalf of her longtime patron, developer Jim Rhodes. Last month, Rhodes finalized his purchase of 2,600 acres atop a hill in Red Rock Canyon, land that lies outside the Red Rock Conservation Area. But much to Rhodes' consternation, Commissioner Mark James -- who replaced Kenny on the board -- announced late last month he was going to introduce an ordinance locking in the land's current zoning at one home per two acres, while Rhodes may want a denser zoning to make any development worthwhile. (The idea really belongs to state Sen. Dina Titus, who authored a similar measure March 17. Her bill is slated for approval by the full state Senate today.)

Enter Kenny. According to James, the ex-commissioner denigrated the residents of Blue Diamond, who oppose any development on the site, and threatened his political career after he decided not to support the project. The revelations come in a sworn affidavit filed by James in an unsuccessful lawsuit brought by Rhodes that sought to disqualify James, who formerly represented Rhodes as a lawyer.

On Jan. 7, James says in his affidavit, he met with Kenny and attorney Jay Brown, and told both he was keeping an open mind on the project. "This communication is particularly memorable to me because Ms. Kenny had cautioned me that developers could be `dangerous' if you crossed them and further warned me about seeking a rehearing on yet another developer's plan," James says.

On March 27, James says he met with Rhodes and Brown, at Kenny's urging. James says Rhodes asked for his vote, but that he declined to give it, and even told the gathering that he was to meet with Blue Diamond residents that evening. "Ms. Kenny urged me not to meet with the Blue Diamond residents, characterizing them as `four hundred fanatics' and a `bunch of nuts.' " Those fanatical nuts, mind you, had been Kenny constituents for eight years.

James, who had tried to achieve a consensus between Blue Diamond residents and Rhodes, says he decided after the March 27 meeting that the residents would never be mollified. Therefore, James says, he decided not only to oppose the Rhodes project, but also to introduce his zoning ordinance. (Ten days earlier, however, Titus had criticized James publicly for not supporting her bill and for his "cozy relationship" with Rhodes.)

Not for long. On March 29, an angry Kenny called James. "Ms. Kenny was extremely upset and stated that I had not even listened to the final development proposal of Mr. Rhodes. ... Ms. Kenny argued the point that in her view it was not environmentally sensitive land and accused me of breaking my promise to keep an open mind on the issue. The conversation continued for a number of minutes and Ms. Kenny, in the heat of the conversation, made certain pointed remarks about my political future which may, in the mildest of terms, be characterized as hostile."

James says that Rhodes also called him: "He responded by saying, `You're murdering me.' He then accused me of reacting because the matter was `politically toasty.' He stated that he had unlimited money to give me `political cover' to support his development. I declined his invitation."

Neither Kenny, who is on vacation, nor Rhodes returned calls, but Rhodes' attorney Steve Morris denies his client made what some might construe as an attempt to bribe a public official.

"There's no bribe that's been offered here," Morris says. "I know of no such statement or words to that effect." Moreover, Morris says James' affidavit is "inflammatory and diversionary," to deflect public attention from the fact that the commissioner had broken his attorney-client relationship with Rhodes. As for Kenny, Morris says, "I'd be astonished if she said what has been attributed to her."

Perhaps. But anyone who knows Kenny or has spent any time watching her political career knows that she is not shy about lobbying for her position and that she is not above, shall we say, discussing the consequences of parting ways with her.

Since James introduced the ordinance Wednesday, with some rhetorical flourish, Rhodes may be able to revive his attempt to disqualify the commissioner. But Morris was also musing aloud about the possibility of a land swap, an idea that may make everyone happy: Rhodes would give his 2,600 acres to the federal government, which would include it in the Red Rock Conservation Area. In trade, he would get federal land elsewhere in the valley to develop. Blue Diamond residents would get land that could be protected from development. And James and Kenny could go back to their respective corners, to await the next heavyweight bout.

Steve Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist. His column runs Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at 383-0283 or by e-mail at ssebelius@reviewjournal.com.