Sunday, April 18, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

WEEK IN REVIEW: Reporters Notebook

Gin endorsement hangover continues for Goodman. 72-year-old woman vows to shoot back. Bingaman pulls a Fred Sanford. Christensen warned against inappropriate use of funds. Reid makes a fool of his colleague.

THURSDAY'S NEWS CONFERENCE BROUGHT ROUND 2 between Mayor Oscar Goodman and political commentator Jon Ralston. The latest exchange revolved around ethics officials examining $50,000 that Bombay Sapphire gin paid to The Meadows School, which the mayor's wife helped found, in exchange for Goodman acting as pitchman:

JR: Mr. Mayor, since you brought it up, talk about your wife. You said she's been maligned. Who's maligned your wife? No one has mayor, seriously. No one maligned your wife.

OG: As far as I'm concerned, you defamed her and I had an attorney write a letter to the paper and they retracted ...

JR: There was no retraction mayor. There was never a retraction.

OG: OK, please, I'm not going to get into a ...

JR: I'm not going to lose my temper mayor, but you cannot lie about what the Las Vegas Sun did. In fact, Brian Greenspun wrote a column that you should have a muzzle. That's what happened after that. Let me ask you again, why are you saying someone maligned your wife?

MICHAEL SQUIRES

THE SOUTHERN NEVADA WATER AUTHORITY BOARD was discussing a consulting contract Thursday when an administrator said, "All of of us read the local papers." Goodman, who serves on the board, quickly corrected him. "Not all of us, sir," Goodman said.

HENRY BREAN

AUTHORITIES UNVEILED A PLAN to curtail gun crimes at a news conference in North Las Vegas. Geraldine Caad, 72, who was shopping nearby, said her house was struck by nine bullets in the past year. She believes the bullets were fired by gang members angry she called the police on them. "They can come up and shoot at my house, but you better know I am going to shoot back," she said.

FRANK GEARY

OVERHEARD ON THE SCANNER: A dispatcher told officers someone had reported two kids on the side of the road throwing rocks at cars and causing other mischief. "They're telling people they have crack for sale and pulling down their pants."

BRIAN HAYNES

THIS IS THE BIG ONE: Craig Bingaman, charged last week with killing his wife, appears to have pulled a Fred Sanford when Las Vegas police arrested him on a theft charge in 1997. Bingaman was rushed to the hospital after telling an officer he might be having a heart attack. "He was complaining of chest pains and he started to turn green," the officer wrote. The officer later interviewed a friend of Bingaman's. "He informed me that himself and Bingaman were laughing about when Bingaman faked his heart attack," the officer wrote.

GLENN PUIT

IN HIS LETTER TO ASSEMBLYMAN CHAD CHRISTENSEN announcing violations of campaign finance law and a $4,500 fine, Secretary of State Dean Heller told Christensen he had to remit payment by April 30. "Please note that it would be an inappropriate use of campaign funds to use the same to satisfy this penalty," Heller reminded.

ERIN NEFF

SOMETIMES SEEN AS A SUBDUED SENATOR, Harry Reid was anything but last week as he gleefully described for a Las Vegas crowd the April Fool's Day gag he played on Sen. John Ensign. Reid said he and Ensign were attending an April 1 formal breakfast for about 100 people in Washington, D.C., at which Reid was scheduled to give a young man a citation for bravery. Reid took a look at the certificate bearing the recipient's name and hastily announced that Ensign would be making the presentation. Ensign accepted the certificate from Reid and stood. "He had a name that was this long," Reid said, raising his hands more than a foot apart, "And (Ensign) had never seen it before." Ensign's fumbling for a correct pronunciation led Reid to boast of his success as a political prankster. "I got him better than ever in the history of the world."

J.M. KALIL