Frank Cremen has spent 34 years building his reputation as a skilled, straight-arrow attorney.

He was a bulldog in the local district attorney's office in the 1970s, making headlines by nailing sexual predator Lawrence "the Candy Man" Arvey. Cremen also won a fraud conviction against county Public Administrator Nat Adler in one of the last successful examples of the prosecution of political corruption by the district attorney's office.

After deciding against running for DA as a 30-year-old, Cremen turned to private practice and began representing the first of thousands of defense clients. One of his latest cases was the representation of former Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny, who accepted an extremely favorable plea deal with the federal government in exchange for her cooperation in the Galardi political corruption case. Despite taking a fortune in bribes, thanks to Cremen, Kenny probably will serve a fraction of the jail time that former Commissioners Dario Herrera and Mary Kincaid-Chauncey will receive.

Even as a defense attorney, Cremen was called upon to act as a prosecutor by the ill-fated Las Vegas Commission on Ethics in the case against then-City Councilman Michael McDonald.

Cremen successfully proved an ethics case against McDonald, but a District Court declined to remove the councilman from office. The trouble was enough to get McDonald defeated by a political novice in his re-election bid.

At 58, Cremen is a Vietnam veteran and a family man with two grown children and absolutely nothing to prove professionally.

So why on Earth would he want to risk his reputation by mounting an upstart campaign for district attorney?

He figured he was too young and too busy raising his family when the first opportunity arose. Three weeks ago, he decided to take a chance.

"When I saw there was nobody in this race, nobody challenging the current district attorney (David Roger), I thought, 'That shouldn't be,' " he said. "There's something wrong with this town. I can't get over how casually for years so much stuff has been accepted and nobody does anything. I've complained about things, but I'd never done anything. So I thought, 'I'll do something. I'll take a shot. If I get where I want to do, I'll try to have an impact. If not, I'll try again some time.' "

Cremen gets fired up on the subject of the proliferation of the adult industry and its links to local political corruption.

"It's run by organized crime or organized crime wanna-bes," he said. "It's full of pimps and panderers, you name it. It's a block from the Strip. That's not the kind of community I want. ... And it's happened in the blink of an eye. All of a sudden we're loaded with this stuff. I don't remember voting for this. If that's what we want, let's put it on the ballot and vote for it because that's what we're creating."

The fact the adult businesses are legal and licensed doesn't deter Cremen from blasting them as sleaze dens that play host to ethically challenged politicians. Cremen used McDonald's case as an example of a councilman who was found to be receiving $5,000 a month from topless bar owner Rick Rizzolo and appeared to be running interference for his friend.

Cremen said he believes the district attorney should take a more pro-active approach in such cases and issue subpoenas.

"If the police department knows you have a DA who will work with them, stand up and draw a line and try to protect the line and not just be pushed over, I think you'll have more law enforcement action," he said.

Roger has generated criticism in part because he's the man behind the desk. It's always easier to run for office than it is to run the office, and the DA's office has focused its priorities on violent crimes.

Roger enjoys plenty of career credits, superior name recognition, a fund-raising advantage and a well-connected campaign team. That means Cremen, a loyal GOP supporter, will probably have to raise Roger's negatives quickly if he's to have a chance in the Republican primary. He sounds fired up enough to do that.

The next time you hear someone grouse about how good people are unwilling to enter politics, remember Frank Cremen's name.

He's a decided underdog, but he's added character to the political process just by associating with it.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0295.