Debate gives McDonald camouflage
October 12, 2015 - 5:43 pm
The Democrats take center stage tonight at the Wynn Las Vegas for a presidential debate, and that surely comes as a relief to beleaguered Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald.
Unlike last week, when Republican presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Marco Rubio spent time on the stump in Las Vegas, this week no one will be left to wonder where McDonald’s hiding. He kept his gripping and grinning out of the public eye at the Trump event, and who can blame him?
Mired in the slimy scandal involving the bilking of a $2.2 million loan from a Las Vegas children’s charity, exposed for taking a backdoor job with his crony state Treasurer Dan Schwartz that was worth $100,000 a year, McDonald would be wise to lay low. And now that Schwartz has accepted his resignation from the light-duty post of “senior deputy treasurer for community outreach,” at least McDonald is no longer feasting off the taxpayers.
This Vegas political fat cat has more than nine lives. The former Metro officer was embroiled in ethics quagmires as a Las Vegas city councilman and while in office justified scoring lucrative “consulting” deals with corrupt topless bar bosses Michael Galardi and Rick Rizzolo. Galardi was a key figure in the FBI’s G-Sting political corruption investigation that netted a quorum of the Clark County Commission, and Rizzolo maintained relationships with multiple La Cosa Nostra associates before losing his g-string gold mine Crazy Horse Too.
If you think such gargantuan missteps were fatal to McDonald’s political career, you must be from out of town.
He worked his way well inside the conservative end of Nevada’s Republican Party and used his alderman’s affability and political connections to rise to the chairman’s position. His portfolio was considered an embarrassment by Gov. Brian Sandoval, but a staged coup failed to drive him from the leadership position. And even when the Nevada’s GOP mega-donors cut off the state party, McDonald remained in power and oblivious to the potential consequences.
Will his emerging role in the separation of $2.2 million from the Miracle Flights for Kids nonprofit end his gravity-defying run? Hard to say.
But what is known is McDonald and two of his pals were on the board in April 2012 when it approved a $2.2 million loan to a shady outfit called Med Lien Management, which happened to be owned in part by his good friend Brad Esposito. McDonald didn’t vote for the loan — his friends did — but also didn’t disclose that he was in line to receive a $200,000 referral fee for helping to make the deal.
What’s even worse is, tax documents produced in an ongoing civil case show McDonald was a 33-percent owner/shareholder in the lien company while he was on the board of the children’s charity. He also drew large chunks of cash from the proceeds of the loan, which went into default with a total of $3.52 million owed to the nonprofit, which has also had its share of controversy.
If you think exposing all this would have McDonald packing his bags and striking out for parts unknown, or at least blushing a little, guess again. He remains unfazed and has made it clear to a Review-Journal reporter that he intends to run for re-election as GOP state chairman.
This past summer, at a time the bad loan was bubbling to the surface and McDonald was on his way to more infamy, he hooked up with former state GOP finance chairman Schwartz, who has only been in the treasurer’s office a few months, and scored a job that appeared to have no “In” basket. The hire was made so quietly that some of McDonald’s closest associates say they were unaware of it.
Some of those same pals are convinced McDonald’s political days are over this time, but I’m not as certain.
This is Nevada. It’s even money we see his smiling face again.
— John L. Smith’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Contact him at 702 383-0295, or jsmith@reviewjournal.com. On Twitter: @jlnevadasmith.