Shakedown or not, drama leaves everyone shaking their heads

It's easy to get caught up in the malodorous melodrama wafting through the legal quarrel between former lovers Kathleen Vermillion and Steve Sisolak.

Those who cackle at the misadventures of local politicians -- and I include myself in that category -- can have a field day with this one. She sues him. He accuses her. The rest of us crunch our popcorn and watch from the cheap seats.

It's not often that the dirty laundry of a pair of star-crossed local public figures winds up on the front page of the state's largest newspaper. By failing to keep their unholy acrimony private, County Commissioner Sisolak and Vermillion, a former Henderson City Councilwoman and ousted homeless youth charity official, have risked reducing themselves to casino lounge laughing stocks.

Add to that the murky ethics on display in a "$3.9 million settlement conference" structured by Vermillion attorney Robert Martin and public relations specialist Mark Fierro, and you have the makings of an episode of a bad courtroom drama. Call it "Law & Odor."

That said, I have a Sunday confession: I couldn't care less whether Vermillion and Sisolak exchange valentines or duke it out on Main Street.

For me, the real story here begins and ends with the exploitation of Vermillion's 15-year-old daughter, a pawn who has been dragged into the middle of a public mess. If Sisolak really had inappropriate contact with the girl, as Vermillion alleges, then it's a career-ender for the commissioner. If the mother used her teenage daughter as fodder for a legal catfight with her former boyfriend, then she ought to be exposed as a fraud.

After watching an unedited version of Vermillion's daughter's video interview, I think it raises some questions about Sisolak's friendship, but isn't conclusively damning. Former television newsman Fierro is an experienced interviewer whose questions open doors the girl walks through. But it's a real stretch to say her worst accusations add up to something actionable: Embarrassing, perhaps, and potentially politically damaging, but hardly trial worthy.

What I found disconcerting was the fact the girl's mother could be heard off camera raising questions. It might fall short of "coaching" a witness, but it feeds the impression Vermillion was using her kid to press the litigation.

In her lawsuit, Vermillion accuses Sisolak of leaking hurtful and defamatory information involving alleged drug use and misuse of funds at her homeless youth charity. But her legal team has focused on her daughter's statements.

Some of the teenager's comments questioned Sisolak's behavior, but she also cleared him of ever saying or doing anything sexually suggestive. It was evident, at least to me, that the girl was blending her own experience with her mom's fight with a former boyfriend to draw the conclusion that he was a bad guy.

If the teen's videotape is less than conclusive, the contents of Sisolak's secret audio recording of a "settlement conference" is at least as troubling. The commissioner's advocates contend their man was the victim of an attempted shakedown on Vermillion's behalf by attorney Martin and public relations man Fierro. After the meeting, Sisolak filed a police report and turned over the recording to a Metro detective. Whether one man's shakedown is another's settlement conference remains to be seen.

At one point on the recording, I've learned, Fierro tells Sisolak that while the girl's accusations aren't criminal, "It's the kind of stuff that ends political careers," perhaps not appreciating that other careers might also be hanging in the balance. Although Fierro is well known as a representative of the Clark County firefighters, who have warred with Sisolak, he said he's not working for them now. He also argues that he never accused Sisolak of illegal conduct and broke no laws himself.

Fierro's client was Martin, who I'm betting will need a public relations makeover before this story ends.

Sisolak co-counsel Laura FitzSimmons confirms that at one point on tape Martin says, "Obviously, I've certainly never had a meeting like this before and probably never will again. Because of who and what you are, it does make things different."

By that, I suppose Martin was referring to Sisolak's public profile and political status and not the fact he's a multimillionaire with a $1.3 million political war chest.

In the meeting, Sisolak calls Vermillion's $3.9 million request "ridiculous," and FitzSimmons' co-counsel, former federal Strike Force prosecutor Stan Hunterton, makes it clear they are there to listen and not answer questions. What they heard was Fierro's epithet-laced sales pitch with a multimillion-dollar punch line.

Except, of course, no one's laughing.

You needn't be a veteran armchair attorney to surmise Martin is now conflicted in this case. In the meeting, I've learned, there's almost no discussion of the relative merits of the lawsuit, which one would expect in a settlement conference. Although Clark County is also named in Vermillion's litigation, its legal representative is neither invited to nor present at the meeting.

That makes it appear all the more freelanced and unseemly, but it was done with the approval of Vermillion.

In the end, whether Vermillion and Sisolak mud-wrestle themselves into oblivion is their business. They're supposedly adults.

And Martin and Fierro are big boys, too. You place your bets, fellas, you take your chances.

After all the slime has been shoveled and every low blow has been delivered, what remains is a 15-year-old kid who never asked to be standing in the middle of this nightmare.

And that's the real shame.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Email him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 702-383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith.