CITY GRAPHIC ARTIST RETIRES

You've probably seen Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman's "good luck mayor" poker chips, or the bobblehead dolls in his image, or his likeness festooned on banners or artwork somewhere.

But before all the mayoral memorabilia, there were the birthday cards.

Since winning office in 1999, Goodman has sent personalized, and often topical and self-mocking, birthday cards to the city's 3,000 or so employees. The artistic side has been handled -- on her own time and at Goodman's personal expense -- by Carmen Sampson, who is retiring this month after 18 years with the city of Las Vegas' graphics department.

"He wanted to do something that would speak for him" when he came into office, Sampson said. He felt it was important to be in contact with all the employees, but "he can't go around to each one of us and wish us a happy birthday and sing us a song.

"This, at least, is a card going to them saying, 'Hey, I'm chuckling with you.' "

It was important to make that connection, Goodman said.

"I found that there were certain niceties that were missing in City Hall when I got there. People didn't say hello to each other -- really.

"I started to say hello, and thank you, and please and good morning. ... Then I felt it was probably a darn good idea to show people that you know they exist, that you appreciate their work. What better way than a birthday card?"

The initial cards were in black and white and were fairly straightforward, with a cartoon Goodman carrying a "Happy Birthday" banner. At first, Sampson and Goodman weren't in direct contact, communicating instead through the mayor's staff.

They eventually cut out the intermediaries and dealt directly with one another -- such as when Goodman landed himself in hot water when he proposed amputating the thumbs of people defacing property with graffiti.

The two passed each other in a hallway one day, "and he said, 'We've got to do something with the thumbs,' " Sampson said. The result was a cartoon of Goodman holding a young miscreant by the scruff of his neck.

Sampson said that she usually mined Goodman's colorful public life for material and that he was always a good sport about it.

"Whatever would happen, I'd collect newspaper articles -- bad, good or indifferent -- all year long and then come up with an idea for him," she said.

They've taken many forms over the years. There's been a Goodman-as-Elvis card, a Goodman-with-mobsters card, cards commemorating the Las Vegas centennial and lampooning Goodman's issues with Yucca Mountain and the homeless.

"We were lucky enough to have someone of Carmen's phenomenal talent," Goodman said. "She's great. She's got the big ol' nose prominently displayed, the few wisps of hair, the scraggly beard.

"Every once in a while, she makes me thinner than I should be; other times a little fatter. She has a good time with me, and I have a good time with myself."

Sampson is a Las Vegas native who has lived here most of her life. She joined the city after a stint as an advertising department artist for the Review-Journal and is one of many municipal and county employees retiring now to meet a deadline for eligibility for state health insurance benefits.

Her projects have gone beyond the birthday cards and include a gift to Donald Trump showing Goodman, martini in hand, sitting on the Silver Slipper neon sign while the Donald rides the Hacienda horse; life-size cutouts of Goodman that directed marathon runners; and invitations and thank-you cards for the mayor's events.

There are also a number of discarded ideas that never became cards, such as one modeled on the comic strip Dilbert, one with Oscar's face on Academy Award statuettes and another with his face on the Sphinx.

And there's one that's saucy even by Goodman's standards.

The cover drawing starts Goodman off in one of his trademark suits, which he gleefully flings aside, one article of clothing at a time.

The inside drawing shows Goodman holding a banner in front of him that says, "Happy Birthday," and he says he's got the perfect "suit" for the occasion.

"This happens to be my favorite," Sampson said. "His wife, rightfully so, has never thought it was appropriate."

Not so fast, Goodman said. In fact, that card just might see the light of day as next year's offering.

"My wife has never put the kibosh on anything," he insisted. "My wife would love that, because she knows what's under the banner."

Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435.