The political irony is enough to warrant a call to police

I turned on the television and watched as Shelley Berkley was depicted as a corrupt politician with her roots of wrongdoing stretching back to the 1990s. It was pretty scary stuff, and I fought the urge to place an emergency call.

Not to the FBI's public corruption squad, but to the political irony police.

Accuracy aside, the advertisement produced by Crossroads GPS hits all the right notes with the critics of Rep. Berkley's candidacy for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Dean Heller. It calls Berkley corrupt at a time she faces an investigation by the House Ethics Committee, a process that won't be concluded until after the Nov. 6 election. Her opponents are trying to seed the ethics cloud that hangs over her.

But her Republican enemies should be careful not to rely too much on that 1990s issue, in which Berkley was criticized for comments she made to her "boss" about the importance of getting on the good side of local politicians and judges by making generous political donations to their campaigns.

These days it's her old boss whose company is mired in multiple federal criminal investigations that strike at the heart of the issue of corporate corruption in America. The Crossroads GPS commercial, of course, fails to identify him.

Who was her boss back in the late 1990s?

It was none other than multibillionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. Adelson's company, Las Vegas Sands, is being investigated by the Department of Justice for possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in its dealings to win and maintain its casino license in Macau. The Securities and Exchange Commission is also investigating. Las Vegas Sands has consistently denied wrongdoing, but the boss has taken a beating.

And the hits keep coming. Now it has been reported the federal investigators are looking at Las Vegas Sands for possible money laundering violations tied to casino high rollers Zhenli Ye Gon and Ausaf Umar Siddiqui. A Chinese-born Mexican national, Gon is suspected of playing a major role in Mexico's multibillion-dollar methamphetamine trade. Siddiqui earned $225,000 a year as a Fry's Electronics executive, but according to published reports, he gambled more than $100 million at The Venetian.

Adelson's political contributions, now estimated by The New York Times at more than $50 million, include a
$10 million check to - you guessed it - Crossroads GPS. He has vowed to give up to $100 million to defeat President Barack Obama and usher Mitt Romney into the White House.

Given current events and the size of Adelson's campaign largess, it doesn't sound like Berkley's old boss needed much coaching in the art of acquiring influential friends in politics. Start cutting big checks, and pretty soon you're irresistible.

What does Heller think of the investigations of Adelson's company?

"I'm unaware of those," he recently told the Las Vegas Sun, adding that such inquiries must be politically motivated. "I don't follow it that closely. I would anticipate the only reasons those issues are coming up is because he is participating so much in the political process. That seems to be, in this day and age, the push-back for those involved in the political process."

There's a genuine jaw-dropper.

Forget whether you believe the investigations to be fact-filled or full of hot air, could a sitting U.S. senator possibly be unaware of them?

Is Heller saying the DOJ and SEC are just playing politics?

Adelson's presence in the presidential politics is one of the biggest stories of the year, and the multiple criminal and civil investigations his company faces are undeniably a part of that story. Unless, of course, you're capable of denying the undeniable.

Where are the political irony police when you really need them?

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. Follow him on Twitter @jlnevadasmith.