Goodman sounds like gubernatorial candidate at council meeting

Mayor Oscar Goodman talked like a gubernatorial candidate at Wednesday's council meeting, saying state leaders accomplished little during this year's legislative session and calling for Nevada cities to have more control over their own revenues.

"This was just a band-aid session," he said, referring to the work lawmakers did to plug a gaping budget hole. "Everything sunsets. Nothing has really been accomplished."

City leaders were also peeved about being forced to fork over $22.5 million to reopen F Street, which was closed as part of the I-15 widening project. And Goodman bemoaned the fact that tax money that funds the city's operating costs in under the control of the legislature, not local officials.

"The first thing is home rule," he said. "The second is ethics in government."

City council members have to take care not to violate open meeting requirements, Goodman said. But in Carson City, it's standard practice for a small group of legislators to meet behind closed doors to hash out important decisions.

And then there are the "incestuous relationships" lawmakers have with special interests, and the mayor singled out one of his favorite targets — the leadership of the Culinary union.

Because of them, he said, a bill that would've aligned city elections with state and federal elections died. The city would save $1 million every two years if it didn't have to old separate elections in odd-numbered years.

As Goodman and Mayor Pro Tem Gary Reese tell it, Goodman was contacted by a legislator and told that opposition to the bill would go away if the mayor would apologize to the Culinary union. Goodman wouldn't name the legislator, and said the person was passing on information, not issuing an ultimatum.

Union spokeswoman Pilar Weiss called the tale "totally outrageous."

"I was shocked" that Goodman and Reese said what they did in an open council meeting, she said. "I don't understand where they got that."

Weiss is the union's lobbyist, and she said she monitored that bill along with many others. The union didn't take a position on the bill.

"We've been supportive of the idea," Weiss said.

The legislation would have extended Goodman and Reese's terms to 2012 in order to make the transition to even-numbered years. Both men's terms expire in 2011, and the can't seek re-election because of term limits.

"It's okay," said Goodman, who recently talked about running for governor as an independent. "I have other plans."