Nor'Town: Politics in North Las Vegas, Nevada

Opening At The Trough

Are you ambitious? Narcissistic? Enjoy the company of lawyer-lobbyists who make hundreds of thousands of dollars more than you? Would you love to receive large checks from casino operators, developers, and newspaper publishers who are wannabe casino bosses?

Well, then, you'll want to sign up for the Nor'Townie ward 4 City Council seat!

Now, you'll have to be at least 18 years old and live in ward 4 for a whole 30 days prior to June 30. So, it's too late now to grab a rental from a developer on the planning commission and set up shop!

And you can't have a felony conviction--although it's okay to have an FBI investigation or two in your past, as long as they didn't prosecute!

Oh, yeah, and you'll have to pucker up and figuratively smooch the nether regions of current members of the City Council, who will decide who gets a 2 year hitch representing the interests of casino owners and developers in Ward 4.

But, once you have that foot in the door, why you'll gain that cherished incumbent status! You'll receive campaign checks from the monied interests in Nor'Town who want to make sure you're amenable to all those zoning variances and business tax cuts incentives!

So, don't wait! Get your snout in early!

If You're Not Gary Gray, You've Got the Wrong Job

Boy howdy, I know I've got the wrong job.

I was looking through County Commissioner Tom Collins' finance reports and I found out how much political consultant Gary Gray made off of the, um, "race" for district B.

13-Feb-08    Gray & Assoc   $8,626.29       1   
14-Feb-08    Gray & Assoc    $50,000.00    1   
17-Jul-08     Gray & Assoc    $5,733.00      2   
07-Aug-08    Gray & Assoc    $27,896.62    2   
19-Aug-08    Gray & Assoc    $47,578.85    2   
17-Sep-08    Gray & Assoc    $50,000.00    2   
15-Oct-08    Gray & Assoc    $50,000.00    2   

                               Total: $239,834.76

That's for only one campaign. Suppose Gray has four more going? Why, Gray's inching towards that 5 percent that will have to pay more taxes under Obama!

Well, I suppose he's worth it. Gray knows how to scrounge up a couple hundred grand for the price of one signature. (Sun)

And Casino magnates love Tom, too. Lookee here:

09-Jun-07    LV Sands    $1,000.00    a
16-Jun-08    LV Sands    $5,000.00    1
14-Nov-07    Venetian Casino    $5,000.00    a
21-Oct-07    Palms Casino    $10,000.00    a
02-Nov-07    Boyd Gaming    $10,000.00    a
14-Nov-07    Boulder Station    $5,000.00    a
14-Nov-07    Station Casinos    $5,000.00    a
03-Jun-08    Station Casinos Corporate    $5,000.00    1
04-Dec-07    Santa Fe Station    $5,000.00    a
04-Dec-07    Texas Station    $5,000.00    a
14-Nov-07    Harrah's Operating Co.    $10,000.00    a
28-Nov-07    Wynn Las Vegas    $5,000.00    a
28-Nov-07    Wynn Resorts    $5,000.00    a
09-Apr-08    Wynn Las Vegas    $5,000.00    1
14-Dec-07    Riviera Hotel    $3,000.00    a
23-Apr-08    Riviera Hotel    $2,500.00    1
27-Dec-07    Bellagio    $10,000.00    a
27-Dec-07    MGM Mirage    $10,000.00    a
17-Apr-08    Mirage    $10,000.00    1
17-Apr-08    MGM Grand    $10,000.00    1
05-May-08    South Point Hotel    $5,000.00    1
02-Oct-08    South Point Hotel    $5,000.00    2
31-Jul-08    Fontainebleau Resorts    $10,000.00    1
29-Sep-08    Gold Coast Hotel    $5,000.00    2
29-Sep-08    Orleans Hotel & Casino    $5,000.00    2

                                              Total $156,500.00

Well, how else is he supposed to pay for Gray??? Oh, and if you're confused because you're thinking, hey, isn't there a $10,000 max per election cycle for contributions? $5,000 for the primary and $5,000 for the general?

Ha.

Ha ha ha, sucker. That only applies to mere mortals, not to megacorporations with scores of corporate fronts and limited liability corporations to hide behind. So, how many Station Casinos does it take to buy an election? And is it the MGM, the Mirage, or the MGM-Mirage? Who knows?

And if the money comes in during the last week of 2007, it doesn't count for the 2008 election cycle!

Hey, Nevada! Campaign finance laws are just our politicians' homey little way of lifting up the middle finger and sayin': F--- you, slack-jawed rubes!

Hey, anybody seen that database driven, super terrific, searchable web app for campaign finances over on Ross Millers' pathetic site yet? Me neither.

Oh, the little "1" and "2" at the end of a line refers to the first and second campaign and expense report over at the shitty clark county campaign site. The little "a" stands for the annual report for 2007.

As for the "race" in quotation marks for Commission B, Collins showed how seriously he took his opponent by doling out tens of thousands of dollars to other candidates' funds. Boy Scouts and other charities did okay, too.

Of course, who can blame him? The local MSM seems to be unaware that the seat is up for election this year.

Where would incumbents be if the local press didn't help them out that way?

Cross posted from Vote Gibbons Out.

Chaney's Got Money for Mailers

Well, lookee what showed up in my mail box! And I was getting sorta weepy for Willia Chaney for not having any money, like that RJ story said the other day.

But, nope, it turns out she's got money for a mailer, the main weapon of choice in the local Nevada political battles. You can look over here for the front and the back.

Most disturbing about the mailer is the list of endorsements reproduced below.

Seeing all those familiar names, not one of whom is a bit concerned about allegations that Chaney owes the state a boatload of money, leads me to a rather subversive suggestion this voting season.

Vote against the incumbent. In every race, Republican, Democrat or other. Vote against them all.

The word "incestuous" is too nice a word for politics as usual in Nor'Town. There are really only two parties here: In and Out. If you are In, you get hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions handed to you by casinos, developers, the garbage guys and lawyer-lobbyists that feed of 'em. If you're Out, you lose.

All the while issues important to North Las Vegas get lost in the shuffle. Apartments, unfettered growth of casinoes, the Sheep Mountain Parkway, the Shooting range, none of these even get discussed.

For example, anybody know where Kelvin Atkinson, the chair of the Assembly committee on transportation. for pity's sake, stands on the Sheep Mountain Parkway? Well, he doesn't have to say cuz he's a well-financed incumbent. He only had $93,000 in his campaign kitty on August, but he's got one of those invisible opponents  this time.

And the district 17 challenger is a Paultard Republican wingnut, David Isbell. But, so what? What better way to say to Kelvin: hey, it's time to focus on North Las Vegas again, not kissing the Fertitta bros' rich butts.

Tell the Nor'Town apparatchik that you're mad as hell and you're not going to take it anymore.

And hey, no incumbents at the top of the ticket, unless you count McCain as just a Bush clone. So, vote for whoever you want up there--as long as it's Obama.

And throw a tiny scare into Berkley by voting for Wegner. Heck, you'll scare everybody else, too. What fun!

And all those Democrats supporting Chaney must be skeered that she'll beat 'em up at the next Nor'Town Township Pseudo-Democratic Jackboot Society, or whatever it's called these days, if they don't support her, I'm guessing.

Nor'Town Sludge Cakes: St. Francis' Edition

Another edition of Nor'Town Sludge Cakes in lieu of a real post.

• Who knew? There are Franciscans in Nor'Town. (Sun) Thai Buddhists on Gowan we knew about, and loud, long-winded, pro-war Bible-Thumpers at the Nor'Town Prayer/City Commission meetin's. But, the children of Saint Francis? We thought they had better sense than to minister to Nor'Towners. Especially about peace and stuff.
• Nor'Town Franciscans have something against Americans torturing people. If you want to know more about where the prezwannabes stand on the issue, check out Alternet's Voter's Guide to Human Rights and Civil Liberties.
• The newspaper owned by the guy who owns a hunk of Aliante Stations Casino would like you to know that the Gaming Commission is favoring it's application for a gaming license. (Station Casinos' Las Vegas Sun) He wants you to know out of a sense of civic duty, I'm sure, not so he can bilk you out of a few thousand quarters.
• Hey, you know that strip mall development which really is just that, a strip mall? Well, you're wrong. The Mayor says it's a "Newport Beach" kinda project. Yup. If Newport Beach were over 200 miles from the nearest ocean and conveniently located near Jerry's Nugget.
• Nor'Town may have the distinction of having the littlest and the biggest bookstores in the world. Just try not to hold it against the owner of Best Seller Books that he's an Aggie.
• Spotted in a Reno blog about the prospect of Nor'Towner Steven Horsford becoming Majority Leader of the State Senate: "Indeed, some Republicans see a potential to torpedo the new Senate Minority Leader Steven Horsford, who's considered a rising star in the Democratic Party. He would likely be the new majority leader if the Democrats take control. But with no experience as a floor leader, and with a bloody budget battle shaping up for 2009, Horsford could fall victim to Republican maneuvering." (INP)

Another Casino Alley

Boyd gaming wants to move its planned Nor'Town casino a bit farther west from the Casino Alley corridor near the junction of  I-15 and I-215. (RJ,Sun). What with Aliante Station, the new casino, to be built with the cooperation of the Olympia group developers, opens up the prospect that the Bruce Woodbury beltway will become a second Casino Alley to rival all the gaming halls planned over at the I-15.

Now shove in some apartments, a bunch of taverns, and an escort service or two, and those folks up in Park Highlands will get a real taste of Nor'Town livin'.

Bright Lights Coming to Sun City

Boy, be happy if you don't own a place in Sun City, Aliante. Pretty soon, the nighttime will never be dark again up there, and Sun City will replace Vegas as the city that never sleeps.

That's what the biggest fight was about over at the North Las Vegas Planning Commission on Wednesday.

Aliante Station Casino Lawyer-Lobbyists were trying to convince the commission to let 'em put up big signs all around the new casino. Of course, the city basically ceded most of its rights to control the signs back when Aliante was "master planned" as a "neighborhood" casino in Aliante. Oh, did I write "neighborhood casino"? Stations doesn't do those anymore. In fact, the LL's (lawyer-lobbyists) explained how the project had morphed into a super-duper premium property like Red Rock stations from, well, a Nugget clone.

The new casino is not a "neighborhood" casino in yet another sense. Many of the Sun City neighbors who showed up at the meeting tried to remind Station Casinos and it's LL's that they had promised to be "good neighbors" to the folks up there. Apparently, the company thinks a good neighbor is one who shines a spotlight into their neighbors' windows at night.

Anyway, the most contentious sign will be at the north end of the "neighborhood" gambling hall on Elkhorn, where a 50 foot sign will blast directions to the garage into the backyards of Sun City folk. (NLVCC)

The commission finally decided to accept most of Station's plans with the omission of the 50 foot sign on Elkhorn. They encouraged Stations to continue to negotiate with the neighbors.

That outcome may be good news for the neighbors on Elkhorn, who now have an opportunity to tone down the signs which will most affect them. The news was not so good for the unfortunate neighbor who has a house to the south of the beltway and complained about construction lights burning into his front windows. He felt that the new signs along the beltway would make his plight permanent. The committee, however, just seemed to ignore his complaints and went ahead with the signs along the Beltway.

Hmm. Maybe I should open up a sleep mask store up there. Now there's an idea. The neighbors should wear sleep masks to the City Council meeting when the issue goes to them.

The Usual Suspects

The usual suspects show up in the campaign finance report of incumbent Nor'Towner city councilman William Robinson. Now, I'm working off the March report because the next report isn't due until May 29, well into early voting, of course, since our campaign finance laws could have easily been written by a raving lunatic, and probably were.

The most generous contributors to Mr. Robinson's campaign are the developers who often visit him and his colleagues during city council meetings. Well, at least their lawyers do. Of the $114,000 that Robinson has on hand, I calculate that at least $69,000 came from developers, builders, mortgage lenders, and title companies. 

Among these was $10,000 from Gerry Garry Goett, whose Park Highlands development was the subject of a sales pitch gush recently from none other than our mayor-shill. (IBL) In fact just a few weeks after receiving the March 8th contribution, Williams voted in favor of zoning changes beneficial to Goett's company.

Also among the developers is $10,000 from BORPAC, a shadowy political action committee for the board of realtors which apparently doesn't bother complying with Nevada law by filing reports with the Secretary of State's office. Williams also scored a grand from the Home Builders' PAC, which at least files its reports.

Another developer, John Ritter, contributed $15,000 through four LLC's: Southwest Desert Equities, J.V. Properties, FLF 98 LLC, and Beltway I-15 LLC. The latter two are run by an LLC cleverly called Holdings Manager, LLC, run by Ritter.

Four casinos all together contributed $12,000 to Robinson, $10,000 from two Fertitta Brothers' projects. The Fertitta's were more generous in the 2003 election cycle.

No doubt we're all shocked, shocked! to discover gamblers and land sharks running the show on the city council. Okay, maybe not.

Campaign Finance Reports Are In!

Whoohoo! Contribution and Expense Reports for most of the candidates are up on the North Las Vegas city site.

Who's winning the money game? Incumbents, of course!

Total Contributions:

Ward 4

Shari Buck: $183,300
Richard Cherchio: $44,064
[UPDATE: Jo Cato $18,000]
Debra Lewis: $10,350

Ward 2

William Robinson $114,850
John T. Stephens $610

With all that money, you'd think Robinson would figure out a way to type his entries. And Ward 2, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Send that John Stephens some money. He can't even afford a website, for pete's sake. You all are just making a mockery of the democratic process.

I'll be looking over those reports real careful the next few days, but lookee what I've already spotted in Shari Buck's: the Fertitta Brothers:

[UPDATE: Aliante Holding is owned by Aliante Station: $5,000]
[UPDATE: Fiesta Rancho: $5,000]
Boulder Station $5,000
Palace Station $5,000
Station Casinos, Inc. $5,000
Texas Station $5,000
Texas Station In Kind Contributions, $2,567.25
Fertitta Total:      $22567.25 $27,567.25 $32,567.25

Now, in the state of Nevada, the maximum contribution allowed is $10,000, $5,000 in the primary and $5,000 in the general. How is it that Stations Casinos can give over 22K? Let Sun reporter Coolican explain:

Some of the anonymity stems from what is known as "bundling." Although contributors can give only $10,000 to a candidate, a 1994 ruling by then-Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa argued that the Nevada campaign finance law allows different entities each to give $10,000.

As a result, wealthy individuals and companies form limited liability corporations so they can bundle their contributions and give candidates hundreds of thousands of dollars. These new companies have no public profile and exist only to funnel campaign cash, so they can remain a mystery to the public.

So, you ask, why bother with the $10,000 limit if Nevada politicians and their rich donors are cynically going to ignore. Now, that's a good question to ask your state Assemblyperson or Senator. Unfortunately, you'll find that no one has drafted any bills that directly address the problem for this session of the Legislature.

And if you want some real fun, go do a corporate entity search over at the Secretary of State's page for some of those Limited Liabilty Corporations, or LLC's, that you find in abundance in Buck's Contribution and Expense Report. I know I will.

Mayor Bows Before Fertitta Brothers

The RJ reports that although the North Las Vegas City Council was originally opposed to the new Stations Casino, they changed their minds over time:

' "Five years ago when they first started planning Aliante, when they said they wanted a casino, my initial reaction was no," said North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon. "It took a lot of lobbying and effort to convince me that it is a good part of the community. Apparently, they were right." '

Part of that lobbying effort were generous campaign contributions to the Mayor and Council members from the Stations Casinos owned by the Fertitta brothers:

Mayor Montandon, $10,000 on March 7, 2005 (CC&E p. 8).

Stephanie Smith $5,000 on April 11, 2005 (CC&E p. 3).

Robert Eliason, $10,000 on February 1, 2005 (CC&E p. 3).

Shari Buck, $20,000 total in 2003 from Texas Station, Santa Fe Station, Fiesta Rancho, and Palace Station Casinos (CC&E, p. 11).

William Robinson, $10,000 total, January 18, 2003, from Fiesta and Boulder Station Casinos (CC&E pp. 6 + 7), $5,000, May 29, 2003 from Texas Station and $5,000 , June 26, 2003, from  Santa Fe Station (CC&E p.  2).