Wednesday, March 19, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Rather than have union officials insinuate her vote can be bought, County Commissioner Myrna Williams said she has returned the $12,500 in donations she received during her 1994 campaign from Sands owner Sheldon Adelson.
"My vote has never been for sale and never will be bought," Williams said in a prepared statement Tuesday chastising both the Sands and the Culinary Union for pressuring her on a disputed traffic study.
The comments were read into the public record prior to a board discussion and unanimous rejection of the Sands' traffic study, delaying the construction schedule of the $1.8-billion Venetian megaresort planned on the site of the old Sands hotel-casino.
County staff was told to work with the Sands to resolve the outstanding issues on the traffic study and return to the commission in two weeks.
Culinary official D. Taylor later told the remaining union folks that their presence pressured the commission to vote down the study. The meeting started off with about 120 union people wearing "Show Me the Money" stickers, but had dwindled to about 60 when the item was heard nearly four hours later.
"I guess they thought they were going to outlast us," Taylor said.
The union sent out more than 25,000 mailers about the traffic study with "Show Me the Money" on the cover targeting women over 35 registered as Democrats in both Williams' and Commissioner Lorraine Hunt's districts. Williams said the flier implied that her vote could be bought.
She also said a Sands representative told her she wouldn't receive future support from Adelson and would be perceived as a "union organizer" if she voted against the traffic study.
"Both the leaders of the Culinary Union and Mr. Adelson have crossed the line of political decency in their attempts to force me to accept their positions," Williams said. "I will not be coerced or forced to vote in a particular way by anyone."
Adelson could not be reached for comment.
Union officials began feuding with Adelson when he closed the old Sands last summer without promising to give former workers first shot at new jobs or open the new megaresort as a union shop.
The union has since used the traffic study issue to bring pressure to bear against the Sands, and in doing so has held up thousands of construction jobs Adelson has promised to union members.
One unnamed Sands source said the whole traffic issue would go away if the Sands signs an agreement with the union.
"The only power Clark County has over the Sands is the traffic study," D. Taylor was heard telling the troops outside the Clark County Government Center.
Paul Larsen, an attorney for the Sands, said the union's concern about traffic is "disingenuous" considering how many hotels went up on the Strip without approved traffic studies or the union's opposition.
Larsen also said the county was using the traffic study to apply pressure to the Sands to give up right-of-way for a proposed public monorail.
Rather than sign the pre-development agreement, which requires the company to give up an unspecified amount of right-of-way for the monorail, the Sands opted to conduct a traffic study. The five-volume study stacks over 2 feet high and identifies ways to mitigate congestion caused by the increased traffic the megaresort is expected to generate.
But Public Works Director Marty Manning identified several problems with the study. One is to resolve an issue with the Nevada Department of Transportation over the developer's share of construction costs for dual left-turn lanes. Second is how to arrange mutual access to Koval Lane for Sands, Harrah's and Imperial Palace employees and patrons, where traffic is expected to double. Third is a commitment from the Sands to pay for at least 25 percent of a pedestrian bridge.
The whole issue of monorail right-of-way becomes moot if the traffic study is approved, Manning said. But Commissioner Erin Kenny's comment that Manning's hands not be tied to those specific issues if other problems come up had Larsen concerned that the traffic study would ever get approved.
"They're taking what is essentially an engineering issue and using it as a political weapon to get us to sign a pre-development agreement that has an unconstitutional requirement," Larsen said.
Commissioner Mary Kincaid said the Sands is under no obligation to sign the pre-development agreement, which is used by the county to exact special favors from developers in exchange for letting them fast-track their project.
"We're not saying you can't build," Kincaid said. "You can take your sweet time."
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