Krolicki’s flimsy web of partisan blame

By Jon Ralston

Friday, Dec. 5, 2008 | 2:01 a.m.

I can connect dots as well as the next person, especially when it comes to Nevada politics.

The power elite population remains relatively small, so no Kevin Bacon games are necessary — one or two degrees of separation will do. So it was no mean feat for Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki — indicted this week on charges of misappropriating money for a college savings program he oversaw as state treasurer — to draw partisan links as he played “best defense is a good offense” before the charges came down.

From legislators to state Treasurer Kate Marshall to Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto to prospective U.S. Senate opponent Harry Reid, Krolicki’s accusers are all Democrats. But just because the Democrats have been out to get Krolicki for some time doesn’t mean he didn’t load their guns for them with his at best sloppy (audit subcommittee boss Sheila Leslie’s word 18 months ago) handling of the college savings account and at worst willful, knowing or fraudulent (the statutory language used to indict him) misappropriation of money.

Many Democrats — and truth be told, a few Republicans — don’t like the lieutenant governor, whom they view as a smarmily ingratiating pol who is all faux smiles and real ambition. I am sure Krolicki recalls that during the early days of the Gibbons-Krolicki administration, Democrats were whispering about recalling the governor and finding a way to remove No. 2 so he would not ascend. I find it patently ironic, though, that a man complaining about a partisan witch hunt impugning his integrity has chosen to impugn the integrity of several elected officials of the other party without a shred of proof.

History must be a guide to unravel the conspiracy theory (theories?) Krolicki is weaving to defend himself.

We know Senate Majority Leader Reid has no problem brandishing a sledgehammer to kill a gnat, even though I think Krolicki as a statewide elected official was a legitimate threat to the majority leader. Was.

But even in the unlikely event that Reid dialed up Cortez Masto and pushed her to indict Krolicki — or had others do so — she would have turned a deaf ear. Cortez Masto is so apolitical and by-the-book (ironically, the term Krolicki used over and over to describe his actions) that Democrats have grumbled for months that she was of no partisan help during the campaign year.

And the head of the attorney general’s public integrity unit, Conrad Hafen, is a straight arrow who seems impervious to political agendas, even though some might argue he overcharged Krolicki and ex-Las Vegas Councilwoman Janet Moncrief. (Moncrief eventually agreed to a civil fine for campaign contribution irregularities in a case that was notable for then-Secretary of State Dean Heller saying the attorney general had not a smoking gun but an “empty water pistol” for evidence.)

Yes, Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, who oversaw a subcommittee that filleted Krolicki on these allegations, can be a fierce partisan, as can Chris Giunchigliani, the erstwhile vice chairwoman of Assembly Ways and Means called to testify before the grand jury. And if you want to get into Kevin Bacon territory, Giunchigliani’s husband, Gary Gray, helped Marshall in her campaign for treasurer.

But whether his paranoia is justified or not, Krolicki’s office did move money outside the state budget process, and he did appear to be a shameless self-promoter appearing in ads for the college savings fund. As one very knowledgeable insider put it, “There is no way in hell he didn’t know it was wrong.”

Even after reading the scathing audit when it was released last year, I didn’t think Krolicki would be indicted. I have seen plenty of officials accused in audits of playing fast and loose with pots of money but I never considered violations of the state Budget Act high crimes. As Hafen points out, though, the attorney general cannot simply ignore laws passed by the Legislature governing how state money must be disbursed in a transparent and accountable way.

Hafen said the case likely won’t go to trial until late next year, and even if Krolicki is exonerated, he is political carrion, although there is historical precedent elsewhere for a resurrection.

A Texas treasurer named Kay Bailey Hutchison was indicted by a Democratic prosecutor on charges of official misconduct in 1993, charges that later dissolved and she was acquitted. Hutchison won election to the U.S. Senate 14 months later and never looked back.

“But Texas isn’t Chinatown, errrrr, I mean Vegas,” one wag wryly remarked, invoking the Roman Polanski classic about literal incest, not the figurative kind Krolicki has alleged. You can almost imagine a consultant turning to Krolicki and giving him advice similar to what Jake Gittes reluctantly heeded:

Forget it, Brian; it’s Reidtown.