Columnist Jeff German: Politics among myriad subjects on Wynn's mind

JEFF GERMAN is a senior investigative reporter. His column also appears in the Las Vegas SUN on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He can be reached at 259-4067 or on the Internet at [email protected]

IF you spend any time at all with Mirage Resorts Chairman Steve Wynn, you'll soon discover he has an opinion on almost every subject.

His words are spoken with the same passion with which he attacks life.

Last week, Wynn was singled out as the man whose property has the highest assessed valuation in Clark County.

Wynn is mindful that with this distinction comes much responsibility, not only to his energetic company, but to the fast-growing Las Vegas community.

Few will dispute that Wynn, one of the world's most recognizable gaming figures, is a man of great influence in this state.

So when he grants you a rare interview, you jump at the chance to listen to his opinions of the day.

Last week, politics was the subject at hand.

Wynn suggested the news media at times has been "too strident" in their treatment of stories raising questions about the ethics of some local politicians.

Much of the debate has focused on Clark County commissioners, several of whom Wynn has supported politically.

Wynn believes the ethics laws in the state are sound.

"You're not supposed to use your elected job to give your friends favored advantages over people who didn't support you," Wynn said. "That at least is the fundamental idea of the process, and it seems right to me."

But the media, in their never-ending competitive drive, tend to overplay the ethical lapses of politicians, he said.

"An ethics violation can have an order of magnitude of 10 or a .5," he said. "What's happening is .5 is getting as much ink as 10.

"If there is no proportion to it, it gets very frightening, and it is very destructive to the democratic process."

Wynn said news organizations sometimes get too caught up in the "excitement of the headline" when pursuing these kinds of stories.

One story, however, that Wynn believes has not been overplayed is the controversy raging over once-private remarks made by congressional candidate Shelley Berkley.

Wynn was quick to rebuke Berkley for conveying the impression that Nevada's high-powered casino industry conducts business by doing favors for politicians.

"I think Shelley Berkley must be bereft of her senses for having said those things ... " Wynn said.

Berkley has apologized for her remarks -- made last year in a secretly recorded telephone conversation with a friend and in 1996 private memos to her former boss, Las Vegas Sands Inc. Chairman Sheldon Adelson.

"I am very sorry for what happened," Berkley said. "I'm sorry for the words and expressions I used and the ideas those words conveyed."

Her campaign manager, Gary Gray, took the liberty of responding to Wynn.

"Shelley has always been big enough to acknowledge her responsibility and admit her mistakes when she makes them," Gray said. "I would hope that other people in the same business are big enough to accept that apology and move on."

But Wynn, who has clashed politically with Berkley in recent years, said the Democratic candidate appeared to have an "inane and pathetic misunderstanding" of her role as a political adviser for Adelson.

"I'm embarrassed for Sheldon," Wynn said. "I'm embarrassed for Shelley. I'm embarrassed for all of us that someone would suggest that this is the way business is conducted because I can tell you it is not conducted that way."

Wynn insisted that such revelations tarnish the entire casino industry.

"If it's worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions for us to stay active, why burn it up or set a match to it over petty bull like this that can cast a giant shadow over our entire participation?" he said.

Wynn, one of the founders of the American Gaming Association, the industry's Washington lobby, acknowledged that he has stepped up his political contributions on a national level, as gambling has found itself under attack across the country.

This year, he acknowledged donating $250,000 apiece in "soft money" to the Democratic and Republican senatorial campaign committees in Washington.

Such contributions are made so that companies like Mirage Resorts can get the government's ear, Wynn said.

"My job is to make sure that government gives us our five minutes," he said. "That's a legitimate thing for me to ask for. It's not legitimate to say that because I'm active, you should do what I want you to do."

Wynn was critical of those seeking to ban the casino industry from making unlimited soft money contributions to political parties.

He called Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., who is leading the charge, a hypocrite.

"You can bet your life that Frank Wolf has solicited an enormous amount of soft dollar contributions and is doing it as he speaks," Wynn said.

"Frank Wolf doesn't want to stop his own friends from donating. He wants to stop gaming from donating. It's an extension of his own hate of gaming. That's not a rational thing."

Wynn said Wolf's campaign won't go anywhere on Capitol Hill because Congress knows "the system does not work in America without money."

Closer to home, Wynn said dealing with growth remains the No. 1 issue facing Southern Nevadans.

The community, he said, still is having a hard time sorting out the complex issue.

"Las Vegas has been the beneficiary, or the victim, depending on your point of view, of the most incredible extended boom and movement of people that anybody can remember," Wynn said. "This valley was not equipped to handle this extended surge."

Wynn, gearing up to open the $1.8 billion Bellagio megaresort in October, said studies have shown that broadening the state's tax base -- not rasing the casino industry's tax bill -- is the best way to deal with growth.

"You have to spread it among the new residents," he said.

Wynn said the upscale Bellagio, meanwhile, will take Las Vegas tourism to new heights.

He described the project as a "symphony with very complicated movements" nearing its completion.

Back to politics, Wynn said he plans to stay neutral in the two biggest races of the campaign season.

He said he believes Republican businessman Kenny Guinn and Democratic Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones both would make fine governors.

And in the U.S. Senate campaign, Wynn said both the incumbent, Democrat Harry Reid, and the challenger, Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev., would serve Nevada well in Washington.

Wynn said he plans to distribute his campaign donations evenly among those candidates in the two races.

Asked to predict the winners, he declined.

But then his eyes lit up, and with passion in his voice, he said: "It's going to be exciting, isn't it?"

(On Tuesday, Wynn talks about his biggest Strip rival, Las Vegas Sands Inc. Chairman Sheldon Adelson, who's building the $2 billion Venetian across from the Mirage. You'll be surprised at what Wynn has to say about his competitor.)

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