Adamsen changes strategy

City Councilman Arnie Adamsen used Tuesday's televised Las Vegas mayoral debate on Las Vegas 1 (Cox Cable Channels 1 and 39) to launch a new campaign strategy designed to help him make up ground against front-runner Oscar Goodman before the June 8 election.

Over the next four weeks Adamsen will hammer this one main theme: "The mayor's job is to stand up for the law-abiding citizens of the city."

Underlying that statement is the unspoken reference to Goodman's 35 years as a criminal defense attorney -- whose clientele of reputed mobsters and drug dealers Adamsen hopes enough voters will fear.

"I'm afraid if my opponent is elected mayor that his past is going to become our future," Adamsen said during Tuesday's debate. "And I believe that would destroy any corporate American attempts to invest in Las Vegas."

Goodman disputed that descriptions of him in the national media as a mob attorney will hurt the city.

"I don't think that moniker will stick," Goodman said.

In fact, Goodman said, when he first entered some courtrooms, the judges would say, "Oh, there's that mob attorney from Las Vegas.

"But then they see I'm a first-class attorney, a first-class human being and they say, 'Oh, there's the good lawyer from Las Vegas.'

"When people come to Las Vegas they want to think of excitement. They don't want to see a little Mickey Mouse under a rock, they want to see a little Bugsy Siegel."

Adamsen's response to the same question couldn't have been more different.

"In the city of Las Vegas, all that we have is our reputation," Adamsen said. "We have spent the last 12 to 15 years changing that image from Sin City to a family-friendly destination."

The hourlong debate featured opening, middle and closing statements from both candidates and questions from a panel of three journalists. The debate was aired on Las Vegas 1 (Cox Cable Channels 1 and 39).

Although some of the questions touched upon city issues of crime and consolidation, more touched upon the periphery, asking about Goodman's image, Adamsen's foreign travel and negative campaign ads.

In one of the more contentious moments of the debate, Adamsen incorrectly stated that Goodman's position to keep his law practice while mayor would send the wrong message.

"You're going to keep defending violent criminals, challenging the credibility of the police department and everything you can do to keep criminals out of jail," Adamsen said.

When Goodman corrected him, stating that he has never said he would keep practicing law, Adamsen smugly responded, "I'm glad to hear there's been a change of position on your part."

Goodman, 59, won the May 4 primary with 49 percent of the votes, coming just 277 shy of winning outright. Adamsen's second-place finish with 29 percent of the votes forced the run-off in the general election.

Third-place finisher Mark Fine, who received 16 percent of the vote, has since endorsed Goodman.

Adamsen, 49, who has served on the City Council for the past 12 years, has been endorsed by the Culinary, police and firefighters unions.

This was the first of two debates. The second will be aired on Las Vegas 1 (Cox Cable Channels 1 and 39) at 8 p.m. on May 25. If you missed yesterday's debate, it will re-air on Saturday, May 15 at 11 a.m.

archive