Columnist Jon Ralston: Yuletide brings high tide to City Hall

Jon Ralston, who publishes the Ralston Report, writes a column for the Sun on Sundays and Wednesdays. Ralston can be reached at 870-7997 or through e-mail at [email protected]

THIS IS the time of year when governments, like people, slow down to concentrate on holiday pursuits. But down on Stewart Avenue, this could be a week to remember for three distinct reasons. Here they are:

Special prosecutor Frank Cremen will inform the panel Thursday about its possible avenues of punishment for McDonald, who broke local ethics laws. The possibilities travel very different roads: They range from saying that being found guilty is punishment enough (because of the public humiliation), to declaring that a criminal complaint should be filed in Municipal Court, to going one step further and going to District Court to say McDonald is unfit to hold office.

The betting here is that Cremen will not go the light route, especially since the panel seemed so appalled by McDonald helping his boss out of a sinking investment in the Las Vegas Sportspark and trying to squelch Sig Rogich's topless bar conversion project. But if he goes the District Court route, where the outcome will be greatly expedited, McDonald could be thrown out of office quickly, unless his lawyer, Rick Wright, can save him.

And while McDonald's departure is wished for by some of his colleagues and many a staff member, I can't help but wonder what he might do during Campaign '01 if he doesn't have a job. Might he have more time to wreak revenge on those he holds responsible for his travails?

And if McDonald were to disappear by early next year, who on the council would be seen as engineering his replacement? It would be interesting to see who Mayor Oscar Goodman might have in mind.

The answer is yes, unless the council folks decide to let politics get the better of them again. One of the current city lobbyists, Alcalde & Fay, has objected to its low score on the staff evaluation and sent a letter to the council demanding reconsideration. Megafirm Cassidy & Associates, which was the favorite of some council members last year, just missed the cut, but has been applying some local juice to try to overturn the staff decision.

The question is how does the council justify reversing a decision that the members smartly left to their staff earlier this year? They can't and they shouldn't. Shouldn't, I said, but will they?

The deal is done -- finally -- and Rogich will get his wish today. But the interesting question is what the vote will be and whether any campaign issues will be created.

McDonald's previous abstention and his subsequent behind the scenes activism began his descent into the ethical muck this year.

He is likely to be watching how Lynette Boggs McDonald, whom he feels betrayed him after a long friendship, votes on the issue. She previously has insisted her relationship with Rogich does not merit any abstention, but as her election nears, perhaps she will play it safe.

How ironic would it be for Michael McDonald to use Toplessgate, which first put him on a political respirator, to bludgeon Lynette Boggs McDonald, whose decision not to back his appointment choice for the council catalyzed his loss of power on the board?

That would be fun to watch.

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