Friday, April 18, 2003 | 4:38 a.m.
Eight different corporate checks arrived, each in the amount of $10,000, to help ease the pain of her loss. But these were not eight separate benefactors, as it appeared. And this was no kindness from strangers, either.
Every one of those companies is controlled by Jim Rhodes, the developer who wants to erect houses on that land near Red Rock and who has long been seen as having great influence with Kenny.
A few weeks later Rhodes, a man who seems to have as many lawyers and lobbyists as Big Oil does on Capitol Hill, was retaining Commissioner Bruce Woodbury's law firm and Commissioner Chip Maxfield's engineering firm. He would later increase his activity with Lionel, Sawyer and Collins, which employs new Commissioner Rory Reid.
A month after the election, Rhodes gave $5,000 to the other rookie, Mark James, apparently a down payment on what he saw as a worthwhile investment in the man Kenny had handed her seat to in a bipartisan act of generosity. A short time later, Rhodes, apparently confident that James was on board and that he had sufficiently narrowed the commission lobbying universe, wrote a check for $50 million to buy the land in the Red Rock environs.
That might have been the end of the story, had Sen. Dina Titus not tried to block the development, had James not been pummeled by residents and decided to try to stymie Rhodes. The resulting lawsuit by Rhodes against James, thrown out last week on a technicality, has revealed a tale of an ex-commissioner who whooshed through the revolving door, a new commissioner who placed himself in harm's way and a developer who is gaming the system as it has never been gamed before.
The saga of Rhodes, James and Kenny may be more dramatic than some; it surely is more public than any of them desired. But the real story is all-too familiar, a telling vignette of the incestuous relationships that dominate Nevada politics.
In a city that has grown but not grown up, in a local government chess game where moneyed outsiders are the queens and the elected officials too often mere pawns, in a world where ethical standards are set low and yet politicians continue to find a way to get under the bar, the slumber party never ends. So long as part-time elected officials are willing to lie down with men who will flood the system with money to wash away any independent thoughts, residents fighting influential developers will wonder if they have not been two-timed by politicians who pledged enduring fidelity.
Whether James dallied with Rhodes as a candidate or betrothed himself to the developer as a commissioner, only they know. But there are few sympathetic characters in this lack-of-morality play, where ethics have no role.
Rhodes has long had influence, especially through Kenny, at the Clark County Government Center. And he has bundled campaign contributions before -- last year his employees donated simultaneously to Commissioner Dario Herrera and Sen. Harry Reid. A complaint was filed with the Federal Election Commission against the Herrera campaign over the transactions.
Rhodes' obvious effort to create conflicts for commissioners is unprecedented -- and surely being watched by others. He and Kenny make quite a pair -- relentless, resourceful, win at all costs.
No one who knows her doubts that Kenny incessantly contacted James on the Red Rock matter, which is against the county's cooling-off rules for both of them. James says Kenny pushed him to commit, urged him to snub residents and then, after he decided to go against her, threatened to end his career. This sounds like the end of a beautiful friendship.
James, though, is not immune from criticism. He clearly made a Faustian bargain when he schemed with Kenny to claim her seat while she sought higher office. But did he promise her anything in exchange for the precious gift of a commission seat?
James is no stranger to this kind of ethical controversy, including his recent insistence on lobbying for county-regulated garbage monopolist Republic. And when he was a state senator, James' willingness to entertain legislative moves to reverse the infamous Tailhook verdict and to resolve a dispute among rich folks at Lake Tahoe over a pier caused him media headaches.
James also must deal with his previous legal representation of Rhodes and his affiliation with Kummer, Kaempfer, the law firm that has worked for Rhodes.
James has opened himself up for a bar complaint, an ethics complaint and perhaps worse -- a scorched earth campaign by Team Rhodes, whose members seem willing to do anything. James asserts that Rhodes made the indecent proposal of writing a blank check to give him "political cover" against the Red Rock activists.
It's probably too late for Rhodes to get the land rezoned because of the media frenzy. But has the time also passed to adopt a real ethics ordinance, especially considering the valley has now become a place where several local officials seem unable to draw any reasonable line between public duty and private conduct?
If there is any silver lining in this cloud, perhaps the debate can finally begin over whether the price the public pays for having part-time elected officials too beholden to major donors and juicemeisters is simply too high.
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