Strippergate's collateral damage
12:06 PM PT, Aug 16 2006
There was one election return that did interest me and that was the defeat of incumbent Clark County Commissioner Myrna Williams for the Democratic nomination for her seat. The Review-Journal called this race "the primary election's ugliest contest." And, that is not an easy title to get.
Clark County Commissioner may not be the most glamorous job title, but don't be fooled: This is the group that gets to oversee the Strip, which falls outside the city limits of Las Vegas. The history of corruption, nepotism and sleaziness on the commission is legendary.
The most recent example is the Strippergate scandal, covered on this blog earlier in the year, which included among its cast of characters four former county commissioners who were heavily tied to topless-bar money. One former commissioner cut a plea deal with the government, two were convicted of felony naughtiness and the final one is set to go on trial in September (though he has already been convicted of related charges in San Diego).
So, what does any of this have to do with three-term incumbent, 76-year-old Williams? Well, in truth, absolutely nothing. When I covered the trial of the two other commissioners, Williams name came up only in passing. But that did not stop her challenger from connecting Williams to Strippergate. How? By using her ignorance against her. Essentially, her challenger argued successfully that if Williams didn't know about how corrupt her colleagues were, she must either be stupid or intentionally looked away to not know about it.
This seems massively unfair to me. The open meeting law in Nevada, if followed, would limit the amount of contact Williams had in private with her corrupt colleagues on issues. And, even if that weren't the case, of course, criminal activity is generally hidden.
The truth is that Strippergate took a lot of wiretaps and years of effort by authorities to move forward, and it seems outrageous to blame Williams for her innocence. Nonetheless, this approach worked in this election. As Williams told the Review-Journal, "Basically, what did it was the idea I am corrupt." It is an idea that not a single known fact justifies. But that's politics, Vegas style.
c
Bookmark it:   |
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/532456/5701810
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Strippergate's collateral damage :
Yeah, that accusation was quite a stretch, but the dirty politics in this race weren't one-sided, methinks. Since Chris G. beat Myrna by such a wide margin, I doubt that the last minute flyer was responsible for her victory. Quite simply, Chris G. went to a lot of doors, and looks more, uh shall we say, energetic than her opponent.
Posted by: crazymonk | August 16, 2006 at 12:28 PM
If you ever watched Commissioner Williams on TV during their meetings she needed voted out. Every meeting she would make at least one comment that was so ridiculs it would have me in stitches. One of my faviortes was her arguing with some NV Power employee that there was no difference between power poles. Everyday there were fairly basic issues she just didn't get.
Posted by: Nate Ogden | August 17, 2006 at 08:39 AM