Thursday, March 06, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Backstory: One different thing after another

By Michael Green

History really doesn't repeat itself. More accurately, it reappears, each time in a slightly different form. If you doubt that...

¥ State Sen. Sandra Tiffany has revived a proposal she made while in the Assembly: deconsolidating the Clark County School District. Of course, she's neither the first to suggest it nor the first to ask legitimate questions. Unquestionably, the district is enormous, making it hard to manage. Some of its administration and spending could be politely called expendable. Some supporters of breaking up the school district have legitimate reasons for their position.

It's easy--and correct--to suggest that some who agree with them simply are greedy, shortsighted, selfish and/or racist. They don't want to pay for children in poorer areas to go to school, although those poorer areas usually have fewer habitable buildings and fewer elite teachers, creating a disadvantage for those schoolchildren that deconsolidation would worsen. Nor do some of these elites remember when they went to poorer schools; now that they have it made, why should anyone else have the chance?

The historical irony is that this huge school district is the result of overwhelming growth in the 1950s, when the Las Vegas population had just tripled in a decade and was about to rise almost as much--in other words, during a period of proportionally greater growth than today. The 1955 state Legislature consolidated about 200 smaller districts into one district per county. Lawmakers acted at the suggestion of Gov. Charles Russell, who responded to proposals from an outside task force. Russell was a Republican considered honest, decent and well-meaning, but not a revolutionary thinker. Not that any present-day parallel can be found, of course.

Obviously, the numbers and circumstances are different. But Southern Nevadans were griping even then about spending, teaching and student performance. And the whole state was in an uproar over how to pay for it. The Legislature paid for it by improving and equalizing the tax structure, especially property taxes, and increasing taxes. Imagine lawmakers agreeing that Nevadans have to pay for services.

¥ The recent raid on Rick Rizzolo's Crazy Horse Too inspired references to organized crime and reminders of ye olde days when the feds were breathing down the necks of casino operators variously known as mobsters or our founding fathers. One of the effects of this raid may be embarrassment for elected officials who have taken substantial campaign contributions from Rizzolo.

Similar concerns cropped up around the earlier generation. Running for governor and then senator, Paul Laxalt faced criticism for taking money from Moe Dalitz, who built several hotels, country clubs, shopping centers and other Las Vegas landmarks. Before doing that, Dalitz, like so many casino industry pioneers, had a long record of illegal activities. Laxalt responded, "For a Nevada politician to refuse a contribution from Moe Dalitz would be like running for office in Michigan and turning down a contribution from General Motors."

Well, yes and no. Whether Dalitz wished to shake free from his past or was trapped by it, he was considered a respectable businessman in Las Vegas. Laxalt had higher ambitions, and his old connections didn't help him when he looked into running for president.

Whether Laxalt should have viewed Dalitz as the Las Vegas equivalent of General Motors matters less than the issue of public perception. Guilt by association is wrong, but it's part of politics. In old Las Vegas, politics included associating with men with questionable backgrounds, whatever they were doing in the present.

Rizzolo is in a business that many consider immoral and others see as just another moneymaker. Whether he actually has the connections he's rumored to have should matter less to office-seekers or office-holders than how voters will view their connection to him.

On the one hand, Las Vegas City Councilman Michael McDonald, who faced ethics problems and seemed to many to be Rizzolo's man on the council, appears to have distanced himself. On the other hand, rumor has it that some local politicians, especially judges, may face national media scrutiny for their ties to Rizzolo.

As Mayor Oscar Goodman would be the first to tell you, hanging out with wiseguys won't necessarily hurt you politically. Nor, depending on the circumstances, should it. But the chance that it will ought to ring that little mental bell that any public figure should carry.

Meanwhile, the raid prompted charges that the FBI went too far in going after Rizzolo. Shades of when local agent-in-charge Joe Yablonsky cast a net for political corruption in the early 1980s. While Yablonsky engaged in his share of questionable activities, too, that shouldn't diminish the key fact: He unearthed a lot of corruption that too many local leaders tried to sweep under the rug. Are the sweepers out again?

Maybe it all ties together. If we screw up our schools badly enough, no one will know about all of this history. It's enough to make you suspect a conspiracy.