Thursday, May 15, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Bum rush the show

Jim Rhodes on how to buy friends and influence a hearing

By Andrew Kiraly

For those of us forever groaning about our apathetic society, the scene at Saturday's legislative hearing for Senate Bill 358 at the Sawyer State Office Building seemed heartening enough. Three rooms packed, the fourth-floor halls filled with both supporters and opponents of SB358, a bill that would stop Jim Rhodes from building a high-density development on Blue Diamond Hill.

Democracy in action, right? Seemed that way until you wriggled your way through the halls--filled largely with Rhodes supporters sporting blue T-shirts reading "A MINE is a terrible to thing to waste" and "We support a fair hearing"--and found that there were actually quite a few rows of seats left.

Makes you wonder whether the Rhodes Army--six buses full of them, treated to breakfast and lunch in the parking lot--was standing in the halls on purpose to, oh, say, discourage supporters of the bill from getting a seat. Bill supporter Barbara Page-Roberts, for instance, persevered enough to wend her way through the halls into one of the overflow rooms. She was surprised to find empty seats.

"This is absolute nonsense," she said. "I think the fact that Rhodes has got to ship in his own people for a show of 'support' reveals what a weak case he has. It's funny that he's trying to make this an issue of affordable housing, because I suspect none of the workers he's packed the room with today would be able to afford one of those homes he wants to build."

Lucky she got a seat in the overflow room, because a little after 9 a.m. a man in the front began silently waving the T-shirted, sign-toting Rhodes "supporters" in the hall to start filling up the front rows. Was he encouraging participation in the political process or filling seats with workers to lock out supporters of the bill? He declined comment, refusing to give his name and denying he had any connection with Rhodes (somehow, the pro-Rhodes T-shirt covering his clipboard gave him away).

Overall, Saturday's hearing was a nice dressing-down of Rhodes' recent media blitz--and just in time for when the Assembly considers SB358 as early as this week. Bill backer Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus blasted Rhodes' "support affordable housing" schtick as "populist claptrap," and pointed out how he'd never used union labor before--and yet brokered a deal with the Southern Nevada Building and Construction Trades Council to oppose SB358 in exchange for work.

Nevada Wildlife Federation director Jeff van Ee pointed out how transporting water to the proposed development would be so expensive as to drive up the cost of Rhodes' envisioned "affordable homes," and the Sierra Club's Karen Hunt reminded everyone that the James Hardie gypsum mine had despoiled only about a third of the hilltop.

Rhodes' apparent attempt to bum rush the show had a chilling effect nonetheless. Even former state legislator Bill Kissam--who opposes Titus' bill because he feel it usurps the county's authority--says he was "shocked" by the tactic.

Members of the pro-Rhodes camp--those who would go on the record--insisted they were there to show earnest support. "I believe in what he's doing," said Jean Vandermark, who said she works at a casino. "We want him to be able to build affordable homes for people like us. We may be wearing the same shirts, but these are all individuals who support Rhodes."

For wildly varied reasons, of course. One blue-shirted woman who declined to give her name said her husband was a longtime Rhodes subcontractor and he was "expected to show up."

"It's a mockery of what the hearing process is supposed to be about," said Lisa Mayo-De Riso, a bill supporter. "It's the same strategy he's used on the rest of the project. First he hires on former county commissioners, now he packs the room with people employed by him."

In the end, you had to wonder whether it backfired. As Rhodes and his attorney, Steve Morris, made their pitch to the committee, things got testy among both camps. A bill supporter loudly coughed "Bullshit!" when Morris asserted Rhodes is not an "environmental pirate"; meanwhile, the blueshirts hassled bill supporters for moving into seats that were supposedly saved--a move that left many Save Red Rockers shaking their heads.

Thing were mellow in the back of the room, though. By 12:30, many of the Rhodes supporters were visibly nodding off, their signs sagging in their laps. Can't blame them when the boss makes you get up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday.