Getting by with a little help from his friends

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Mon, 28 May 2001 10:03:04 GMT

FROM MOUNTAIN MEDIA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATED OCT. 25, 2000
THE LIBERTARIAN, By Vin Suprynowicz
Getting by with a little help from his friends

Michael McDonald, still a police officer when he first ran for Las Vegas City Council, used to his advantage the tendency of the public to associate that uniform with qualities like straight talk and straight dealing, in a campaign which successfully unseated ethically challenged former Councilman (and National Football League alumnus) Frank Hawkins.

Our topic today, unfortunately, is "irony."

In a pair of Oct. 13 letters to Sheriff Jerry Keller, Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell now declines to prosecute Councilman McDonald -- the "reformer" -- for alleged violations of the state laws which forbid a public officeholder from accepting bribes for his political support, or from using public employees under their direction "for the private benefit or gain of himself or another."

Mr. Bell concluded there was little likelihood prosecutors could prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Councilman McDonald violated those laws when he tried to get the city to buy the Las Vegas Sports Park (thus bailing out two investors in the Sports Park, who coincidentally pay Mr. McDonald $52,000 per year to act as "Vice President of Corporate Development" for another of their enterprises, Las Vegas Color Graphics), or when Mr. McDonald unsuccessfully tried to get two city employees to make special efforts to block approval of a topless bar.

Zoning approval of the bar in question would have benefited McDonald political enemy Sig Rogich (the former political advisor to Ronald Reagan and ambassador to Iceland.) Beyond that, the proposed bar would have provided new competition for the existing topless bar Crazy Horse Too, owned by Mr. McDonald's friend, Rick Rizzolo.

(In an apparent effort to block approval of the new joint, Mr. Rizzolo's sister launched an enterprise identified as the Universal Church of Life Enhancement -- topless bars being banned within a prescribed distance from "churches" and schools. It was to go back and re-measure the distance of the from the bar to a neighboring school that Mr. McDonald urged two city employees to work overtime -- until that order was countermanded by the city manager.)

But to say that Mr. Bell's letters "exonerate" Councilman McDonald would be a stretch. In fact, Mr. Bell declines to prosecute in the matter of the topless bar only on the technicality that the law bans inappropriate actions for the "private benefit or gain" of the councilman or a friend like Mr. Rizzolo. In this case, it can't be proven Mr. Rizzolo would have actually made more money from a successful effort to sabotage his would-be competitor. In fact, police concluded the main goal of Mr. McDonald's "arguably inappropriate actions were for the purpose of thwarting Rogich, rather than helping Rizzolo."

Oh, joy. Mr. McDonald seems to have used the power of his office inappropriately, but since he did it only to punish a political enemy, and not for profit, he can't be prosecuted.

Wait, there's more. In fact, it's in the matter of the Las Vegas Sports Park that Mr. Bell's conclusion takes the cake.

Yes, Mr. McDonald clearly crossed the line from mere "discussion" to "lobbying" for his employers at Las Vegas Color Graphics, on a matter where he'd already acknowledged a conflict of interest, the district attorney concludes. But -- get this -- because Mr. McDonald was accepting his $52,000-per-year salary from these patrons "before the sale of the Sports Park became an issue, and is projected to receive the same annual salary long after, whether or not the Sports Park is sold," Mr. Bell concludes, "to suggest that the purpose of that compensation was to cause McDonald to breach his official duty ... simply cannot stand the test of logic."

Oh, right. Like anyone believes Mr. McDonald's handsome remuneration from Las Vegas Color Graphics has nothing to do with his political "juice" -- that he was actually hired for his intimate knowledge of that business, based on all his evenings of study out on West Sunset, donning his rubber apron and mixing up the processing chemicals.

By this argument, it would be fine for a U.S. congressman to receive an annual honorarium of $5 million per year form the Cali Cocaine Cartel -- and then to follow "suggestions" from the drug lords on how to lobby fellow congressmen on statutes affecting the War on Drugs -- so long as the congressman could be shown to have received his $5 million stipend "before the anti-drug allocation in question became an issue, and is projected to continue receiving the same annual salary long after," since in that case "to suggest that the purpose of that compensation was to cause the congressman to breach his official duty ... simply cannot stand the test of logic."

Prosecutor Bell concludes there's no such thing as bribery -- or even an "intent to purchase influence" -- so long as the payments are systematic, rather than being handed over on a one-time basis in plain brown bags when no one is looking.

Hey, the boys at Tammany Hall had nothing on this crowd!

At the very least, this report should make Mr. McDonald's constituents yearn for the next election. Some may even find themselves wondering if Frank Hawkins is still available.

Vin Suprynowicz is assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and editor of Financial Privacy Report (subscribe by calling Norm at 612-895-8757.) His book, "Send in the Waco Killers: Essays on the Freedom Movement, 1993-1998," is available by dialing 1-800-244-2224; or via web site http://www.thespiritof76.com/wacokillers.html.

Vin Suprynowicz, vin@lvrj.com

"When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved, as a rule the majority are wrong. The minority are right." -- Eugene V. Debs (1855-1926)

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed -- and thus clamorous to be led to safety -- by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." -- H.L. Mencken

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Quotes

Government doesn't work. Never did. Never will. Can't. But there are lots of good people. Love them.

-- Bill St. Clair

The Atlanta Declaration

Every man, woman, and responsible child has an unalienable individual, civil, Constitutional, and human right to obtain, own, and carry, openly or concealed, any weapon -- rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything -- any time, any place, without asking anyone's permission.

-- L. Neil Smith

Reread that pesky first clause of the Second Amendment. It doesn't say what any of us thought it said. What it says is that infringing the right of the people to keep and bear arms is treason. What else do you call an act that endangers "the security of a free state"? And if it's treason, then it's punishable by death. I suggest due process, speedy trials, and public hangings.

-- L. Neil Smith

A Penalty Clause for the Bill of Rights

Any official, appointed or elected, at any level of government, who attempts, through legislative act or other means, to nullify, evade, or avoid the provisions of the first ten amendments to this Constitution, or of the Thirteenth Amendment, shall be summarily removed from office, and, upon conviction, deprived of all pay and benefits including pension, and sentenced to imprisonment for life.

-- L. Neil Smith

Based on 253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications, and some of its own empirical work, the panel couldn't identify a single gun control regulation that reduced violent crime, suicide or accidents.

-- John Lott, commenting on the National Academy of Sciences report on gun control laws.

Who is a libertarian?

Zero Aggression Principle ("Zap")

"A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation. Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim."

-- L. Neil Smith

(Formerly called the "Non-Aggression Principle", or "NAP")

Why Did It Have to be... Guns?

Make no mistake: all politicians -- even those ostensibly on the side of guns and gun ownership -- hate the issue and anyone, like me, who insists on bringing it up. They hate it because it's an X-ray machine. It's a Vulcan mind-meld. It's the ultimate test to which any politician -- or political philosophy -- can be put.

If a politician isn't perfectly comfortable with the idea of his average constituent, any man, woman, or responsible child, walking into a hardware store and paying cash -- for any rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything -- without producing ID or signing one scrap of paper, he isn't your friend no matter what he tells you.

If he isn't genuinely enthusiastic about his average constituent stuffing that weapon into a purse or pocket or tucking it under a coat and walking home without asking anybody's permission, he's a four-flusher, no matter what he claims.

What his attitude -- toward your ownership and use of weapons -- conveys is his real attitude about you. And if he doesn't trust you, then why in the name of John Moses Browning should you trust him?

-- L. Neil Smith

Concise

"Tell me," I was once asked, "What do you think about gun control? Give me the short answer." To which I replied, "If you try to take our firearms we will kill you."

-- Mike Vanderboegh

Also from The Atlanta Declaration:

... like going to the bathroom, breathing, eating, sleeping, or making love, it turns out that self-defense is a bodily function one cannot safely or effectively delegate to a second party.

-- L. Neil Smith

This does not mean that "Marijuana should be available by prescription." It means that morphine sulfate should be available in five pound bags at the supermarket for a couple of bucks, like sugar... but probably in a different aisle, to avoid confusion.

-- Vin Suprynowicz

If you refuse to pay unjust taxes, your property will be confiscated. If you attempt to defend your property, you will be arrested. If you resist arrest, you will be clubbed. If you defend yourself against clubbing, you will be shot dead. These procedures are known as the Rule of Law.

-- Edward Abbey

The state can only survive as long as a majority is programmed to believe that theft isn't wrong if it's called taxation or asset forfeiture or eminent domain, that assault and kidnapping isn't wrong if it's called arrest, that mass murder isn't wrong if it's called war.

-- Bill St. Clair

End the War on Freedom

Getting by with a little help from his friends