Business Politics – 2007 February

I recently learned that at one Clark County high school the algebra teacher has taken at least one week off for jury duty. With the teacher shortage in math, science, and special education, it seems absurd to take a (hopefully) qualified teacher out of the classroom for a week and replace that teacher with a substiture teacher, euphemistically called a “guest teacher” by Clark County school administrators, who often can’t spell algebra, let alone teach it.

Each day that the regular teacher is not in the classroom there are probably 125 or more students who aren’t getting the education they need. Seems to me a simple solution would be an exemption from jury duty–at least while the teacher’s school is in session.

Posted by Zounds Off at 4:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Steve Miller reports that former strip club owner Rick Rizzolo has less than three months remaining until he must turn himself in at Taft Federal Correctional Facility where he will be joined at Taft for five months of his twelve month sentence by his associate Vinny Faraci who got off with a slap on the wrist. Faraci’s excuse for a lighter sentence was that he would lose custody of his child; however his ex-wife is now married to Rizzolo’s lawyer Tony Sgro, who is the child’s step father. Steve notes that the judge in Faraci’s case, Kent Dawson, was appointed by Nevada’s U.S. Senator Harry Reid, who is a business partner of attorney Jay Brown, Brown works in the same 520 South Fourth Street law office as Faraci’s lawyer David Chesnoff. Brown also served with Oscar Goodman as a resident agent for Rizzolo’s corporation, and is now representing Mike Signorelli, who claims to be buying the Crazy Horse Too.

Steve writes, “Anywhere else in America, this would be called a conflict of interest. In Vegas, it’s business as usual.”

If that one is a conflict of interest, Steve, you might want to take a look at this one:

An interesting twist occurred last December, 2006 in a Clark County District Court on the way to closing the deal made for the Sapphire Gentleman’s Club. While tables were full of attorneys representing the various parties waiting to sign papers, a Mr. Brian Roche asked to speak to the court. Brian Roche, of the Roche Group, was an officer of Stake, LLC, which apparently had a minority interest in the strip club.

Stake LLC has been represented by Daniel Polsenberg, attorney at Beckley Singleton law firm in Las Vegas, during the sale of the Sapphire club. In the courtroom of Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez Mr. Roche, a former NFL football player, accused Mr. Polsenberg, of receiving money from one of the other parties in the action, namely Michael Talla, who outlasted his former partner Peter Eliades, an officer in Shac Eliades, LLC which manages Shac, LLC, party in this case, in an auction for the strip club where the winning bid was $80 million. Mr. Roche was present in the courtroom on December 18, 2006 armed with documents he claimed showed that attorney Polsenberg not only took money from Talla, but that Mr. Polsenberg was in the process of suing for more money. Mr. Polsenberg is the former president of the State Bar of Nevada.

If it happened, taking money from two parties in a action would be a conflict of interest a former Nevada State Bar president should recognize.

In an interesting note Shac LLC, which is managed by Shac Eliades, LLC whose officers include Pete Eliades, also lists as resident agent attorney Jay Brown, who now figures prominently with another strip club, Crazy Horse Too, by representing Mike Signorelli.

Posted by Zounds Off at 5:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While in Washington, D.C., for the National Governors Association Winter Meeting, Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons announced details of his proposed legislation to improve the tracking and registration of sex offenders in Nevada. The legislation includes:

Global Positioning System (GPS) monitoring of tier 3 sex offenders, or those most likely to re-offend, on parole or probation;

A requirement for convicted sex offenders to register before they are released from prison;

And a requirement for out-of-state sex offenders to submit DNA samples when registering as sex offenders in Nevada.

Maybe we should require all our politicians and candidates to wear those GPS ankle bracelets also, so that we might have known where Governor, then U.S. Representative, Gibbons was in that parking garage on the night he allegedly assaulted the cocktail waitress. It certainly would have helped to keep track of all those Clark County Commissioners so we knew where they were when they were bribed or when questions of residency arose without subjecting them to expensive FBI or union funded surveillance.

Posted by Zounds Off at 3:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nevada Senate Bill 52 would expand the Millennium Scholarship by giving a near full ride to 100 University of Nevada, Reno students who major in math and science education and to 300 potential special education teachers studying at University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

I wonder if there is a requred service attachment to the scholarship, because I can see recipients taking their credentials and heading off to a state with a more reasonable salary to cost of living–read housing costs–ratio. Also, does 400 scholarships address a 1,200 to 1,500 teacher shortage per year, high attrition rate among teachers, overcrowding, and the general dismal performance in Clark County alone?

Posted by Zounds Off at 5:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hillary Clinton announced that former Nevada Attorney General, Frankie Sue Del Papa, will lead her northern Nevada steering committee.

Del Papa attended George Washington, graduating in 1974. She served as a staff assistant to U.S. Senator Alan Bible, a Nevada democrat, and then clerked for U.S. District Judge Bruce Thompson. After practicing law for 12 years, she was sworn in as Nevada’s first woman secretary of state. Four years later she became the state’s first female attorney general. Del Papa backed out of a 1998 bid for governor and also a 2000 bid for U.S. Senate.

Posted by Zounds Off at 5:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, is pushing for a $15 million-per-year plan which should lower the number of uninsured Nevadans by 12,000 or about 3 percent.

AB168 would improve health care coverage for low-income pregnant women and children, while expanding a subsidy program for small businesses employees.

According to Michael Willden, director of the Department of Health and Human Services Nevada has an estimated 400,000 to 450,000 people without health insurance.

But other reports suggest that number is much higher. More than one out of three people (36.8 percent) in Nevada under the age of 65 went without health insurance for all or part of the two-year period from 2002-2003, according to the Census Bureau in its Current Population Survey published in Families Today, June 2004.

Posted by Zounds Off at 5:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A couple of current photos of the Palazzo project at the Venetian. The central tower core is almost topped out at 55 stories and the front facade is taking shape. The lower floors of the building have received the exterior finish.

Posted by flipchipro at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Steve Wynn recently revealed that dealers at his Wynn Las Vegas hotel-casino make $100,000 annually. Poor Steve can’t retain floor supervisors because they only make $60,000 a year. A first year teacher with the Clark County School District makes $30,299 and a teacher with a doctoral degree and 13 years experience receives $59,141. Guess who wins?

The Pentagon has abandoned plans for its massive test explosion in the Nevada desert, which would have raised the dust with the first mushroom cloud near Las Vegas since a nuclear test in the 1960’s. No Big Boom?

Posted by Zounds Off at 2:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sometimes I am absolutely thankful that I am a member of that tiny portion of the U.S population -forty percent- which lives under the poverty line, that I can’t afford health insurance for me or my son, etc. I mean I could have problems like Hilary Clinton. Just this past week she had to suffer the comments of David Geffen, DreamWorks founder and former supporter of Bill Clinton, who said, “Everybody in politics lies, but they [the Clintons] do it with such ease, it’s troubling,” Now that Hillary has Senator Harry Reid’s son Rory as her Nevada campaign manager the convoluted paths of Nevada business and politics will be even more interesting. It seems every time a scandal crops up, the Reid name is at least on the periphery; most recently, Rocco ‘Rocky’ Lombardo was sentenced to 60 months in prison for tax evasion while working at the Crazy Horse Too Gentleman’s Club. Rocco was represented by attorney John Spilotro who I would bet is related to Tony ‘the Ant’ Spilotro, friend and client of Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman. Tony ‘The Ant’ was found buried in a Midwest cornfield and is the character Joe Peschi portrayed in the movie ‘Casino’.

Reportedly, it may have been Rocco’s brother, Joey ‘the Clown’ Lombardo who ordered the hit on the Ant and had him buried. Club owner Rick Rizzolo and 16 employees pleaded guilty to federal charges. Now attorney Jay Brown has stepped in to run things.

Jay Brown was the subject of a 1979 Justice Department probe. The allegations were that while working as an attorney for the Tropicana he gave bribes to a subsequently cleared Harry Reid. At the time Reid was a Nevada Gaming Commissioner. Jay Brown is a friend and business partner with Harry Reid in some of his questionable land deals brokered by Lionel, Sawyer and Collins… law firm where Rory Reid works.

But odd behaviors and scandals aren’t limited to Reid’s long-time associates either; as one of Harry Reid’s shining proteges, Darius Herraro, was convicted of bribery charges and recently sentenced as a result of G-Sting, where strip club owner Mike Galardi funneled money, through former County Commissioner, Lance Malone, to several Clark County Commissioners for favorable votes.

But Harry Reid’s questionable “associations” go way back. Kansas City Mafia representative Joe Agosto was caught by a FBI wiretap in the late 1970’s boasting that he had in his pocket “Mr. Cleanface”, which he later explained was his nickname for Nevada Gaming Commission chairman Harry Reid. (See The Money and the Power, by Sally Denton and Roger Morris, pg. 336.)

In 2002, Reid bought property from a business associate for the lofty sum of $166 an acre. Property which once sold for $8,400 an acre and was appraised at $2,144 an acre by the county assessor. See Harry Reid in another shady land deal.

Other Reid problems include Reid’s Coyote Springs Valley Scandal: Over the last four years, Reid has used his influence in Washington to help the developer, Nevada super-lobbyist Whittemore, clear obstacles from Coyote Springs’ path. Reid also collected about $68,000 in donations from Jack Abramoff’s firm, lobbying partners and clients. Reid successfully pushed legislation in 2002 that opened tens of thousands of acres of federal land for private development by none other than his sons’ employers.

Yet another business deal that Harry had with Jay Brown began in 1998 when Reid bought undeveloped residential property on Las Vegas’ booming outskirts for about $400,000, one lot outright, and a second parcel jointly with Brown. One of the sellers was a developer who was benefiting from a government land swap that Reid supported. Then three years later, In 2001, Reid sold the land for the same price to a limited liability corporation created by Brown. The senator didn’t disclose the sale on his annual public ethics report or tell Congress he had any stake in Brown’s company; instead, he continued to report to Congress that he personally owned the land. After getting local officials to rezone the property for a shopping center Brown’s company sold the land in 2004 to other developers and Reid took $1.1 million of the proceeds. From Harry Reid’s Land Deal .

And it appears that son Rory is intimately entwined in several of his father’s deal through his law firm and that he has acquired the same friends and associates as his father. During Rory Reid’s term as Nevada Democratic Party Chairman, on October 16, 2000, the Nevada Democratic Party received a $25,000 contribution from the Oscar Goodman PAC, named for Oscar Goodman, the mob lawyer probed on suspicion of channeling Mafia funds to Harry Reid in 1979.

But even though the Reid family is intimately tied to mob activities in the seventies and eighties and land scandals since then, one has to admit that the Reid family is pretty successful at getting the money. From a Steve Miller article, Los Angeles Times reporters Chuck Neubauer and Richard Cooper cited over 20 instances involving Senator Reid, either Rory Reid or other members of the Reid family, and special interest groups representing gambling, real estate, mining, and other areas where over a four-year period from 1999 to 2003 the Reid family’s various firms “collected more than $2 million in lobbying fees from special interests that were represented by the kids and helped by the senator in Washington.”
See Steve Miller for a much more in depth article on this.

So, Hillary has that dilemma I will never face-although she may find her campaign sullied by strange blogging entities enjoying her campaign’s connection to Nevada’s “colorful” past and present. Clinton is the benefactor of some of Nevada’s “finest” money generating machines. She has a few options to explain it all away. She can always paraphrase Barak Obama and say she is not responsible for the actions of others; she could say only the money is important not the source; or she can claim she never knew. And as Geffen says, the Clintons lie with troubling ease. Who knew?

Posted by Zounds Off at 6:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From the blog of Mark Litwak, entertainment attorney.

Republishing Defamatory Statements on the Internet is Protected Under the Communications Decency ActDr. Stephen J. Barrett and Dr. Terry Polevoy brought suit against Ilena Rosenthal for libel by maliciously distributing defamatory statements in e-mails and Internet postings on her website. Plaintiffs’ website was used to expose health fraud and the Defendant allegedly republished several messages impugning their character and competence even after she was warned that the messages contained false and defamatory information.

The Court of Appeal vacated the trial court’s motion to strike under the anti-strategic lawsuit against public participation statute (Code Civ. Proc. s. 425.16), as applied to one Plaintiff, holding that 47 U.S.C. s. 230 applied to Defendant as a “distributor” under the common law of defamation.

The Supreme Court of California reversed the judgment of the Court of Appeal holding that s. 230 prohibits “distributor” liability for Internet publications and that section (c)(1) of the Act immunizes individual users of interactive computer services and that no line can be drawn between active and passive use.

The Court stressed the fact that the holding of the Court of Appeals would cause a heavy burden on and tend to chill Internet speech.

See Also: Barrett v. Rosenthal, 40 Cal.4th 33 (2006)

OK, you never know what I will read–philosophical treatise (Cliff Note version) to murder mysteries to cereal boxes–but, if you are on the Internet, this is good stuff.

Posted by Zounds Off at 2:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I recently read an article in one of the View newspapers where Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) has earmarked 2 million dollars for the landscaping and beautification of three roads as long as the communities involved also pony up a matching amount. Two of the roads are in the Boulder City area, including 8 miles of U.S. 93 from the Lake Mead Recreation Area to Railroad Pass and U.S. 95 from the California border north while the third is Mojave Desert Vista running from Kyle Canyon Road to the Nye County border. This has the approval of the Regional Transit Commission (RTC), also.

Fortunately, one of the communities involved, Boulder City, appears to have passed on the idea citing such obstacles as who will be expected to maintain any landscaping done, including watering. I would think in the desert no one should throw a few million at a project which would require using more of our limited water so that tourists streaming to the Las Vegas Strip can have some plants, which will die from the fumes of trucks, busses, and cars, along with some more stones and fake turtles to ignore on their way.

Another waste is the project of putting up those pretty sound walls along the expressways – I mean slow-ways. Just looks to me like they will come down in a couple of years if our politicians and NDOT ever get the message – hopefully by trying to drive somewhere – that those roads are too narrow by a couple lanes per side while the interchanges in the valley are abysmal. If there is a just God, please let the architects of our road system spend eternity driving them. Plus, I can’t wait until more towers are built in this valley so that when everyone leaves their homes, condos, and high-rises in the morning, traffic will stop dead forever. Lucky for us we have the LAS VEGAS MONORAIL!

Posted by Zounds Off at 6:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nevada Assembly Democrats called for ethics reform Monday, notably for the automatic removal from office of a state official who violates ethics laws three times and the prohibition of public officials from using government resources for a political campaign.

Also at issue is for Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) that contribute to campaigns to file contribution and expenditure reports and to register with the secretary of state.

Perhaps the most fatuous and obvious statement was that of Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas who said, “Confidence has been seriously eroded in the last couple of years with indictments, convictions and scandals.” You think?

According to a Reno Gazette-Journal article Fred Lokken, a political science professor at Truckee Meadows Community College believes there won’t be reform for two reasons: “One, the public is not clamoring for it and, two, they don’t want to cut off the deals they have.”

Similar legislation passed in the Assembly in the 2005 session, but failed in the Senate.

One area the Democrats’ bill does not address is “bundling,” whereby a person or group can donate more than the $10,000 campaign limit through various LLCs. Recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that Reno businessman Warren Trepp donated $90,000 to the campaign of Gov. Jim Gibbons through a number of separate companies.

Actually, it seems like business as usual in Nevada. With all the shows on the Las Vegas Strip for the tourists, entertainment for the locals appears to include following the scandals but without really being bothered. Although, I hear at least three times a week from locals in Las Vegas that they had more confidence when the “mob” was running things.

Posted by Zounds Off at 2:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In a response to last year’s approval by voters on question 2 concerning eminent domain–iitself a response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. the City of New London–a bipartisan group of Nevada lawmakers is proposing a constitutional amendment to limit eminent domain powers..

Freshman Assemblyman James Ohrenschall, a Las Vegas Democrat, is the primary sponsor of AJR2, just introduced on Monday, which would amend the Nevada Constitution to prohibit government taking of private property for any private use, while last week the Senate and Assembly introduced similar bills, SB85 and AB102 respectfully, prohibiting the taking of private property for economic development.

The flurry of bills follows approval in November of question 2 by voters, which got 63 percent of the vote, and applies to all uses of eminent domain, not just economic development or private use, and requiring that compensation for the land be based on its “highest and best use,” and if the land was not used within five years, the selling party could buy the property back at the original sale price. For more on this see Proposal…

Posted by Zounds Off at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Even if Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, is withholding his endorsement for the next Democratic White House contender until the candidates have all played ball with Harry, it seems likely that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is a lock for the endorsement as Harry’s son Rory has already taken the plunge by signing on as Nevada chairman for Hillary’s presidential march. Rory Reidis chairman of Nevada’s Clark County Commission; a former chairman of the Nevada State Democratic Party; an attorney at the Las Vegas law firm of Lionel, Sawyer, and Collins, which has been involved in some of the Reid family land deals; and who is unlikely to have taken this step unless it works to Harry’s advantage.

Posted by Zounds Off at 7:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From the 2003 presidential race in Argentinia.

Posted by pokerprof at 7:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Nevada Supreme Court is holding a public hearing at 2 p.m. March 1 in Carson City on the final proposal of the Study Committee on Lawyer Advertising, which was ratified by the board of Governors last year.

It seems that Las Vegas attorney Glen Lerner will finally be in compliance with the Nevada Supreme Court Rule 7.2. on advertising; filing requirements; and volunteer advisory committees, if proposed rule changes are accepted.

The proposed change would lift a ban on media advertising which includes testimonials by clients which it appears that Lerner has been flaunting since the proposal was submitted. Lerner has gotten into trouble with the Nevada Bar Association over his television ads in the past and apparently has received one license suspension in the past for other irregularities.

But it appears this time Lerner, although jumping the gun on proposals which are not law, won’t see any scrutiny by the bar association. For the proposed rule changes click on http://www.nvbar.org/SCLA/scla.htm

Posted by Zounds Off at 7:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My favorite quote of the past couple of weeks…

“Money trumps… Peace”

$450 Million and we can talk…

That’s the price tag of the stadium the NBA is demanding Vegas build before it will even consider gracing the city with its presence again. I for one hope the city considers building this since a state of the art stadium will help the city stay on (or near) top in the increasingly competitive global entertainment market. (I’m looking at you Macau). [LVRJ]

Presidential Hopefuls and Media Elite swarm over Nevada… no one really paying much attention.

Bill Richardson, Wolf Blitzer, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton and even “I’m too good for Nevada” Barrak Obama are all descending on the State in various ways. Vegas-centric to this – Edwards, appeared on Bill Maher from Las Vegas and Wolf Blitzer camped in front of the Venetian for a couple of board-casts and Interviews. [Sun]

Posted by pokerprof at 6:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I see where the 60,000-member strong Culinary Workers Union is intensifying its voter registration efforts both in English and in Spanish because of the new presidential calendar, though it remains to be seen how the final positioning of caucuses and primaries plays out as several mostly unimportant states jockey for momentary fame.

With Nevada’s Hispanic population at nearly 23 percent, compared to 3.5 percent in Iowa and 2 percent in New Hampshire, Hispanics in Nevada are looking forward to making noise in the coming presidential race.

According to a quote I found at CNN.com Manny Barajas, a member of the Culinary Union stated, “We are busboys, we are dishwashers, we are waiters, we are cooks, but you know we impact a lot of the economy of the United States.”

They are also in higher paying construction jobs so don’t let the sob story fool anyone that the Hispanics only take jobs no one wants. They are also thousands, most likely, of illegal immigrants in Nevada and, interestingly, it also appears that many thousands in this state have managed to obtain several identities with social security numbers and different names. I would guess that, if one is arrested on one identity, he or she can simply disappear and go back to work on another. I can only believe that the big push to enroll Hispanic voters will lead to a lot of Hispanics holding more than one voter registration in the next elections, since the registration process is so rigorous in this state—when I first moved back to this state, all I had was an out of state driver’s license and I was registered on the sidewalk in front of a Circuit City store by saying yes to a few questions. Illegal and allowed to vote two or more times—seems like a crime our politicians either support or are afraid to address for fear of not getting the illegal vote.

Posted by Zounds Off at 6:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Susette Kelo, the woman at the center of the national battle over property rights, sent cards to the people involved in using eminent domain to take her house to make way for private development.

The cards feature a picture of her pink house and a message that reads, in part: “Your houses, your homes, your family, your friends. May they live in misery that never ends. I curse you all. May you rot in hell. To each of you I send this spell.”

The U.S. Supreme Court, in Kelo v. City of New London, ruled in June 2005 that New London, CT had the right to take homes in her neighborhood to make way for a riverfront project that will include condominiums, a hotel, and office space.

Kelo did accept a $442,155 settlement, more than $300,000 above the 2000 appraised value of her house and her little pink house will be moved elsewhere in the city.

As Clark County attempts to pave the Las Vegas/Henderson valley from mountainside to mountainside, I can see thousands of “well-wishers” sending “holiday greetings” to politicians and developers, whose mission statement seems to be “Let’s rape the limited resources today and be merry for the fallout will be someone else’s problem tomorrow.” I am also thinking we might as well scrap the U.S. Constitution since it only means as much–and apparently less– as five or more fools on the Supreme Court Bench say it does.

For more go to “Plaintiff in groundbreaking eminent domain case sends angry holiday message”

Posted by Zounds Off at 7:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ALM’s Strategic Research Institute’s the Business of Gaming Forum, is scheduled for February 22-23, in Las Vegas, and will feature leading executives within the casino and gaming industry.

Featured Speakers will represent such companies as Resorts International, IGT/Mariposa, Innovative Systems, Inc., Konami Gaming, Inc., and will include David G. Schwartz, Director of the Center for Gaming Research. University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

The conference will include sessions on Bonusing and Cashless Gaming, The Future of Gaming, Creating a Customer Marketing Database, and more.

Among the dozens of delegates expected are representatives from Bally Technologies, Gaming Marketing Solutions, Global Cash Access, Infosys Consulting, Inc., Innovative Systems, Inc., The Venetian, and the University of Nevada.

Certainly won’t have the media attention of the NBA all star game but sure to be more important than watching spoiled atheletes for two hours. Maybe the gaming forum should consider an half time show also.

Posted by Zounds Off at 4:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I consider myself a libertarian. Besides allowing me to wear a tinfoil hat with pride, that means most of my political concerns are based around freedom. I’m for free speech and free trade, but not a free lunch, because anyone who groks his Heinlein knows there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. Thanks to the wonders of the internet I know that there are a lot of other similarly-minded people out there in this world, but sometimes I still feel like a political outsider in the Land of the Free. These feelings are only amplified when I look at the approach our elected officials take to the issues most important to me.

Take free trade, for instance. The people in power in America who claim to support free trade are worse than lukewarm on this issue; they want to have it both ways. You can start at the top and work your way down – President Bush has declared his support for free trade in foreign nations like Peru, but he has also imposed tariffs protecting steel mills in states vital to his re-election. Plenty of lower-level officials mimic the behavior of the Commander-in-Chief, too, trumpeting the importance of world markets to their pet industries until those markets threaten their political lives. I could go a long way down this road – and at some point in the future I will – but today I have something particular in mind.

Anyone who follows gambling-related news knows about the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. For those of you in the dark, the UIGEA outlaws the use of third-party payment processors to transfer funds from US citizens’ bank accounts to online gambling institutions. The bill was passed as a rider to a port security bill last fall, rammed through at the last second as a political ploy by then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee. The bill’s effects are only now beginning to be felt. Most of the legitimate foreign-based online payment processors, such as the London Stock Exchange-listed Neteller PLC, have left the US market, and any CEO who dares to stay in the market risks arrest if they’re caught stepping foot in the US. As a result, many online gaming sites have been left in the lurch, despite online gambling having never been expressly outlawed in the US. The only legal online gambling left in the US are horse racing and state lotteries, whose lobbyists helped get them an exemption from the legislation.

It’s the last part here that’s most relevant to the free trade issue. Many online gambling sites are based in Europe, and the European Union – many of whose members, including the United Kingdom, are much more accepting of online gambling – isn’t taking too well to the prospect of the UIGEA tanking what the EU considers legitimate businesses while US-based online gambling interests could set up shop. In fact, the EU is starting to grumble about making a case before the World Trade Organization that the US is engaging in protectionism. This probably wouldn’t be such a big deal if the tiny Caribbean nation of Antigua hadn’t won a ruling against the US at the WTO back in 2003 when it argued that the US was engaged in protectionism over exactly the same issue. (The WTO is set to hand down a ruling on the case later this year.)

Before the passage of the UIGEA, some of the biggest proponents of banning online gambling in the US accepted donations from domestic gambling interests. Harrah’s Entertainment, for instance, was listed as the 13th-largest donor to Frist’s re-election campaign in 2000. Then there’s Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, whose second-largest donor was the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. Both of these men tended to vote for free trade agreements in general, but they made protecting their donors from global competition a priority. (Frist didn’t run for re-election in 2006, but Goodlatte is still in action.)

So what we have here is a case of US politicians wanting to have their cake and eat it too. Until now there have been trade repercussions for protectionism, but never any major political repercussions. If the WTO rules against the US in the Antigua case and the EU subsequently decides to throw its weight around, the ball will be back in the US politicians’ court. Will they continue to support free trade, choosing to work out a way to help everyone win? Or will they turn their backs on it to continue currying favor with political donors? And more importantly, what will the political impact of the quick-passage UIGEA be if a world body tells the US to play fair?

Posted by Shark Hunter at 4:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

According to the Wall Street Journal this morning Governor Jim Gibbons is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Allegedly Gibbons took thousands and thousands in unreported gifts from contractors. Now, ’round these parts we usually call ‘unreported gifts’ by another name…BRIBES.

So, it seems the Gov. has a new challenge, withstanding the scrutiny of our vast and federal investigative police force. Several bloggers will be dancing in the streets on this news I’m sure.

Posted by pokerprof at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A federal judge sentenced former Commissioner Lance Malone Wednesday to six years in prison for delivereing bribes to Clark County Commissioners Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and Dario Herrera, who were convicted and sentenced to federal prison, and Erin Kenny who accepted a plea agreement.

Malone originally agreed to plead guilty for a sentence of not more than three and a half years, but the judge increased the sentence when prosecutors entered new evidence this week showing Malone took bribes while in office.

Prosecutors presented phone tap excerpts supporting allegations that Eskander Ghermezian, co-owner of Canada-based company, Triple Five Development that wanted to build a casino, promised to pay lobbyist Donald Davidson and Malone a combined $250,000 for Malone’s favorable vote.

Malone originally stood firm against the casino but his sudden change of vote in 2000 began a scandal that included circulation fliers by Station Casinos that accused Malone of accepting a $100,000 bribe from.

Malone sued Station Casinos over the allegation and won a previously undisclosed settlement of $350,000.

Hmmm. Taking bribes and suing over allegations of bribery and winning; Malone had the best of both worlds–at least for a little while.

For more see Former Commissioner Sentenced in Political Corruption Case and Malone Pre-sentencing Memo.

Posted by Zounds Off at 7:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wandering around the south end of the Las Vegas strip checking out the Chinese New Year decorations I parked at the Bellagio Resort next to the Citycenter construction site. A rare event for me to be out when there is still some sunlight so I shot a couple of photos of the remarkable progress of the massive $8 billion project. Photos are current as of late Tuesday afternoon.

Posted by flipchipro at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Republican Mitt Rommey threw his hat into the ring today as he declared himself a candidate for a run to the White House in 2008. The a former governor of Massachusetts made the announcement in his home state at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

“Innovation and transformation have been at the heart of America’s success. If there ever was a time when innovation and transformation were needed in government, it is now,” he said as he officially launched his campaign on Tuesday. “We have lost faith in government, not in just one party, not in just one house, but in government. We are weary of the bickering and bombast, fatigued by the posturing and self-promotion. For even as America faces a new generation of challenges, the halls of government are clogged with petty politics and stuffed with peddlers of influence. It is time for innovation and transformation in Washington. It is what our country needs. It is what our people deserve.”

Romney is a legit contender to capture the GOP nod. The devout Mormon is considered more conservative than both Senator John McCain and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Romney admitted that he stands by President’s Bush’s commitment to send more troops to Iraq and feels that a pull out could trigger a civil war.

“I believe that so long as there is a reasonable prospect of success our wisest course is to seek stability in Iraq, with additional troops to secure the civilian population,” he said.

Here are some random facts about Mitt Romney:

His father is George Romney, a former Governor of Michigan.

He graduated from Harvard.

He ran for the U.S. Senate in 1994 against Ted Kennedy and lost.

He was elected as Governor of Massachusetts in 2002. He served one term and did not seek re-election.

He was brought in to clean up the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002 after the IOC scandal.

He’s the founder and CEO of Bain Capital which backed Domino’s Pizza in the late 1980s.

He’s a devout Mormon and a former bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

He has five children and ten grandchildren.

Photo source: Rebecca Cook (Reuters)

Posted by Dr. Pauly at 9:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Culinary Union has already begun preparing for labor talks on contracts covering 50,000 maids, food-service workers and cocktail waitresses.

The look of the players in the negotiations has certainly changed since the last negotiations in 2002.

For the casinos there are only two major players; there were four in 2002. The former Park Place Entertainment changed its name to Caesars Entertainment, which was taken over by Harrah’s Entertainment, who now looks to go private with the equity firms, Texas Pacific Group and Apollo Management Group, while Mandalay Resort Group was purchased by MGM Mirage. Also, Tropicana and the Las Vegas Hilton have new owners.

On the union side the Culinary’s parent organization, the hotel and restaurant-focused HERE, joined with the textile and laundry-focused UNITE.

Culinary members are concerned over the possibility of losing pensions or free health insurance, followed by the increasing cost of living.

See Hotel workers gearing up for tough contract talks.

Posted by Zounds Off at 12:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

According to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the chief executive of Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., Gary Loveman, will receive about $94 million in stock options and other bonuses if the world’s largest casino buyout deal is completed.
Loveman would collect on stock options worth $80.3 million, stock appreciation rights worth $8.8 million, and restricted shares worth $4.9 million, and he can receive an additional $18.9 million, if he voluntarily quits a year after the buyout is completed.

For more see Golden Parachute article.

Posted by Zounds Off at 12:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A message of hope and unity stirred massive crowds as Senator Barrak Obama announced his 2008 Presidential bid on the steps of the building where Abe Lincholn once sered in the Illinois State legislature. Like Lincoln Obama served in the Illinois State Senate for eight years and the U.S. Legislature for two. [Barack Obama]

Obama is skipping the silver State later this month for the Reno Forum. [Newsmax]

I sincerely hope Obama reconsiders this decision and stop by the Silver state even if Hillary Clinton’s endorsement is foregone conclusion. On the other hand I’m pretty sure there will be a media feeding frenzy around these early front-runners. They will be built up and torn down long before the real competition beings, so, at this point I believe a ‘why care’ attitude is prudent.

Posted by pokerprof at 6:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just read an article over at the Las Vegas Business Press called Nevada Casinos Break Record Again in 2006. Nevada casinos won $12.6 billion combinded. That’s the take from every casino in the entire state. Almost two-thirds of number was generated by slot machines. Yes, it’s true. Slot machines brought in a record $8.3 billion. I wonder how much Grubby’s loses affected the numbers?

Tables games accounted for $4.3 billion with Baccarat leading the way with over $836 million. Add up all those dollars lost at craps, blackjack, and Let It Ride and that’s a hefty number. Las Vegas Strip casinos represented over 53% of Nevada’s overall take from 2006, which seems rigth considering that millions of tourists flock to the popular Las Vegas Strip more so that any of the casinos in Reno or at Stateline.

Nevada casinos won at least $1 billion in nine out of twelve months of 2006, ending the year with the most profotable December of all time. With the NBA All-Star game coming to Las Vegas, industry insiders expect to have a record month.

Posted by Dr. Pauly at 11:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

According to a RJ article, the Tropicana Casino has been and will be cutting several jobs. Those recent cuts come only four weeks after Columbia Sussex Corporation’s $2.75 billion buyout of the Tropicana from former parent company Aztar Corp. on January 3rd.

One of the first signs of a reduction of staff was when Pietro’s Italian restaurant closed it’s doors soon after the buy out. There has not been a confirmed number of layoffs.

Columbia Sussex CFO Rich Fitzpatrick admitted the cutbacks. He told the RJ that, “We’re rightsizing the organization and eliminating underperforming assets. Many of the cutbacks were at the middle manager level. We believe in managing customers, not other employees.”

A $2 billion expansion of the Tropicana is slated for October. It’s well overdue.

Posted by Dr. Pauly at 8:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HSBC Holdings Plc (NYSE: HBC) was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan, as the firm believes the loan loss from the U.S. mortgage business may be 20% worse than expected. They recommend investors to short HBC shares and use any rally to add short positions.

Six months ago I was receiving four applications a week for various credit cards but all applications were to be returned to one address–HSBC. Some day I will understand why companies are in such a rush to increase personal debt in this country to the point that billions of dollars are defaulted. My solution–every application was shredded and dumped.

Posted by Zounds Off at 5:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Casino Advisory Panel advising Britain’s Dept. for Culture, Media and Sports recommended Manchester as the location for a new mega-casino. Krezner International seemed to have the best chance at building, but now Las Vegas Sands has announced they will enter the competition. The Sands is already the largest casino operation, coming out of 2006 with mega profits from its China gaming and the Venetian in Las Vegas, and they are also committed to another huge project on Hengqin Island near Macau.

Other potential bidders for the rights just might include Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. and MGM Mirage (NYSE:MGM).

For more see Rumors by Tom Barlow.

Posted by Zounds Off at 4:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some corporate scandals get headlines, such as Enron, Adelphia; some get a cursory story in the news such as Haliburton; and some just quietly pass on by while people get screwed like these: The Eli Lilly chief executive, Sidney Taurel, received a four percent raise last year to $1.65 million, raising his compensation to $15.2 million. Eli Lilly, a drug maker, cited the company’s six percent sales increase in 2005 and “strong head-count control” as reasons for the raise. “Strong head count control” must be a new politically correct title; Eli Lilly fired nearly 2,000 employees.[NBC24]

According to the New York State attorney general Samsung Electronics agreed to pay $90 million to settle a lawsuit charging the company and others with making secret deals to raise the prices of DRAM chips. [AP]

A U.S. appeals court ruled Tuesday that Wal-Mart Stores must face a class-action lawsuit alleging that female employees were discriminated against in pay and promotions. The lawsuit claims that as many as 1.5 million current and former female employees earned less than men and were bypassed for promotions. Wal-Mart claimed rules of class actions should not apply in the case because its 3,400 stores operated like independent businesses, and that the company did not have a policy of discriminating against women. [FNR]

The last time I heard Wal-Mart complain they didn’t have a policy that led to an infraction was around 2002 or 2003 when several subcontractors for cleaning stores were found to hire illegal aliens and pay less than minimum wage. Wal-Mart claimed no knowledge and no control over subcontractors but apparently federal agents knew where the documents or e-mails could be found in Bentonville, AR which showed that Wal-Mart executives were aware that subcontracts paid so low that companies filling them would be forced to cut the corners they did.

Posted by Zounds Off at 1:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I couldn’t help but notice that Barbara Buckley, elected Monday as Assembly speaker–the first woman in state history–promptly outlined an agenda that includes full-day kindergarten,

Why is it that of all issues facing Nevada and especially Clark County–crumbling infrastructure, rising disparity between the rich and working poor, home foreclosures, usurious interest rates, really bad drivers, rising crime, and general unhappiness (even if Las Vegas Mayor Oscar is happy), the first issue our politicians seem to want to address is…all day kindergarten?

Is it just babysitting? After all, what do kids do in all day kindergarten—kids need snacks, naps, play time, and extra time to get into activities and out of them and get ready to go home. After all that, are they actually getting more education and why would they? If I remember my Chomsky and others, the human brain handles different learning abilities at different stages of development and presenting learning activities when the child is not ready is meaningless at best or may frustrate or scare the child. What I find absurd is that as our students fail as against even third world countries in education, we believe early intervention is the answer where these other countries focus on longer school days, more homework, and an utterly blasphemous concept of little emphasis on school sports. What all day kindergarten seems good for is cheaper daycare for the working parents, an excellent way to remove a child from a home where the parents can’t parent, and a wonderful way to divert resources away from students who should be ready to learn. It seems strange to me that here in Clark County, which is always several hundred teachers short of servicing the grades already in place, they want to start a program, which several studies suggest has no lasting effect past third grade, and take resources that should be used to find math and science teachers and not to monitor a Play-Doh party.

Posted by Zounds Off at 12:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

On Dec. 6, 2006 the Clark County Commission, gave the go ahead for the Las Vegas Monorail Co. to proceed with extension plans to McCarran Airport but will provide no money. The company has to finance the extension itself and plans to start building in 2011.

Will there even be a monorail in 2011?

Posted by Zounds Off at 11:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ocassionally I just like to gather quotes:

Las Vegas casino owner, Bob Stupack once said, “We target everybody. Money’s money. What is the difference if it is a Social Security check, a pension check, welfare check or a stock dividend check? It’s our duty to extract as much money as we can from the customer.”

“…I’m not going to jail,” says Yvonne Atkinson Gates, County Commissioner after announcing she will step down from her position during an interview with Jon Ralston. Her last day on the board will be March 2, 2007.

She has been in the center of several scandals here in the valley, including G-Sting which claimed the political careers of Erin Kenney, Dario Herraro, and Mary Kincaid, plus the recent University Medical Center mess where its president Lacey Thomas had to step down for awarding phoney contracts to his college fraternity brothers. Despite the heat she claims one of the reasons she’s stepping down is because she wants to spend more time with her family.

Do politicians really believe that after several years of neglecting family for ambition, we “believe” its for family and not that the fire is too close that causes them to flee the kitchen.