Vol. 3, No. 2
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November 15, 2005
Nevada's Online State News Journal
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CRIMINAL DEFENSE |
COPYWRITING
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Top News Story:
Land Deals Continue For Bill Walters But Questions Are Rampant
Conspiracy Questions And Meddling By City Officials At The Top Of The List
by Johnny Gunn
Thanks to some very good investigative reporting by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Royal Links Golf Course may not become home to several thousand people just yet. After the city council voted 6-1 to lift deed restrictions on the golf course land, investigations by the leading Nevada newspaper disclosed potential wrong-doing by city employees, and an investigation that had disclosed illegal acts by a city employee had not been made available to council members before the vote.
By law any councilperson may request a rehearing on a vote if that councilperson had taken part in the vote. Complaining of a lack of disclosure by city staff and a lack of "a full and complete" discussion from all parties involved, Councilman Steve Wolfson asked that the matter be placed on the council agenda for Wednesday, November 16.
The land in question is a 160 acre plot sitting next to a sewage treatment plant and had been leased to developer Bill Walters with restrictions that the land could only be used for a golf course. Walters then requested the city sell him the land which they did but the restrictions were continued in place. Walters paid the city $7.2 million for the land. One recent appraisal of the land puts its value as a housing area at $35.6 million and another places the value at a high mark of $55.7 million. Pretty nice profit for any developer.
Walters came before the city and asked that the deed restrictions be lifted so he could build residential homes on the land. Questions about building homes within 20 feet or so of a sewage treatment plant were raised, but a city engineering report, allegedly falsified by removing language dealing with sewage gasses and health questions, caused an investigation of the proposal.
It was because of that investigation the city learned that a former public works director, Richard Goecke may have broken several laws in dealings with Walters and the creation of the golf course in the first place. It is alleged that Goecke gave Walters special treatment prior to the letting of the lease. Allegations that Goecke also gave Walters special treatment on water rights and uses, and on adding additional land to the lease were also found to be against the law.
This investigation was not given to the city council prior to their vote on November 2. The fact that the investigation turned up potentially felonious conduct is what Councilman Wolfson is calling a lack of integrity and credibility as far as city staff and its relations with the council.
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, once Bill Walters' attorney, says it's all water under the bridge, that it happened a long time ago, and you know, I'm giving some of the money I made on the gin deal to the city. Isn't that wonderful? Goodman however did invite several city officials, some former officials, and others financially or politically interested to be at Wednesday's meeting. It's believed that ten people have been invited and it isn't known how many might actually show up.
The original dealings with Walters and the city took place during the time that Jan Jones was mayor of Las Vegas. There is some question that Goecke may testify and that questions about Jones's participation in his actions could come to the council table.
According to the city attorney's office the statute of limitations had run out on Goecke's alleged actions and no charges were filed. Many attorneys have questioned this thinking. One particular attorney who is familiar with Nevada and federal statutes, but who wishes to remain anonymous told the Nevada Observer that federal racketeering and conspiracy laws are such that if the alleged crime is continuing, and the action before the city council means it is continuing, then the statutes of limitation rules don't apply.
This is the kind of situation that grand juries were invented for, yet neither the city attorney nor any other investigative office has called for a grand jury investigation. Unfortunately in Clark County this is the norm. It is almost a given that if a grand jury is called on a local issue, it will be a federal grand jury not a Clark County grand jury that will be seated.
Based on the investigation by the city attorney, Nevada law has been broken, and it seems that federal law too has been sundered. The Las Vegas City Council has an opportunity on Wednesday to do something that rarely takes place in Sin City: Do something right. Wolfson says the integrity and credibility of the council is at stake. More to the point, the credibility and integrity of the City is at stake, once again.
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