In this election, bedfellows make for strange politics
On the campaign trail, Republican lieutenant governor candidate Sue Lowden touts her decades in business as a casino executive to show she’s more qualified for the job of promoting tourism and economic development than her GOP opponent Mark Hutchison, an attorney and state senator.
Yet at the one casino Lowden and her husband, Paul, still own and operate — the Pioneer Hotel and Gambling Hall in Laughlin — a Southern Nevada Health District inspector once complained of “a lack of hotel management control” over a bed bug infestation that plagued the property for years.
In his July 27, 2011 report, the inspector said pest control efforts were “not effective up to this point.” He recommended “serious education for housekeeping staff” to get the problem under control at the 400-room hotel. The inspector seemed exasperated, writing in his report in capital letters: “THIS BED BUG INFESTATION PROBLEM INDICATES A LACK OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT CONTROL.”
A review of more than a half-dozen health district inspection reports on the Pioneer’s pest problems from 2010 until March of this year shows that hotel managers were constantly dealing with bed bug infestation complaints involving dozens of rooms that had to be closed to customers, their mattresses thrown away. In each case, the health district called for corrective action and the hotel complied, records show.
In fact, the Pioneer was never fined and improved its pest control efforts as time went on, although it has yet to eliminate the problem, which can be persistent in hotels and homes.
“Complaint valid. Management responded,” said a March 28, 2014 health inspector report dealing with a complaint about room No. 246, presumably from a hotel guest. The inspector also found black mold on the ceiling of another room and reported “repairs in progress.” The inspector said he could not verify an allegation that a truck used to transport food was used to haul away infested mattresses.
“Unable to substantiate,” the inspector wrote.
Jacqueline Reszetar, the health district’s director of environmental health, on Friday confirmed inspectors are satisfied with how the Pioneer is now handling its bed bug problem, which she said has eased.
“We don’t have any issues with the Pioneer,” Reszetar said. “They’re doing exactly what they need to do. I think they have a great (bed bug) control concept going on right now.”
Reszetar said bed bugs aren’t a health hazard like roaches and other pests — they travel from place to place on people.
“It’s not that they sprouted at the Pioneer,” she said. “Somebody brought them in. … Bed bugs are a nationwide problem. They’s just looking for a bug meal, but they’re not a public health threat. It’s just the ick factor.”
But for Lowden it could be a political factor, as well. The health district documents were provided to the Las Vegas Review-Journal by a GOP operative, who said they came from former Pioneer employees.
Lowden’s campaign said the bed bug issue doesn’t reflect badly on the candidate’s management ability.
“Everybody in Laughlin has an issue with bed bugs, but they’ve (the Pioneer) never been issued a citation,” Lowden campaign manager Tom Letizia said after speaking with Paul Lowden. “And they’ve adhered to every policy and procedure to minimize this issue that everyone’s dealing with in the area. They’ve complied 100 percent. So this is not an issue.”
The June 10 primary contest between Lowden and Hutchison is the most heated on the ballot, with the two vying for the No. 2 job in the state. Gov. Brian Sandoval has endorsed Hutchison. Both candidates and their backers have been questioning the credentials of their opponents to gain an edge with voters.
On a separate issue, Letizia said Paul Lowden also denied a complaint from a recently laid off worker that the Pioneer was late with payroll a couple of times last December, including around Christmas.
“That absolutely, positively never happened,” Letizia said. “The property is debt-free.”
He speculated that perhaps an employee had a problem with a “bank glitch” and got a late pay check.
Margaret Chiotti, whose marketing position was eliminated in April after three years, said her bank statements show the Pioneer was late with paychecks at least twice. Pay due on Dec. 13, 2013, showed up in her bank account on Dec. 15, she said. And pay due on Dec. 27 was deposited in her account on Dec. 30.
“I had asked if there were any kind of compensation due the employees because of our pay being late and was never answered,” Chiotti said in an email. “It was frustrating because we never were warned that it would be late and I know of individuals that had ‘banking issues.’”
“I was given several answers as to why the lateness happened, but in the end it was just plain inability of funds,” she said.
Contact Laura Myers at lmyers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919. Find her on Twitter: @lmyerslvrj.
