Despite competition, Kenny is likely the most hated former commissioner

As she approaches her scheduled sentencing Wednesday in federal court, in a quiet moment former Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny might allow a drop of doubt to form on her brow.

Did she do the right thing when she tried to save her neck by cutting a quick deal and turning on her corrupt former commission colleagues and sleazy sugar daddies in the developer community?

Kenny faces up to nearly four years in prison, but is expected to receive a reduced sentence thanks to her cooperation in the cases against former Commissioners Dario Herrera, Mary Kincaid-Chauncey, and Lance Malone, as well as in the ongoing trial of real estate consultant Donald Davidson. Despite her unconvincing act of contrition and her claims of memory loss due to "vertigo," Kenny was generally helpful to the prosecution.

It appears she didn’t provide the FBI and U.S. attorney’s office with additional incriminating information — as several informed sources believe she possessed — about other developers, real estate speculators, lawyers, politicians, and consultants. She failed to fully explain the sources of the veritable river of cash she managed to navigate in her tenure on the commission. Vertigo is a wonderful thing.

But all that could be behind her soon. Barring another delay, she will learn her fate come Wednesday.

If she ever harbored any doubt about whether she made the right choice, let me be the first to set her mind at ease. From the voluminous calls and letters I’ve received whenever I’ve typed "Erin Kenny" in a column, I’ve concluded the last thing the former commissioner wanted was to be tried by a jury of her peers.

Though she has plenty of competition, I’ll wager she’s the most hated former politician: More than Herrera, Kincaid-Chauncey, and Malone. Combined.

Maybe it’s her attitude. Perhaps it’s the vertigo dodge. Or the shenanigans she pulled to get a CVS Pharmacy approved. It could be her admission that her thievery included setting up an offshore bank account and using her elderly father as a front man.

Possibly it’s the fact she scored scads of money, upward of half a million at least, and skated on paying taxes. How many tip-earning waitresses and blackjack dealers, who by comparison get tracked like communist subversives, would Kenny want on her jury?

Maybe it’s the fact she’s still on the payroll of developer Jim Rhodes as a consultant at a couple-hundred thousand a year. That defines audacity. I guess Rhodes is thinking of going into the prison-building business and is looking for Kenny to consult with him from the inside. Felons might appreciate Kenny’s stealth, but they aren’t allowed to be jurors.

Then there are the thousands of constituents in her own and neighboring commission districts she directly betrayed when she lobbied for various zoning deals. I’m sure more than a dozen angry voters would have gladly volunteered to sit in judgment of Sticky Fingers Kenny.

The comments of reader Maury Krasnitz are typical of the prevailing theme.

"She was a bigger crook than the whole bunch of them," Krasnitz said. "She’s got so much money, and she can keep it. It makes no sense. And then she says she wasn’t raised that way. Her father was in on this thing, trying to get the offshore bank account."

A jury of her peers?

Chris Bohannon might have been one.

"She is such a crook and a disgrace that I can’t believe she isn’t doing time yet, like the others," Bohannon says. "We live in section 10 that she continually screwed over and right down the street from ‘her’ CVS.

"Once the commercial zoning starts in a residential area, it just dominoes. Kenny pulled some real sneaky ones in these areas, like bypassing those pesky rezonings and letting several businesses just take up shop. … Now between people racing up and down our 25 mph street from all the commercial properties that are surrounding us, it’s like a speedway."

Inquisitive jurors would ask questions.

Reader Bill Raszick asks, "Why isn’t CVS on the hot seat for GIVING the alleged bribe of $200,000 to Erin Kenny? CVS should be forced to tear down the building in question and restore property prior to this crap!"

That’s the problem with a jury of your peers.

Sometimes they hate your guts.

John L. Smith’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0295.