It’s good to know Kenny’s getting by, despite drying up of bribe income

Those of you who were losing sleep worrying about whether corrupt former Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny is getting along can rest easy.

On Thursday in U.S. District Court, Kenny revealed that she makes $16,800 a month as a consultant to controversial developer Jim Rhodes.

Kenny disclosed that nugget under direct examination by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Schiess in the trial of land broker and developer go-between Donald Davidson. Davidson is accused of paying off Kenny with $200,000 to obtain a zoning change and special use permit for property at Desert Inn Road and Buffalo Drive for use as a CVS Pharmacy. He is charged with conspiracy, mail fraud and money laundering.

On the stand, Kenny identified Davidson, former strip club owner Michael Galardi, developer Eskander Ghermezian and someone named “the Chinaman” as persons who bribed her. Davidson worked for Ghermezian’s Triple Five Development Co. Ghermezian has not been charged in the case.

Kenny once again admitted betraying the public trust and committing felonies as a corrupt public official. Under her plea agreement, she can receive a lesser sentence for providing substantive cooperation.

SHOOT THIS HORSE: Barring a miraculous last-minute purchase, it appears that the beleaguered Crazy Horse Too topless club on Industrial Road will close before its weekend deadline.

But attorney Don Campbell, who obtained a $10 million judgment in a civil case for Crazy Horse Too victim Kirk Henry and his wife, Amy, apparently has grown tired of waiting. Campbell is scheduled to argue this morning in the courtroom of District Judge Jackie Glass for the right to go after Rick Rizzolo’s assets to satisfy the judgment.

As reported here a couple of weeks ago, federal officials continue to pursue selling the club.

CHAZ THEATRICS: Murder defendant Chaz Higgs failed once more this week in an attempt to commit suicide. Higgs, a critical care nurse on trial in Reno on charges of administering a lethal dose of a powerful muscle relaxant to state Controller Kathy Augustine, has recovered enough to allow the trial to resume. It’s the second time he’s attempted to kill himself since he became a suspect in his wife’s murder.

But think a moment. We have an experienced critical care nurse, who, according to a witness, knew enough about the lethal properties of the drug succinylcholine to explain to a nursing colleague that its use was fatal and untraceable. He had been around critically ill patients for years and surely knows more about the human body than most people.

Higgs twice has failed to do himself in, but will the third time be a charm?

WHOREMASTERPIECE THEATER: Just when Nevadans thought it was safe to reside without having to explain the strange phenomenon of Joe Conforte, the pimp who made the Mustang Ranch a household name is returning like an oily apparition. In what the Reno Gazette-Journal called Conforte’s first television appearance since he skipped out on tax-evasion charges 16 years ago, he’s scheduled to appear via a live feed from his Brazilian hideaway in Rio de Janeiro as part of the opening of the Joe Conforte Museum at a Northern Nevada brothel owned by Lance Gilman.

And they say Nevada has trouble attracting culture.

STILL STANDING: It’s long past time to save the sign from the Green Shack, the Boulder Highway restaurant legend. The building is demolished, but the sign still appears salvageable. It would make a fine addition to the city’s sign collection.

GOLDFIELD GUY: Jim Marsh, astounding collector of all things Nevada, is about to add another gem to his collection. The Las Vegas auto dealer is in the process of purchasing the Goldfield Consolidated Mine Co. building that once was the business home of George Nixon and George Wingfield.

Built in the early 1900s when Goldfield was known nationally as one of America’s last great mining boom towns, the first floor of the stone building resembles a bank with teller’s cages, roll-top desks and a walk-in safe with a steel door.

The second floor was used for managers and mapping, and Wingfield lived on the third floor. Marsh says he plans to restore the third-floor residence.

ON THE BOULEVARD: Heard the one about the Clark County official who flies home to California on the weekends to visit his family? At least he’s no longer driving a car with California license plates.

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