One wonders about the caliber of the advice Erin Kenny provides

With a straight face, Erin Kenny testified developer Jim Rhodes pays her more than $200,000 a year for her “advice regarding government issues.”

It was a challenge not to laugh out loud.

Does she tell him the best people to bribe? (It’s pretty obvious the first place to start is with the Clark County Commission.)

Maybe she advises him on the best places for cash envelope exchanges? (International House of Pancakes, Jitters and Outback Steakhouse were among her personal favorites.)

The best accountant to use? (Daniel Geiger, a government witness himself, who now admits he prepared Kenny’s false campaign donation reports and false tax returns.)

The best place to hide bribes in offshore accounts? (Cook Islands.)

Erin Kenny has a lot of valuable information.

According to Kenny’s helpfully corrupt accountant, when Kenny was dipping into her campaign money for personal expenses, Geiger told her she was going to be short about $100,000. So she said she told Rhodes some of his donations wouldn’t show up on her campaign donation report for “Friends for Erin Kenny.”

Rhodes isn’t a stranger to moving campaign dollars around illegally. He broke federal law in the 2002 campaign by funneling a total of $27,000 in corporate money through his employees to Dario Herrera’s congressional campaign and Harry Reid’s Senate campaign. Rhodes settled the complaint by paying a $148,000 fine.

Kenny said Rhodes was one of the first people she called after her world came crashing down May 14, 2003, when FBI agents executed search warrants in Las Vegas and San Diego looking for further proof that strip club owner Michael Galardi was bribing politicians. That day, agents played her a snippet of a phone conversation she had with Lance Malone, a former commissioner and Galardi’s bagman, now in prison.

After consulting with her attorney, Kenny testified, “My immediate reaction was to take responsibility for my bad acts.”

She’s been on Rhodes’ payroll ever since she lost her bid for lieutenant governor and her term as county commissioner ended in January 2003. She must be a valuable employee. He started paying her $15,000 a month and later increased it to $16,800.

As a county commissioner, she was paid $54,000 a year.

Of course, that didn’t count the bribe money, at least $330,000 by her admission.

Or the campaign contributions she was illegally diverting to personal use.

She didn’t report any of this to the IRS.

(The most frequent question I get is why the Internal Revenue Service doesn’t go after her since she admits cheating on her taxes. Quite possibly, they have. If they have filed a civil case against her for back taxes, it’s not public information, and Kenny isn’t talking. Her plea agreement says no additional criminal charges can be filed against her. But it also says she has no protection from a civil tax liability, so don’t assume she won’t be asked to pay back taxes owed, or perhaps already has.)

When Kenny walked into the courtroom Thursday to testify against former Triple Five Nevada Development Corp. Vice President Donald Davidson, she didn’t look like she was suffering any cash shortages. Designer handbag. Brown and gold pantsuit that looked like a smart choice for a cocktail party. Look-at-me cleavage. Tasteful coiffure. Backless high heels.

She definitely didn’t look cheap. She looked rather well-maintained.

Davidson is accused of paying her a $200,000 bribe and of giving her a little folding money, $3,000 a month payments for three years, allegedly on behalf of his boss, Eskandar Ghermezian, who denies he’s the source of the cash.

Kenny’s scheduled to be sentenced July 11 by U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson, a sign her testifying days are over. Here’s my guess: She will be sentenced to two years in prison.

She won’t serve longer than the three former county commissioners now in jail or Galardi, the source of the bribes. Mary Kincaid-Chauncey received the lightest sentence, 30 months, the same as Galardi, who pleaded guilty and cooperated. Herrera got 51 months, and Malone got the toughest sentence at six years.

When Erin Kenny gets out, most likely she can go back to work for Jim Rhodes. Beats that county commissioner’s salary.

Jane Ann Morrison’s column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0275.