EDITORIAL: LVCVA cancels Goodman’s sweetheart ambassador deal
It shouldn’t have taken a global health pandemic, but the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is doing some much-needed housecleaning.
On Monday, the convention authority canceled its consulting contract with former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman. As of 2017, Mr. Goodman received $72,000 a year to work as a brand ambassador. His responsibilities included showing up at events holding a cocktail and escorting two showgirls.
“Due to impact of COVID-19 and its closure of the destination, we sadly canceled Mayor Oscar Goodman’s consulting agreement as our Host Committee chairman,” LVCVA spokeswoman Lori Nelson-Kraft said in a statement.
From the beginning, this deal reeked of cronyism. Before his brand ambassador gig began in 2011, Mr. Goodman was mayor of Las Vegas for 12 years and chaired the board that governs the convention authority. His wife, current Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman, currently sits on the board.
In 2017, the Review-Journal’s investigative team revealed that former convention authority CEO Rossi Ralenkotter had boosted Mr. Goodman’s yearly pay from $60,000 to $72,000 without seeking board approval. Mr. Ralenkotter was charged last year with a felony and accused of using agency gift cards to pay for personal flights. Mr. Ralenkotter denies wrongdoing, and the case is ongoing.
In addition, taxpayers weren’t just footing the bill for Mr. Goodman’s contract. They were also paying LVCVA security guards to shuttle him around town. From 2013 to 2017, records uncovered by the Review-Journal’s investigative team showed, convention authority security chauffeured Mr. Goodman around town 260 times. The jaunts included more than 100 runs to hotel-casinos and trips to his house, the Mob Museum, Nellis Air Force Base and a golf course. Sometimes, the security guards received instructions to bring Mr. Goodman his trademark martini glass and gin. The trips happened so frequently that they were referred to as “Oscar runs” in the security logs.
Security guards are supposed to keep attendees at the Las Vegas Convention Center safe, not run a taxi service. Notably, Mr. Goodman’s contract with the LVCVA didn’t contain an agreement to provide him with transportation.
The affable Mr. Goodman, a former mob lawyer who played himself in “Casino,” has certainly become closely associated with the Las Vegas brand over the decades. But his convention authority consulting contract was a reminder that the town’s insular good-old-boy network remains alive and kicking. Good riddance.