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Culinary Union Flier Targets Boggs McDonald Casino Ties

LAS VEGAS -- The Culinary union is targeting Las Vegas City Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald and her position on Station Casinos' board of directors in a flier that was mailed to thousands of voters in her northwest ward.

The single-sheet, single-fold flier was mailed Thursday to "many thousands" of the 38,000-odd registered voters in Ward 2, the Summerlin-area district represented by Boggs McDonald, Culinary Political Director Glen Arnodo said.

Boggs McDonald, provided a copy of the flier, said Friday she was disappointed the union didn't consider her longtime support of many Culinary initiatives before sending out the mailing.

"I'm a scapegoat in this situation," she said. "It's no secret they're trying to organize Station Casinos, and they haven't had success. When you join a company, you take on their enemies as well as their friends. I'm very proud of my relationship with Station Casinos. It's a great corporate citizen in our community."

Station Casinos spokeswoman Lesley Pittman said the flier rehashes old news, and he defended Boggs McDonald's decision to remain in her City Council job, which pays more than $41,000 per year. She will make about $50,000 annually from her Station board duties.

"Very clearly, (the flier) is just another tactic in the Culinary union management's efforts to discredit and malign our company by drumming up an issue in the community that has no merit," Pittman said Friday. "On the trip, Lynette was completely exonerated years ago. (On her dual roles as councilwoman and board member), Lynette received the go-ahead from the ethics commission and is precluded from voting on Station Casinos matters, and will have to disclose any conflicts concerning competitors."

The flier and the mailing together cost the 47,000-member union about $4,000, and the money was well-spent, Arnodo said.

"This is absolutely horrible public policy, to have an elected official serve on the board of a company she regulates," Arnodo said.

Station operates three casinos in the city, and Arnodo said conflicts between the councilwoman's two paid roles are unavoidable.

"This is a gaming company with privileged gaming and liquor licenses," he said. "Almost every gaming and liquor license she votes on will be Station Casinos or a competitor of Station."

On the cover of the flier, a caricature of Boggs McDonald is shown riding astride a jet plane, Dr. Strangelove-style, next to text that proclaims: "Councilwoman Boggs McDonald takes free trip to football game on Station's corporate jet (And then see what happened)," a reference to a 1999 trip Boggs and her husband took to South Bend, Ind., on Station Casinos' jet, at the locals casino giant's expense.

Boggs McDonald, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for Congress, reported the trip to the Notre Dame football game as an in-kind campaign contribution

Inside the flier, the Culinary uses flow-chart style to indicate the evolution of Boggs McDonald's relationship to Station. Among the steps listed are: her acceptance of at least $47,756 in campaign contributions from Station and its executives; her July 24 appointment to Station's board of directors; and a partial newspaper account of warnings the councilwoman received after asking an ethics panel to determine if there would be a problem with her accepting the board position.

On Aug. 14, Boggs McDonald told the Nevada Commission on Ethics she intends to abstain from voting on items where there's a "clear nexus" between matters under consideration and Station Casinos' business interests.

Arnodo said the union's long-term intent to organize Station's workforce had little to do with the flier targeting Boggs McDonald.

"Station Casinos is nonunion, but Station's nonunion status has nothing to do with this horrible public precedent," he said. "Councilwoman Boggs McDonald should choose what she wants to be: a council member or a Station director."

Boggs McDonald was elected to the Ward 2 council seat in 2001 with more than 70 percent of the votes cast; she had earlier been appointed to the seat. She next faces reelection in 2005 but said she hasn't decided whether to run.

"The people in Ward 2 have common sense," she said. "They're not going to be taken for fools. In politics, you always have a bull's-eye on your back. If I do choose to run (for re-election), I have no problem running on my record of accomplishment."

Arnodo said the mailing still will have an effect on voters despite arriving two years before Boggs McDonald's next race.

"It lets them know that she could be the one deciding on neighborhood casinos at the same time that she sits on the board of the biggest neighborhood casino operator," he said.

Boggs McDonald said the flier is an attack from the Culinary's political operatives, not from casino workers.

"I have two sisters and a brother-in-law who are members of the Culinary union," she said. "They're proud of me for my position on the Station board. This (flier) is not the voice of the people, but of the political people."

The Culinary intends to pay close attention to Boggs McDonald's City Council votes, Arnodo said.

"This is the ultimate conflict of interest," he said. "It sets a horrible precedent. It makes a mockery of government. It's wrong."

Arnodo said the Culinary has no plans for additional fliers or mailings. Pittman said Station has no plans to respond to the union ad with a flier or other advertisement of its own. Station's own anonymously mailed flier in 2000 criticized then-Clark County Commissioner Lance Malone for switching positions and supporting a competing operator's Spring Valley casino site. The fliers portrayed Malone with cash stuffed in his pants, shirt pocket and shoe, and carried the warning: "You Just Can't Trust Lance Malone."

Station had to cough up a $475,000 fine to the Nevada Gaming Commission for the flier.

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