Casino's gag order of dealers unfair

LAS VEGAS CASINO DEALERS WERE GIVEN A STARK LESSON in the way our state operates when they traveled to Carson City last week to testify on the tip-pooling bill. As readers know, a dispute erupted last year after the Wynn decided dealers should pool their tips with casino floor supervisors. The dealers, many of whom left great jobs to work at the Wynn, felt they were being screwed since allowing certain casino managers to get a piece of the action has caused dealers' income to drop quite a bit.

I was amazed to hear that dealers were told they could not mention the name of the casino where they work, or of its owner. Nevada citizens who travel on their own dime to testify before their elected representatives in a public building about a pending piece of legislation are prohibited from mentioning the name of their casino?

Assemblyman Bernie Anderson, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, warned the dealers that they'd better not mention the forbidden names. Those who slipped and mentioned their place of employment were gaveled to silence and told to leave. Anderson, who's always seemed like one of the cooler heads in Carson City, said through his staff that he only wanted to be fair to other casinos.

This scenario is simply unbelievable. Wynn is perhaps the most famous person in the entire gaming industry, save for a floppy haired rival named Donald Trump. Readers of the Review-Journal voted a few weeks ago and decided he is the person they want to know more about. The guy isn't exactly a shrinking violet when it comes to publicity. I do not believe for one second that He Who Shall Not Be Named called Anderson and insisted no one be allowed to utter the banned syllables, which suggests the idea came from Anderson himself, who must have thought he was doing that unnamed bigwig a favor by keeping his name out of the media. Some favor.

If the dealers thought they had a shot at getting what they wanted out of the Legislature, this little lesson in politics should alleviate them of their fantasies. If lawmakers won't even allow them to mumble a name, how do you think they are going to vote when the bill hits the floor?

Don't you just love it when public entities spend your tax dollars to help convince you that either a.) they're doing a great job spending your money, or b.) they want your OK to spend more of it?

This is what occurred to me last week when I opened the R-J and found a five-page advertising supplement sponsored by University Medical Center. Five full pages of multi-colored graphics and artsy photos and oh-so-insightful articles, such as the one that touted a pizza oven and flame broiler in the kitchen at UMC's newest tower. A pizza oven? The article, presumably written by UMC public relations staffers, quoted the hospital's executive chef, Chef Fred, as saying that he really looks forward to using the new flame broiler. Who could blame him? Maybe they should surprise him with a new Vege-matic and some Ginsu knives too.

How much does it cost to buy five full pages in the R-J? Whatever it costs, it's more money than UMC can afford. In case no one remembers, this is the same public hospital that is at least $35 million in debt. The actual amount of red ink is probably closer to $60 million. This is the same public hospital that wanted to do away with services for those who suffer from cystic fibrosis because they needed to get expenses under control. Is a newspaper PR campaign really the best use of UMC's troubled finances at this point, especially since the campaign was launched to tout the new tower at the hospital, a tower which isn't even opened yet?

From what I understand, the UMC folks and/or their ad agency (yes, the hospital has its own ad agency, just as it has its own executive chef) decided to go with the ads on their own, without checking with county manager Virginia Valentine beforehand. This sounds a heck of a lot like the way things operated at the hospital under ousted CEO Lacy Thomas, who is now under investigation by Metro police and the FBI. Fire up that flame broiler, Chef Fred. Someone deserves to have their buttocks basted and scorched.

I had to chuckle when I read the comment day ago from Water Authority honcho Pat Mulroy. When informed about new studies which predict the drought will be virtually permanent, Mulroy told the reporter that this is "what they've been saying all along." Uh, not exactly.

Six or seven years ago, water officials dismissed the drought as the equivalent of a temporary speedbump in Southern Nevada's rampaging development spree. See, at the time, no one wanted to rock the development boat. When confronted with 500 years of data from tree rings which proved that drought along the Colorado River basin is more the norm than wet periods, those officials haughtily dismissed such findings, relying instead on 100 years of government data. It was a similar story when they were first asked about the threat of global warming.

Now, however, those well-documented threats to more sprawl and continued growth have been embraced by water officials because they can be used in the argument to go out and grab water resources from rural areas. So yes, water officials are only too happy to tout the threat from global warming now, but don't try to tell us it has always been thus.

The Clark County Fair, which opens this week in Logandale, will feature something its never had before -- wild horses. Local wild horse advocate Jerry Reynoldson has put up his own money to bring a couple of wild horses to the fair to see if he can find good homes for them. Reynoldson has tried to work with the BLM to encourage more adoptions of horses here but the feds have done just about anything they can to interfere. Reynoldson decided to go to California and get some horses from a BLM pen there, sidestepping the bureaucrats here who seemingly don't want him to succeed. When Nevada's BLM found out, they bitched and moaned and made sure Reynoldson couldn't get around their meddling. Instead of bringing the horses here for auction, which would mean he might recoup some of his expense, Reynoldson had to adopt the animals himself. It will cost him $8,000 out of his own pocket to find homes for the two horses, but he's going to do it anyway just to make the point and to reach a wide audience at the fair. Check out his horses, Bonnie and Clyde, if you get out to the fair.

George Knapp is a veteran investigative reporter for KLAS-TV Channel 8. You can reach him at gknapp@klastv.com.