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 BARBWIRE
Shadowboxing
Jello, yahoo kangaroos & Downsize This!
 Before
raking this week's muck and dreck, let's reflect. I've often said it
to university regent-elect Howard Rosenberg and many of his supporters.
As you fight the good fight, remember the reason why we're spending
all this time, taking all this heat, putting up with all this hassle,
and blowing a few bucks.Fast forward a long way
down the road. Maybe, if we can keep the university administration from
stealing Rosenberg's election, perhaps 20 years from now there will
be an extra scholarship available for some bright but poor kid. The
supply of such moneys will continue to shrink as our unrestricted market
approach to civilization mass-produces poverty.On some far off day,
that little extra might be there because Howard Rosenberg passed that
way before, because Howard Rosenberg worked to stem the now-amply documented
hemorrhage of inefficiently spent cash in the university system.Rather than years of
phony pay raises for some incompetent suckup of a dean or his wife,
perhaps that money will have stayed in an endowment earning interest.
Rather than buy the dean a new car every six months, or hire somebody's
relative, or settle one of the U's epidemic of bigotry lawsuits, perhaps
those dollars will have gone toward educating the doctor who cures cancer.When we grow tired of
the heat, weary of being called liars and fools, dizzy from denunciations
of damaging the institution, remember that it's the accusers who have
done the damage and now inherit the wind. As with everything in life,
you can never fully know how your actions may affect somebody you will
never meet.So focus on that perhaps
unborn kid who will receive that scholarship money Regent Rosenberg
reserved for him all those years before. Therein shall be the ample
reward, return on investment, payment in full for all our very just
labors of today.THE UNDERBELLY OF
THE NEWS: The only really bad news of the past week involved two
major university scandals breaking on the same day. As a PR man of some
experience, I know that the last thing you want is two stories competing
with each other. Alas, last week, those who care about our mismanaged
university system had to be two places at once. The Nevada Ethics Commission
scheduled its hearing on the Rosenberg Affair the very same morning
that the Legislative Counsel Bureau released its long-awaited audit
of the university system.Proper perspective on
the financial report demands not only a thorough reading by me, but
inputs from the many expert sources I've developed in revealing the
university scandals of '96. Thus, a full skinning, curing and tanning
of the audit must wait its turn for hanging on a future installment
of the Barbwire.Suffice it to say that
the overpaid, underqualified university administration is not a happy
fraternity right now. They should be overjoyed. The biggest area of
abuse, the university foundations, was all but ignored in the report.
(But certainly not here.)Chancellor Richard Jarvis
typified the oligarchy's attitude in one of his many defensive statements:
"We regret the extent to which inflammatory and melodramatic language
is used in the body of the audit report. While the recommendations are
presented in reasonable terms, many statements in the text seem more
designed for sound-bites (sic) and headlines than constructive criticism
or rational argument," Mr. Jarvis wrote. "The extreme nature of several
'conclusions' are just not warranted by the scale or scope of the examples
cited," uttered Sir Richard the Lyinhearted.This is just the latest
case of a very sooty pot calling the kettle black. Jarvis' filing against
Rosenberg with the Nevada Ethics Commission is loaded with items for
which the above-quoted description seems too mild. Our morally obtuse
ethics commission is the venue chosen by the U to steal the election
from Rosenberg. In his filing, Jarvis even raised the absurd specterof
UNR President Joe Crowley committing a crime simply by signing Prof.
Rosenberg's paycheck, and Rosenberg breaking the law for accepting it.What was all that about
seeking sound bytes and headlines?FISHIN' AT THE INQUISITION:
I don't know about Mr. Rosenberg, but after my run-in with our kangaroo
ethics commission last week, I now know why university chancellor Jarvis,
attorney Don Klasic and president Crowley chose it as their playing
field. It's a very easy public body to manipulate and use for your own
purposes.Worst and foremost, the
commission operates under no rules. They make them up as they go along.
If a Nevadan goes to court or comes before any regulatory body, e.g.,
the Public Service Commission, he can be assured that they have adopted
a set of rules to govern proceedings.The Nevada ethics commission
is likewise required by law to specify the rules of the game. Contrary
to law, they never have. The whole shebang is thus just another illegal
shuck. No wonder Ali Baba and the 40 stooges chose that particular playing
field. They make you shadowbox Jello.Nevada Revised Statutes
281.471 says "the commission shall adopt procedural regulations to facilitate
the receipt of inquiries and prompt rendition of its opinions." I've
been through a few administrative hearings, so I knew enough to ask
the commission for a set of the rules of the game. They sent me nothing
but the raw law, which says they have to establish rules, which they
never have."I've become concerned
about the use and abuse of bringing ethics charges against public officials,"
former Gov. Mike O'Callaghan recently stated. "This becomes especially
vicious during election years. Some charges can easily be spotted as
nothing but raw politics, designed to discredit a person serving in
public office. Despite the ability to see them as nothing but politics,
they go through a lengthy process and the elected or appointed official
is embarrassed publicly," O'Callaghan wrote in his Las Vegas Sun column."Wasn't the original
intent of the Nevada Commission on Ethics to provide guidance to public
officials seeking to steer clear of conflicts of interest and abuse
of power? I know the original intent wasn't to provide a political club
for scoundrels to beat up on public officials they dislike or want to
have their friends defeat in the next election," O'Callaghan asserted."The 1997 legislature
should seek ways to strengthen the commission on ethics with a larger
staff so decisions can be rendered quickly. The legislators should also
seek ways to slow down the use of ethics charges as a cheap campaign
tool," he concluded.I submit that the attempt
to undo Howard Rosenberg's election presents the best possible illustration
as to why Mike is right. Ethics commissioner Scott Scherer seems to
agree. During discussion on the Rosenberg case, Scherer argued for narrow
focus on the statute in question, on the law as it is, not "what ifs."
The whole case against Rosenberg is nothing but a string of what-ifs.
He has yet to be sworn in and has not had a chance to do anything, let
alone anything wrong. Scherer argued that requests from third parties
(not the officeholder involved) could set a dangerous precedent for
the future.Like overturning elections,
as O'Callaghan warned.THOU PROTESTETH TOO
MUCH: I placed a protest on the record in the Rosenberg docket,
strongly disagreeing with two commissioners who refused to step down.
Commissioners Scherer and Helen Chisholm are shot through with business
and political associations which create the appearance of conflict of
interest. Mr. Scherer read the law applying to actual conflict, refusing
to address the equally important appearance of conflict, the basis of
my complaint. Ethics commission chairwoman Mary Boetsch quickly agreed
with Scherer and both commissioners stayed in the game.I don't have enough space
to delineate all the power players connected to Chisholm and Scherer
through their employers (get the December 1 installment, instructions
below). When Scherer and Chisholm made their decisions, the ethics commission
lost any moral or ethical authority. The worst was yet to come, all
aimed at me.STRIKES TWO AND THREE:
After the commission in its wisdom decided that it would proceed to
try Rosenberg, it heard two cases brought by me. Citing the entirety
of Chancellor Jarvis' filing against Rosenberg, I had asked that the
commission join Sparks Regent James Eardley to the case. My motivation
was simple. If Rosenberg hangs, he should have company. The same law
with which Jarvis attacks Mr. Rosenberg also applies to Mr. Eardley.
I also think that the law in question is blatantly unconstitutional
and unenforceable. After what I've put the good gentleman through, I
have a hunch Mr. Eardley might agree.On the face of it, their
cases seem different. One gets an active university salary, the other
a university pension. However, the law according to Jarvis as expressed
by Klasic refers to "any contract," thus impaling both.Still, the commission
in its wisdom has not decided whether or not to accept the Eardley case.
Retired Washoe district judge and commission member James Guinan wanted
the Eardley matter immediately blown out. He said he had researched
the law and found that it does not apply to Mr. Eardley, who did not
attend the hearing or send a representative.Judge Guinan said Eardley
is not a university employee, so end of case. Sorry, judge. Nevada Revised
Statutes 616A.190 says Eardley is just that, exactly like Rosenberg.
When the learned judge started putting evidence on the record on behalf
of Eardley, I got a little queasy. This wasn't supposed to be an evidentiary
hearing, only a jurisdictional one. Remember, this commission makes
up its own rules as it goes along. Matters went downhill from there.URIAH HEAPS: When
the commission got to my filing against Chancellor Richard Jarvis and
university vice-president Mrs. Jarvis, a Las Vegas lawyer chimed in
via long distance. Jim Wadhams chuckled about being present only via
speakerphone but nonetheless representing Mrs. Jarvis from 450 miles
away. This guy was on hand so that university system mouthpiece Klasic
could say he was not really representing Mrs. Jarvis, who sat right
next to him throughout.As Commissioner Guinan
did for Regent Eardley, Mrs. Jarvis was allowed to present evidence
on the record in her own behalf. Lawyer Klasic submitted additional
evidence on how she was hired to her high position, three months after
her husband got the job as boss of her boss. Again, I protested. Boetsch
had allowed the hearing to go from one of jurisdiction to one of evidence
on the facts of the case.All I had with me was
a copy of the law which, to this non-lawyer, says Mrs. Jarvis can't
work for the U while Mr. Jarvis is her boss' boss. Lawyer Klasic's filing
against Rosenberg even bolsters that assertion. Alas, the law is not
enough when you're dealing with Nevada's arbiters of ethical rectitude.Several credible people
who had evidence to present did not attend. They were in Carson City
at the audit hearing. They had no notice that evidence would be taken
on the Jarvis case. The public meeting notice said last Wednesday's
three items were about jurisdiction. I think the open meeting law was
broken and trampled, and will file a protest with the attorney general
- where the guy in charge of open meeting law violations happens to
be the direct supervisor of the ethics commission's lawyer who sat silent
as I protested.My filing against the
chancellor and his vice-presidential spouse came from the same motivation
as with Mr. Eardley: if the university is going to be ethically pure,
it's time to start at the top with those now in power. Crocodile Dundee
and her rockin' kangaroos did not agree and dismissed the case against
the Jarvises. I think they broke the law.ELECTRIC KOOL AID
DEMOCRACY TEST: If you are interested in helping form a citizens
committee to preserve Rosenberg's election and investigate the financial
mismanagement of the university system, write P.O. Box 10034, Reno,
NV 89510. You may also e-mail
me. We'll schedule January meetings, so stay tuned.In addition to letters
to local papers, please consider writing southward about all this: Las
Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125-0070; fax (702)
383-4676. The Las Vegas Sun's address is 800 S. Valley View Blvd., Las
Vegas, NV 89107; fax (702) 383-7264. You can e-mail the Sun in care
of Tribune alumnus Bryan Allison.
Tell him you heard about it from Barbano on the Barbwire.THE ENVELOPES, PLEASE.
Nominations are now open for the Barbwire 1996 Chia Deadhead and Chia
Butthead awards. If you know a good guy for a golden deadhead (as in
Grateful Deadhead) award, send it in. Ditto for Chia buttheads.BARBWIRE FOR CHIA
WEBHEADS: My fingers are sore from e-mailing copies of this series
across the country to an ever-widening circle of interested parties.
I even sent one set to Europe. Gold Hill publisher David Toll has come
to my rescue with his new Internet site. The author of The Compleat
Nevada Traveler and the Nevada Industrial Directory is busily configuring
this now-nine part opus for electronic retrieval. You can find it at
www.nevadaweb.com/dave.Nevada history buffs
will love Toll's website, especially the "Encyclopedia Nevadaca." He
has even posted his Nevada Magazine article on Edna
Purviance, the rural Nevada girl who became one of Charles
Chaplin's most frequent leading ladies. Toll also offers free ads and
news postings on a page that's sure to increase in popularity now that
the Rosenberg Affair is on the marquee. (You can take that to the bank,
if the public response so far is any indication.)Mr. Toll can't afford
to provide the stuff free forever, and would like a sponsor for the
service. I told him I would pass the word along.XEROX STOCKHOLDERS
BENEVOLENT DEPT. For merely the cost of copying, you can afford
to send reprints of this series to your friends and enemies alike just
in time for the holidays. (One guy said he's mailing the entire legislature.)
Ask for the Barbano file at the business services desk of either Reno
Office Depot location, next to Costco on Plumb Lane or in the new Fire
Creek Crossing on Kietzke Lane extension west of S. Virginia Street.
I suggest calling ahead. The Plumb Lane number is 829-2582. Kietzke
Lane's is 823-9099.In Sparks, copies are
available at Nevada Instant Type, 508 Victorian Avenue, east of Pyramid
Way going toward McCarran; call 359-4835. The hard copies are more fun
because you get Jody Lindke's hilarious political cartoons as a bonus.
(Please don't assume that this ninth installment you now hold in your
hand will be immediately available. I need a day or two to make the
rounds.)If the hundreds of copies
already sold by local providers are any indication, Nevadaweb is about
to be a very busy place.DOWNSIZE THIS!
Join me on the streets of Reno next Saturday as local workers protest
corporate downsizings. Reno Hilton security guards, all friends of mine,
are in the process of being fired. Their crime: refusal to take a pay
cut from $11.83 to $7.75 an hour. Hilton stands to make more than $500,000
in additional profit by firing these experienced workers, some of whom
are in their 60's and have been with the hotel since 1978.United Plant Guard Workers
Local 1010 has also invited fired employees of Wells Fargo/First Interstate
Bank and the Virginian Hotel-Casino to join them. At a recent news conference
announcing 9,000 layoffs due to the bank takeover, Wells Fargo Chairman
Paul Hazen was asked if fired workers would be retrained to avoid fast
food jobs. "I don't think McDonald's is necessarily a bad place to work,"
Hazen said. Because of generous treatment by your government and mine,
banking industry profits have set records for the last half-decade or
so. What a guy.The Downsize This! March
will form on public sidewalks at Center and Fourth Streets, across from
the Citifare bus transfer station at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, December
28th.Wiseman Michael Moore,
the father of Emmy award-winning TV Nation (Comedy Central cable, 7:30
p.m. Monday through Thursday) and author of the bestseller "Downsize
This!" last week issued this call to arms: "As I have seen in my travels
on this book tour, many people have begun to realize that the corporations
which have destroyed the American Dream must be reined in." The award-winning
director of "Roger & Me" and "Canadian Bacon" also said "we must descend
on our state and national capitals to push for legislation to control
corporate America. No more getting rich at our expense. A tax on all
profits made off downsizing, a prohibition on moving assets overseas,
alimony payments to communities that companies abandon."Join me on the streets
with the workers.Be well. Raise hell.
Andrew
Barbano is a Reno-based syndicated columnist 28-year Nevadan.Barbwire by Barbano has appeared in the Sparks Tribune since 1988. This column originally published 12/22/96. Copyright © 1996, 2006, 2010 Andrew Barbano |
