Is there anybody out there who doubts — if brand-new Attorney General George Chanos hadn’t announced an investigation, the Las Vegas City Council would have rammed and jammed the Bill Walters matter through on Wednesday?

We didn’t think so.

Instead, the council decided to re-impose the deed restriction that limits the land’s use to a golf course, and nixed a planned hashing-out of the issues surrounding the controversial sweetheart deal. But that, we’re confident, would never had happened had Chanos not decided to investigate.

After all, this is the same council that on Nov. 2 approved the idea of letting Walters put homes within 20 feet of the city’s sewage treatment plant, thus incurring taxpayer costs of at least $5 million and perhaps as much as $30 million. Anybody who thinks that’s a good deal for taxpayers is either chemically deluded or has a commitment in a political capacity to the interests of Walters. (Not to mention that the vote violates years of city policy — dating to 1987-1990, when the land was first acquired to be a buffer between any future homes and the sewage treatment plant.)

And, to make matters worse, some members of the council — including Mayor Oscar Goodman — voted for the Walters deal despite knowing that he may have won a bid to build a golf course on the land back in 1997-1998 thanks to the allegedly felonious acts of former city Public Works Director Richard Goecke.

But Chanos helpfully sent a letter to City Attorney Brad Jerbic, announcing his office would begin investigating the entire saga, from the lease of the property to Walters to build the Royal Links golf course to Walters’ 1999 purchase of the land to this year’s wrangling over lifting a deed restriction to allow him to pave the course and build houses on the 160-acre parcel.

Now, some may wonder why Chanos is launching an investigation after Clark County District Attorney David Roger has already said the statute of limitations on any criminal acts has already lapsed. Is it a desperate political act by a Republican appointee who needs to raise his profile quickly in advance of the 2006 elections, when he’ll face stiff competition from Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto.

Trust us: That is definitely part of the calculus. And trust us further: Anybody who thinks that this couldn’t backfire on Chanos if he fails to come up with a prosecutable crime is either naive or woefully wrong. The public, the cops, and pretty much everybody else in town but Walters and his good friends at 400 E. Stewart Ave. thinks this deal stinks. If the AG rolls snake eyes, his stock will not go up in the public mind.

On the other hand, we at Various Things & Stuff are cheered to see that somebody is looking out for taxpayers, since the City Council — with the exception of Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian sure as hell isn’t doing the job. “We’re doing this to ensure openness and integrity in local government,” Chanos told the Review-Journal. And, with reports secreted out of public view and a series of giveaways to Walters over the course of two different administrations at City Hall, it’s long past time for openness and integrity.

But let’s wake up from our daydream for a second: We fully believe that, had Chanos not written his letter (and showed up in person to watch the meeting and chat with reporters) the Walters deal would have been ratified.

Sure, old allegations against Goecke would have been aired. Sure, city officials like City Manager Doug Selby would have defended their conduct (keeping council members in the dark is a curious way to “manage” the city). And sure, there would have been plenty of sound and fury as Goodman blamed the administration of his predecessor, Jan Jones, for any crimes that may have occurred.

But in the end, Goodman would have argued — as he already has — that what happened in the past has not effect on the present. And if he voted for the deal once before, he’d have voted for it once again, absent any current criminal charges. Ditto for several other members of the council.

How do we know? Goodman said in the R-J that, once Chanos’ investigation is complete, the Walters proposal will be brought back. Anybody want to bet how that one’s going to come out?

Didn’t think so.

Another day, another part falling off the Las Vegas Monorail.

According to the Review-Journal, which keeps track of these things fairly well, a four-foot, 10-pound Fiberglas wheel skirt fell off a monorail train on Sunday morning. Another train then ran that part over. As a result, the system was shut down until early afternoon.

Sure, it’s not a major shutdown. Sure, nobody has been injured or killed by falling monorail parts (yet). But when are we going to start holding people accountable for the shoddy, tax-dodging system?

It was the late former Clark County Aviation Director Bob Broadbent and his sidekick, Cam Walker who chose monorail technology over the more highly recommended light rail. Broadbent and Walker chose Bombardier to design the route and build the monorail, too. And hotel-casinos, including MGM Grand, Bally’s and the Las Vegas Hilton, empowered that dynamic duo.

Since the system was built, it’s been shut down for mechanical and computer glitches, consistently underperformed its optimistic ridership estimates and failed to generate the money necessary to pay its operating costs and debts.

Why should we care? Because this allegedly “private” system has dodged sales and property taxes from Day One and was built using state-issued tax-exempt bonds. And let’s not forget that Broadbent said — more than once — that it was his intention that the taxpayers eventually take over the system. So the public clearly has an interest in how this train works out.