Run, Oscar, run!

That was our reaction after reading — in our friend and colleague Jon Ralston’s Flashpoint in today’s Las Vegas Sun, that Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman is thinking of running not for governor, but for United States Senate.

And just who is up for re-election to the U.S. Senate? Our very own John Ensign! Why, it seems like just yesterday that Ensign was walking away with ex-Sen. Richard Bryan’s seat, with nary so much as a peep from our own U.S. Sen. Harry Reid. And now, the man insiders call “Johnny Casino” is prepared to do it again.

Goodman, according to Zogby, would be competitive against Ensign, although we still have our doubts about how he’d do in the rural parts of Nevada where Democrats and Las Vegas mayors generally fare poorly. But we’ve learned never to underestimate the Goodman personality, or the Goodman popularity, regardless of its gossamer basis in reality.

The knock against the mayor’s would-be gubernatorial run is that the governor’s job is real work, chief-executive style. You’ve got to be a master of details, like the state budget. People actually take you seriously when you speak, which should give a freewheeling Goodman pause.

But the Senate? Totally different. You can still pop off, have a good time and enjoy the sense of history. (Goodman may very well inherit a desk into which a famous person has carved his name!)

Why, look no farther than Ensign for proof: What has Ensign done during the past six years? He didn’t use his position as a Republican to influence a single person to vote against Yucca Mountain, as he said he could in 2000.

He did have one really sensible idea, requiring all states to use electronic voting machines with a voter-verified paper receipt to be used in the event of a recount. That one’s still not law, but he’s working on it.

But he’s had a few frivolous ideas, too, like requiring moviemakers to warn viewers if people smoke in the film. That one is just a bad idea at the moment. And he did introduce a bill to ban the interstate transportation of roosters for the purposes of cockfighting.

Let’s not forget the hundreds of softball games, basketball games, marathons and other athletic achievements he’s racked up during the past six years. He was even named best hair. Or was that best tan? Anyway, best something.

The point is, there’s not a whole lot of ways to screw it up, which is perfect for Oscar. And, although we haven’t looked, we’re pretty sure that Senate ethics rules would allow him to have a party for his son’s business — using his “senator” title to invite guests. What’s not to like?

Anyway, to sum, here are the reasons we think Goodman should run for Senate and not governor:

• He could continue his freewheeling ways. After all, have you seen Ted Kennedy lately? We’re betting Goodman could drink the Liberal Lion under the table!

• He could probably wage a pretty good statewide campaign, even in the north, for the job.

• The job isn’t really that hard.

• Ensign is otherwise set to get a free ride.

• Goodman doesn’t need Reid’s help. In fact, Reid should actually campaign for Ensign, since Goodman’s personality would so outshine Reid’s, Goodman would be minority leader within about six months.

• We in the media are always looking for news, and the red-hot governor’s race just isn’t enough for our poor, ADD-afflicted minds.

So run, Oscar. Run like the wind. Run silent, run deep, but above all else, run!

As students the Vegas Way of politics, we are naturally interested in the sub-study of Bill Walters. He’s a one-man juice machine the likes of which we’ve rarely seen. To that end, the Review-Journal had a couple of must-reads this weekend that we commend to anyone who fell behind in their newspaper reading.

First, Adrienne Packer’s story, unfortunately buried in Saturday’s paper. It’s a comprehensive look at some of the deals that have given Walters his reputation as a “lucky” or “savvy” businessman, able to leverage an estimated $130,000 in campaign contributions into millions in profits.

Some things that struck us in this story:

• Walters prefers to first get his foot in the door, with a long lease and big promises to build golf courses at which Las Vegans can get discounted play. Then, he returns and asks for other favors, which his friends and partners in government seem only too willing to give.

• There’s a hilarious quote from ex-Commissioner Dario Herrera that Packer, a longtime county government reporter, pulled from the mists of history. After Herrera was accused of impropriety in granting Walters a favor, he lashed out at a member of the public. “In my six years of public service, i have never heard a more ignorant, more callous, more disrespectful statement of a public official’s integrity,” he fumed.

If federal investigators are to be believed, Herrera was, at or around that time, taking bribes to perform official actions. He was later indicted by a federal grand jury, and will go to trial later this year. Now that’s a statement about a public official’s integrity!

• Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury thinks its the help that makes Walters so successful, citing attorneys like Richard Wright and former U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan, now with the firm Lionel, Sawyer & Collins.

“They know their way around the political process and government bureaucracy enough to know you need to get expert help to put your own project in the most favorable light,” Woodbury says in the piece. Let’s just say that we don’t fully subscribe to the esteemed commissioner’s explanation.

• Las Vegas Councilman Gary Reese loves Walters, who built a golf course in the heart of Reese’s district that has spurred other development.

“I think he’s a very shrewd businessman. As far as I’m concerned, whatever he does, he does it with flair and he does it right,” Reese said.

So why is he under suspicion (and law-enforcement investigation) so much?

“I really don’t know. Are other people jealous of a successful person? I don’t know. I’m not that successful. I’m still cutting hair,” Reese replied.

We’ll grant you the flair part. Very few others would have the panache to pull off what Walters has. But being shrewd is only part of it; Walters has gotten favorable treatment from local governments all over the valley, to the detriment of taxpayers nearly every time. And that, regardless of what Reese says, is definitely not right. Are we jealous of Walters? Hardly. We’re more often outraged by him.

Next up in the R-J was David McGrath Schwartz’s Sunday story on the issue of building homes close to a sewage treatment plant, and the potential costs for taxpayers. (It starts at $13.3 million, and rises to $70 million, all so Walters can make money. See what we mean about the outrage?)

It turns out, Schwartz reports, that Clark County approved homes close to the plant without regard for what city taxpayers would have to pay in odor-control upgrades, and nobody at the city said anything, although the zone change was controversial and in the news. That is, to say the least, curious.

From this story, we also learn:

• Robert Fielden, president of the Las Vegas chamber of the American Institute of Architects, thinks building homes next door to the sewage treatment facility is nuts.

“In a normal, rational way of thinking, where planning is given any credence, you have areas of transition from one zoning to another,” he said.

And, up until recently, they did: The sewage treatment plant was buffered by “open space,” i.e. Walters golf courses at Stallion Mountain and Royal Links. It’s only recently — with Walters wanting to capitalize on the outrageous market for homes — that rationality and regard for proper planning has gone out the window.

• Homebuyers in what we’ve come to call Sweetheart Heights will have to sign a statement indicating they are aware of the sewage plant and that it could cause “headaches, bronchial spasms, nausea, loss of appetite, loss of sleep, mental anguish, distress, anxiety, shock, grief and mortification.” Sort of like the way taxpayers feel when they see their City Council rubber-stamping Walters every whim!