The focus of the G-sting public corruption trial — jurors are even now deliberating on verdicts — has been on the accused, and the guilty. Former Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny has pled guilty, and former Commissioner Dario Herrera’s guilt is to be determined.

But what about the enablers, the political figures who put these folks in office and saddled us voters with politicians who would do far more harm than good to the commonweal?

We shouldn’t forget it was U.S. Sen. Harry Reid who encouraged and supported Herrera when Herrera was thinking of jumping from the commission to Congress. And while Reid may have had ulterior motives — clearing the way for his son Rory Reid to take Herrera’s still-warm seat — Reid cannot escape liability for at least part of Herrera’s wrongdoing.

Oh, sorry, we meant “alleged” wrongdoing. He hasn’t been convicted yet, and is innocent in the eyes of the law. (And no place else.)

Then again, we should probably give Reid some credit for getting Rory Reid to replace Herrera. The younger Reid is everything Herrera was not: Thoughtful, ethical, faithful in marriage and, some would say, downright boring. In his brief tenure, Rory Reid has done a lot of good for Clark County.

Over at City Hall, we have Mayor Oscar Goodman and former Councilwoman (and now Clark County Commissioner) Lynette Boggs McDonald to thank for another ethical nightmare: Ex-Councilman Michael Mack. Mack opted not to face the voters’ wrath at the polls last time around, where he surely would have been bounced.

But how did he get there in the first place? He was discovered and recruited by Goodman, who later famously (and repeatedly) called Mack “the dumbest fucking Jew I know.” (Goodman later denied the quote, but we’ve personally heard the mayor discuss and refer to the remark.) Goodman recruited Mack to fend off a bloodless coup plotted by “shadow mayor” Councilman Michael McDonald.

And when it came down to a vote, it was Boggs McDonald who gave Mack the support he needed to become a councilman, a post that he treated more like a networking breakfast than a public trust. And Mack has the gall to tell Mike Galardi to bring him some of Galardi’s dirtiest whores? Birds of a feather, indeed.

So, whatever the verdicts, let’s not forget the kingmakers, who for reasons of family loyalty, political powerbroking or just plain bad judgment have given us people like Herrera and Mack. Those two may have committed the crimes, but they’d never have been able to do so without help.

Thanks, guys. We hope someday we can find a way to repay your kindness.

• Speaking of G-sting, we were impressed with the defense arguments, some of which we forecast to you right here on the blog. It seems the government may have had second thoughts about using strip club owner (and whoremaster) Mike Galardi’s testimony, as the prosecutor in charge of the case, Asst. U.S. Attorney Daniel Schiess boasted of not relying on Galardi’s testimony, in which Galardi claims to have bribed pretty much every elected official since statehood.

The trouble is, in the post-Abscam era, jurors may be looking for a tape, or a video, in which they see an exchange that goes something like this:

Criminal No. 1: Hey, Dario, here’s a purple velvet Crown Royal bag containing $30,000 in cash, in exchange for your “yes” vote on Item No. 93 on the April 3 Clark County Commission agenda, which will benefit me greatly. I hope we have a deal, yes?

Criminal No. 2: Thanks, Mike. We sure do have a deal, once I count the $30,000 to make sure it’s all there. Once that happens, you’ve sure got my vote, which I never would have given unless I’d received this money.

[Both men turn to hidden FBI camera, smile and flash thumbs-up sign. Hookers appear, and pants are removed.]

In real life, however, it simply doesn’t happen like that. Well, except for the hookers.

In real life, there are winks and nods, cash passed secretly and spent without the bother of bank records, and implicit understandings that simply must be inferred by juries. After all, if there was a tape like that, the defendants would already have pled guilty, realizing the fruitlessness of a trial, right?

Let’s hope the jury knows that.

• We bashed Mayor Goodman a couple items ago, so let’s give him some praise, for finally realizing what we’ve been saying all along: The city is not an ATM for event promoters and developers!

When we first read that a promoter wanted to do a grand prix race through the streets of downtown Las Vegas (like they do in the streets of Long Beach, Calif.), we were sure the city would have already whipped out its checkbook and written a bunch of zeros.

So imagine our surprise when the council (for now at least) balked at the cost of upgrading downtown streets for the race at a cost of $3.3 million, according to the Review-Journal.

“The city is always asked to do everything. And we always do,” Goodman said. “I think it’s time others helped out.”

No doubt, mayor. After all, these folks want to come use your (read — our) streets for a race that’s going to make them money. Sure we get media exposure and tourists; but at what cost? As far as we’re concerned, we should provide the cops and firefighters, and they should do the rest.

Of course, the event’s organizer — Sutton Motorsports Productions — doesn’t quite see it that way. “We need to figure out how someone in Las Vegas will put a little skin in the game when someone else is putting a lot of skin in the game,” says Jim Freudenberg, chief operating officer of the company.

Given Jim’s last name, we’re sure he’ll understand when we at Various Things & Stuff encourage the city to offer some very particular skin to put into Sutton Motorsports Productions’ game. If you know what we mean.

But seriously, we’re glad the company is willing to front $15 million in the first year, and $8 million to $9 million in the second. You know why? Because that means the company knows it’s going to make more than that, or else it would have never proposed the idea. So if the plan doesn’t pencil out with Sutton deraying the rest of the costs, the mayor and council would be right to reject this project. Why? Because despite what Freudenberg says, this isn’t a game. It’s hard-earned taxpayer dollars, which the council has an obligation to spend to the benefit of the taxpayers.

It’s time the city stopped paying for nebulous promises of “economic impact” and tourism numbers that do little to pay for things we really need around here. And we’re glad the mayor is starting to get that.