Illegal casino bucks mar NV governor’s race

OK, with a candidate field that includes scandal-prone incumbent Midnight Jim Gibbons, you might ask, “What’s there to mar?” Well, how ’bout illegal overseas campaign cash funneled to former North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon (left) by the reclusive owners of a “failsino.”

To backtrack briefly, North Las Vegas has three undeveloped gaming-entitled parcels. One is held by Boyd Gaming, while another set, along I-15 near Lamb, is titled to Runvee Inc., a consortium of Hong Kong-based businessmen who dabble in Las Vegas real estate. It’s a nondescript assemblage of scrubland that various Runvee iterations have been sitting on since the Carter administration. Since its casino zoning is irrevocable, there’s nothing NLV can do to nudge, budge or blast Runvee into doing something with the site. An “Alhambra” casino project was long since mooted for the acreage but there’s about as much chance of that happening as of you finding fairies at the bottom of your garden.

(Ironic footnote: Boy, has Station Casinos done a 180 on its live-and-let-live approach toward rival NLV projects, recently deeming it imperative to follow up Aliante Station with a nearby “Losee Station,” lest Boyd plant its flag along the Beltway.)

Montandon has been protective of Runvee’s prerogatives in the past, trying to shield “Alhambra” from potential competition even though not so much as one spadeful of earth had been turned. The company — which is secretive and once hung up on this reporter when he asked a question too many — has until 2012 to make good on “Alhambra.” If it doesn’t, could a Gov. Montandon apply his thumb to the scales of guvmint to see that Runvee gets an extension … or that nearby competitors are further discouraged? Maybe the Shaw Family’s largesse is simply a “thank you” to Montandon for having extended a protective arm in the past.

Besides, this may be moot. Former gaming regulator Brian Sandoval just picked up the endorsement of Reno Mayor Bob Cashell (R) and continues to gain momentum heading into campaign season. Perhaps one of Gov. Sandoval’s first tasks should be to find out why Runvee had such a heavy financial stake in the Montandon campaign.

All of Big Gaming’s money and all its men may not be enough to put Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) back together again if Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki (R) bails on the fast-sinking Gibbons administration and leaps aboard the senatorial race instead. It would also mean that Archon Corp. Treasurer Sue Lowden and her rivals (or “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” as Jon Ralston immortally dubbed them) can wave a fond bye-bye to their D.C. aspirations. Krolicki may be a political heavyweight only in relative terms but he displaces greater tonnage that Lowden & Friends combined.