In a move certain to embolden scofflaws all over Clark County, District Attorney David Roger has cut a deal with Harrah’s Entertainment that lets the corporate behemoth slide on a variety of criminal charges in return for paying a $1.2 million fine — mere pocket change in the grander scheme of things — and promising to essentially play nice and never, ever do it again. Not only are some companies too big to fail, they are evidently too colossal to be bothered with the persnickety rules by which mere mortals have to comply.
While Harrah’s was not convicted of any lawbreaking, a Las Vegas Review-Journal probe (that paper’s finest achievement in 11 years) caught the company red-handed in myriad evasions, violations and circumventions of the relevant building codes. Having weighed safety in the balance against getting things done on the quick, Harrah’s came down on the side of expediency — with the help of some astonishingly derelict county bureaucracy.
This is one of the two or three scummiest, sleaziest “juice jobs” of the last several years and Roger’s rationalization that he faced a choice between A) criminal convictions and B) compliance is what’s known as a false dichotomy. (Or, more colloquially, “bullshit.”) Imperial Palace, in particular, appears to have suffered from Harrah’s prolonged indecision over the property’s future, judging by the number of deficiencies that consultant Leo A. Daly found.
As to Roger’s explanation for his weak-kneed capitulation, I’ll leave the demolition job to CityLife Editor Steve Sebelius: “What, was Harrah’s going to refuse to identify or fix problems because it was irked that it was being hauled into court to face charges? If the company refused to allow county inspectors to examine its properties, the county should have revoked its occupancy permits until such time that Harrah’s had a change of heart. (We’d guess about 20 minutes of empty hotel towers in this fragile economy should just about do it.)”
Perhaps an even greater outrage is that Harrah’s chief enabler, county building inspector Rick Maddox, was able to get his job back despite having been at the epicenter of the scandal. The obvious winner in this is Harrah’s CEO Gary Loveman (above), who continues to enjoy his $1.9 million base salary while whistleblower Fred Frazzetta, who sacrificed his career in the interests of public safety, is left to ponder whether he did the right thing. According to the David Roger value system, no, he didn’t. And that’s tragic.
Fleeing Planet Ho. Yet another exec from Planet Hollywood is yielding to the blandishments of Alex Yemenidjian and jumping ship to the Tropicana Las Vegas. It’s quite a slap to Harrah’s that the mere threat of its arrival at Planet Ho is enough to send upper management scurrying for the lifeboats.
I’m guessing, but I think $1.2 million is not even the gross amount of money saved by circumventing the law and cutting corners by Harrah’s. It would seem a more reasonalbe fine would be 5 times the estimated gross cost of the renovations as performed in a legal and safe manner. The estimate would be performed by a quailfied outside expert, of course.