FRENCH CONNECTION
DON'T CONVICT THE BRIBER
BY DOUG FRENCH

Local writers of all political strips have demonized Lance Malone. The ex-cop, ex-Clark County Commissioner was found guilty by a San Diego jury of his peers of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and substantive counts of wire fraud.

Conservative Fred Weinberg has used his Penny Press to pummel Malone weekly and wrote that the lobbyist should be put away for life. Left-leaning Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist John L. Smith takes every opportunity to exploit Malone's misery, writing about an unofficial nicknaming contest for Malone. Mentioning names like Lance "The Boil" Malone, and Lance "Bugsy" Malone in his column, Smith mocks, "You people are truly mean, and I thank you for that."

Malone was working on behalf of strip club owner Mike Galardi, who pleaded guilty in the case. As part of his deal with the government, Galardi testified that Malone delivered $34,500 to San Diego commissioners Ralph Inzunza, Michael Zucchet and the late Charles Lewis in exchange for efforts to repeal the law banning touching between strippers and club patrons.

In a perfect world, bribes to state officials wouldn't be necessary. The government would have little to offer in the way of privileges and thus there would be no economic incentive to bribe. Unfortunately, the nannies in San Diego government put laws in place that prohibit the free exchange of a certain product - touching between strippers and club patrons - thus the incentive to bribe was created. 

As economist Pierre Lemieux points out in his Mises Institute article "In Defense of Bribery," when the government acts against the public interest by favoring one group over another group with arbitrary laws prohibiting free exchange, "the economics of bribes suggests that they are not harmful to the general welfare," and that the liberty of offering bribes "at least allows the harmed subjects to try and minimize their harm. Public bribes are a safety valve." 

In his book, The Ethics of Liberty, economist Murray Rothbard examined the morality of bribing. He explained that there "is nothing illegitimate about the briber, but there is much that is illegitimate about the bribee, the taker of the bribe. Legally, there should be a property right to pay a bribe, but not to take one."

In the San Diego case, that would mean that the jury got it right in convicting the councilmen, but Malone was falsely convicted. Yet, media pundits have focused on Malone as the real bad guy, with little mention of the politicians that accepted the money. 

Rothbard explained, "Liberals tend to hold the bribe-giver as somehow more reprehensible, as in some way 'corrupting' the taker. In that way they deny the free will and the responsibility of each individual for his own actions." 

Next year, Malone's bribing on behalf of Galardi will again be the focus in the Las Vegas G-Sting political corruption trial. According to the indictment, Galardi distributed more than $100,000 in gifts and cash payments to commissioners, including $20,000 toward a sport utility vehicle for Malone while Malone was a commissioner.

Mr. Galardi sought to buy the political influence in order to change various adult club laws and expedite the permitting and building inspections for his Jaguars club. Again, the bribes were nothing that violated anyone's property rights. 

"Do you know how many transactions he has made?" former Galardi employee and friend Rich Buonantony told the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper. "He was giving hundreds of thousands of dollars, and do you think it was easy to remember giving five grand here and 10 grand there? It was nothing for him to give money. People looked at Mike Galardi like he was an ATM machine."

The "people" Bounantony refers to are guilty politicians - the bribees. 

Stan Hunterton, a former federal prosecutor, told the Review-Journal: "After the San Diego verdict, I talked to a number of people in the legal community who said, 'Malone's got to throw in the towel now. Everyone in Las Vegas is going to plead.'"

But, Malone did nothing wrong. Former commissioner Erin Kenny has already admitted to being guilty, and the evidence looks damning for ex-commissioners Dario Herrera and Mary Kincaid-Chauncey. The bribe takers are guilty. 

But, "As much as there are some good reasons for the state to prohibit its employees and associates to take bribes, there are good reasons not to forbid individuals to offer them," Lemieux writes.

If you want no more bribing, take away the economic incentive. Don't convict the briber. LW