If you�ve ever owned and operated your own small business, chances are at some point you begin to feel like certain other companies catch all the breaks. Whether in terms of ordinances, permits or contracts, there are a handful of �lucky� businesses that always succeed with little or no visible effort. Well, the still-recent Operation G-Sting convictions reveal a cold, hard truth: Clark County public officials are about as corrupt as they come.

Operation G-Sting, also known as �Strippergate,� was a three-year FBI investigation into the bribery of Clark County and San Diego commissioners, and resulted in prison time for the likes of Southern Nevada�s Erin Kenny, Dario Herrera, Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and Lance Malone, all of who had accepted under-the-table cash infusions in the thousands of dollars from strip-club owner Michael Galardi, now behind bars and living at the taxpayers� expense. 

However, if you�re someone who thinks G-Sting was merely about paying off commissioners so they�d relax the regulation of strip clubs, then you don�t know half of the crime story. 

Kenny and Galardi confessed in 2003 to working together to block any new strip-club businesses from entering Clark County. The goal, of course, was to ensure a monopoly for Galardi. To the surprise of many, a brand new chapter was opened in the G-Sting case last October, when businessman Max Markovitz filed a civil lawsuit against each and all of the convicted G-Sting conspirators. It�s the first civil suit to emerge in the wake of one of the most embarrassing moments in the history of public officialdom in Las Vegas. 

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Markovitz owned a $2.2-million lot on Hacienda Avenue, conveniently close to the Strip. He hired a lawyer to secure a liquor license, and with a clean background and the property already zoned for a topless establishment, it seemed like an easy process. That is until, for reasons that remain mysterious, Clark County commissioners rejected his application in early 2001. 

Since it was a unanimous decision, even Markovitz�s lawyer, Matthew Callister, admits that proving conspiracy may be tough. Plus, Review-Journal reporter Adrienne Packer says that �according to transcripts of the licensing hearing, commissioners and detectives with the Metropolitan Police Department expressed concerns that Markovitz�s son, Alan, might someday become involved in the club."

The younger Markovitz owns two topless clubs in Detroit. Between 1984 and 2000, he was slapped with $42,000 worth of fines.

In the same R-J article, the newspaper notes that, in Callister�s view, �if Alan Markovitz ever inherited the club, he would have to secure a license of his own. Commissioners could deny that application at the time.�

Markovitz�s suit further illuminates how corrupt Clark County remains when dealing with businessmen. The county looks for any unfounded reason to deny businessmen licensing instead of working with them to expand the business community of Las Vegas and grow the county�s tax base. 

What the R-J story fails to do is ask very fundamental questions: Why is Clark County not at all interested in fostering local industries and expanding the number of taxable businesses? Why are the people who tend to hold positions of power in the county � more specifically, commissioners and the licensing department � eager to thwart business owners from acquiring the necessary permits. What kind of power games are they playing and why? And what kind of illicit deals do they continue to make?

An intrepid mainstream Las Vegas newsman (sadly, Liberty Watch�s circulation doesn�t yet compare to the R-J�s) would do well to aggressively pursue a story first broken by Channel 8 KLAS TV I-Team reporter Mark Sayre, who revealed how the owners of a new restaurant called La Madonna had their application bumped down the list while a club opening in the Palazzo took absolute precedence.

George Harris [Editor�s note: Harris is publisher of Liberty Watch: The Magazine.] and business partner Irma Aguirre hoped to have their Mexican restaurant open in time for New Year�s Eve. And they weren�t alone. Liberty Watch spoke with other business owners who were affected by county business officials� decision to play favorites. And why would nightclub 40/40 at the Palazzo take precedence?

Well, no one at the county will say why. However, Harris did manage to tape record a damning conversation he had with a Clark County business official on Jan. 9 inside the Clark County Government Center. That official�s name is Derek Dubasik, Assistant Manager of Business License Operations. Harris and Aguirre, working on a tip that 40/40 had been given licensing priority over La Madonna and many other smaller business establishments in Vegas, confronted Dubasik on the issue. Here�s what the tape reveals:

Derek Dubasik: [Let�s] put it this way: More than just the 40/40 club has been taken and processed about a month earlier than they would�ve been normally.

Irma Aguirre: So why?

DD: Because I was asked to do it, and I did it.

George Harris: Did you put the 40/40 club � did you move their application up? Yes or no?

DD: I personally did that myself.

GH: Under what authority? Under what authority?

DD: Under direction that I have received. Under lawful authority; that is all I�m saying.

IA: You told us that they were bumped up before other people�s applications?

DD: Absolutely. Absolutely.

IA: And how is that fair to the citizens here? How is that fair to everybody else that�s experiencing a hardship right now?

DD: I�m not saying that it was fair. I am just saying that there is no way I can be fair. [�] It is not a favor, because I�m not doing it for any person. I�m not doing it for anything or any business whatsoever. And [there are] other considerations, OK? There�s absolutely nothing personal in this stuff for me.

GH: These people need to be put in jail. What they�re doing is immoral. It is illegal, and it�s corrupt. And it has got to stop.

DD: Sir, look: I�m not going to lose my job over this, OK? Because I haven�t done anything unlawful. I hope you understand that.

No one who has covered this story has asked another basic question: Why would Dubasik admit to Harris and Aguirre that 40/40 had been given special treatment at the expense of other businesses in town? Well, the answer may be simpler than you think. Consider this possibility: Perhaps Dubasik is blowing the whistle on his superiors. Given the tone and content of his recorded confession, this is very likely the case.

Who are Dubasik�s superiors you ask? Well, one of them is Jacqueline Holloway, Clark County Director of Business Licensing. Faced with Sayre�s report, she issued a statement to the effect that all applicants are �treated equally on a first-come, first-served basis,� even though Dubasik spoke to the contrary. She cited the peculiar notion that privileged licenses � in other words, liquor licenses � �require extensive work and background checks.� This suggests the county is in charge of background investigations. But that�s not at all the case.

The fact of the matter is that Las Vegas Metropolitan Police handle the background checks. And in the case of Harris and Aguirre and at least two other business owners Liberty Watch contacted, the Metro processing took less than 48 hours, since each of these businesses had already undergone background checks for privileged licenses before. [A privileged license is any license that would require a background check: Liquor, gaming, locksmith, massage, alarm installation, etc.]

�Nothing moves through the system,� one local restaurant owner, who requested to remain anonymous, told Liberty Watch. �It�s not Metro that is falling behind on processing applications. It�s the county, and what they�re doing is criminal. There�s not a first-time businessman in town who could�ve survived bankruptcy from this kind of raw deal. Luckily, I happen to have other restaurants in town. But imagine if you were counting on opening your doors by New Year�s Eve. You were caught in a state of suspended animation.�

More than one local businessman says they have called the Special Investigations Section for an update on a background check only to realize that the county had never submitted the application to Metro. 

�Once Metro gets the applications, it�s done in no time,� says another local businessman. �They move it through the computer in a day or two. What I can�t understand is how the county has dozens of people working in the licensing department, but only two are actually doing any processing. What are the rest of them doing?�

Harris has an answer for this: computer solitaire.

�Swear to God,� Harris says. �I busted a couple of them playing solitaire on their PCs the day I walked through their offices to talk with Dubasik. It�s unbelievable, the lack of any semblance of a work ethic [among county employees].�

While Harris never hesitates to castigate the county�s poor performance in business licensing, other businessmen contacted by Liberty Watch refused to go on record, fearing that the county might seek retribution in the form of denying or revoking their permits.

�I�m just too scared to raise any alarms,� said one business owner, �especially after hearing from a friend in F&B [industry abbreviation for food and beverage] that there was a county employee at 40/40�s New Year�s opening party. That is too frightening for me to even contemplate. I mean, once a license is granted, why in the world would a county licensing employee show up at a business� debut night? Does that not reek of a conflict of interest? It looks bad to me.�

The same business owner mourned the more than 15 different taxes he pays because he happens to run a restaurant. Given all the taxes (not to mention the outrageous property taxes courtesy of Clark County Assessor Mark Schofield), he feels the least the county could do is process his permits in a timely fashion. 

�I submitted my application in February of 2007,� he says. �In June, they said I�d have my license at the end of the month. Well, there I was in November � November! � and still no license. To make matters worse, [the county was] totally non-responsive whether by phone or e-mail. I had to call Metro to get an update, and guess what? They had never received the application.�



Beginning of the end?



Each and every business owner Liberty Watch spoke with expressed sincere pleasure that Harris had stepped forward with an audio recording. They claim the county has been a lot more amiable since Sayre�s report aired on local TV. And they believe that, if more pressure is applied to the county, things will change for the better and that permits will be processed with greater haste.

In the meantime, one has to wonder about the fate of Dubasik. After being put on paid administrative leave, he is now back working in the county building. According to a follow-up report by Sayre, �the county says both personnel and legal investigations are underway.� 

Liberty Watch won�t hold its breath waiting for the results. But we did bother to Google Dubasik�s name, and the results further confirm our suspicions as to why he may have confessed his department�s preferential treatment of certain businesses at the expense of others.

Turns out Dubasik testified extensively during the G-Sting trial, explaining to the bench and the jury all the many intricacies of business licensing. In other words, Dubasik has seen firsthand what happens to Clark County officials who are corrupt, and he seeks to avoid their fate by ratting out his corrupt bosses to Harris and anyone willing to investigate the county�s licensing officials. 

Because the truth is out there and it hurts: Clark County public officials are about as corrupt as they come.