The fix is in?

LVCVA sets stage for Ralenkotter largesse

The debate over the future of Rossi Ralenkotter at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is as phony as a counterfeit airline gift card. If there were any doubt, that was all erased Thursday.

In June, Mr. Ralenkotter, CEO of the convention authority, said he intended to retire soon. He has worked for the LVCVA — which is funded with room tax revenue and charged with promoting Las Vegas — for 46 years and will receive a pension of more than $350,000 a year for life. Mr. Ralenkotter, who took the agency’s helm in 2004, is credited with helping Las Vegas establish and maintain its status as a worldwide tourist and convention draw.

In recent months, however, Mr. Ralenkotter, 71, became embroiled in a scandal involving Southwest Airlines gift cards. The Review-Journal reported that he had improperly used roughly $17,000 of the vouchers for personal travel, often with his wife. After the expenditures were discovered, he apologized and reimbursed the authority.

An audit later revealed that $50,000 in gift cards were unaccounted for.

The Metropolitan Police Department eventually determined the incident warranted a criminal investigation.

All of this came on the heels of an RJ probe which found that the LVCVA under Mr. Ralenkotter blew through hundreds of thousands of dollars on first-class travel, overseas trips, high-end entertainment, gifts and other perks for employees.

At least one convention authority board member, North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee, has expressed dismay that, given recent revelations, the panel appears intent on offering Mr. Ralenkotter much more than a gold Bulova upon his exit. And last week it became clear that the fix is in.

On Thursday, board Chairman Lawrence Weekly, who moonlights as a Clark County commissioner, announced that Metro provided him with a letter revealing the department has yet to find any evidence of wrongdoing on Mr. Ralenkotter’s part. That same day, Mr. Ralenkotter announced in an email that his last day will be Aug. 31. Lo and behold, the convention authority also released its agenda for next Tuesday’s meeting, and it features three items related to a retirement package for Mr. Ralenkotter, including a potential consulting contract worth six figures.

This is a farce and an affront to local taxpayers.

The fact that the police have yet to turn up anything is irrelevant as long as the investigation continues. All indications are that the investigation is in its nascent stages. Why would Mr. Weekly and the board attempt to ram through Mr. Ralenkotter’s golden parachute during a police probe if not to whitewash the entire issue?

“If there’s still an active investigation,” said Thomas Pitaro, a part-time instructor at UNLV’s Boyd Law School, “it makes no sense for the convention authority to be proceeding as if (Mr.) Ralenkotter has been exonerated.”

Indeed. Whether Mr. Ralenkotter deserves a lavish exit deal is a matter of legitimate debate, even if he is cleared in the gift card incident. Yet you can be sure board members have little appetite for a detailed discussion, preferring instead to ink up their rubber stamps. It’s worth remembering that Mr. Ralenkotter’s doesn’t have a contract, meaning the LVCVA is under no obligation to provide him with a sloppy, wet smooch courtesy of the taxpayers.

The LVCVA can still stop this charade. At a minimum, authority officials should pull the items in question from this week’s agenda. There should be no discussion of the matter at all until Metro has publicly released the final results of its inquiry. At that point, board members who feel Mr. Ralenkotter deserves to be compensated beyond his lavish pension will be outing themselves as part of the problem. The taxpayers will no doubt be watching.