The Nevada State Contractors Board on Thursday closed its long-standing investigations into illegal remodeling at six Las Vegas hotels in the Harrah’s Entertainment group, when it adopted a settlement in which the parties agree to pay the board $26,000.
http://www.lvrj.com/business/harrah_s-hotels-will-pay-fines-85462462.html
A tiny fine for all the building code violations and related crookedness. Shameful, but expected. A disgusting performance by all the public officials involved in this skulduggery, even by Nevada standards. I wonder what the price was of each public official who refused to properly do his or her duty?
A recap of the case:
Georgie Lyford, the lead investigator for the Nevada State Contractors Board is a fine example of a corrupt, useless as tits on a bull state employee who is either not willing to do his job or finds it pays better not to! Early into the Harrah’s illegal remodeling investigation I was given Georgie’s name & phone number by the Clark County Building Department as he was the person investigating the licensed & unlicensed contractors involved in Harrah’s debacle. Georgie, didn’t like me asking him questions in the least, he was actually quite confrontational with me. He asked me why I was so interested in the Harrah’s illegal remodels – Georgie obviously isn’t a rocket scientist. Georgie made sure to let me know that unless action was taken by the Nevada State Contractors Board on a complaint (if the party or parties was/were found guilty) – the Nevada State Contractors Board investigation would remain confidential into eternity, according to Nevada State Law…no open government here! Of course, I couldn’t resist telling Georgie how convenient this must be for him and the rest of his office to cover up wrongdoing by “the good old boy network.”
I can safely say that the Nevada Contractors Board is about as transparent as a block wall, putting it in the same company as Nevada OSHA, Nevada State Medical Board, Nevada Attorney General’s Office, Clark County DA’s office, Nevada Gaming Control Board, Senator Harry Reid’s Land Deals, Clark County Building Department Investigations, Clark County Fire Department Investigations, Nevada State SEC Regulatory Agency, Local 501 Operating Engineers, Clark County Business Licensing, and please feel free to add your own to my list.
This is what I learned from being the Harrah’s Whistleblower: “what happens in Las Vegas truly stays in Las Vegas.” Some companies such as Harrah’s are truly too big to fail. Finding an agency or public employee willing to do their job is like trying to find a needle in a haystack…for real! Corruption, lying, looking the other way and failing to do the right thing are strongly encouraged in Las Vegas & Nevada. The State’s ethics are lodged somewhere up between Gary Loveman’s butt cheeks. With the likes of Harry Reid, John Ensign, Dina Titus, Rory Reid, Tom Collins, Luv Gov “Dumbo” Jim Gibbons, Catherine Cortez-Masto, Sig Rogich, Ron Lynn, Phil Rosenquist, Steven Smith, Girard Page, Sandra Baker, Georgie Lyford, David Roger, Jackie Glass…and the list goes on & on with each one contributing to the cesspool of corruption which we call Las Vegas…
By the way Georgie…you did a fine job helping sweep the corruption under the rug!