With less than a year to go to the opening in Las Vegas of a $2 billion stadium for the National Football League Raiders, the Clark County Commission has invited controversy by snubbing the leader of the powerful Culinary Union for a seat on the board that sets policy for the stadium.
Dozens of Culinary members packed commission chambers last Tuesday in support of Geoconda Arguello-Kline, secretary-treasurer of the 60,000-strong labor organization, who was among 29 applicants for one of two available seats on the nine-member Las Vegas Stadium Authority.
Instead, the commission voted 5-2 to award the seats to incumbents Jan Jones Blackhurst, a director of Caesars Entertainment, and Tommy White, secretary-treasurer of Laborers Union Local 872, a vocal supporter of the 65,000-seat Allegiant Stadium, as it’s known, and the decision to use taxpayer funds to finance $750 million of its cost.
The Culinary, on the other hand, was critical of the public funding component. In particular, the union took aim at the “billionaires” it said would profit from the deal.
Commissioner Larry Brown, who recommended Blackhurst, said he wanted to enable her and White to have full terms on the board after serving only two years. Both have served on the board since its inception.
The authority is required to have representation from the city’s two largest resort companies, Caesars and MGM Resorts International.
Brown said the members “have done a phenomenal job reaching into our market, creating diversity among our vendors and our workers, with more to come.”
Commissioners Justin Jones and Tick Segerblom wanted separate votes for the two seats and voted against White’s reappointment.
“Diversity is now,” Segerblom said. “It’s really important that our commitments and departments reflect Las Vegas, and Las Vegas is not white male. Las Vegas is diverse. If you look at that board, it’s very white-male dominated. That’s why I think Geoconda is the right person at the right time.”
Her bid was turned away despite endorsements from Nevada’s sitting U.S. senators, Catherine Cortez Masto and Senator Jacky Rosen, and former Senator Harry Reid.
Cortez Masto and Rosen praised Arguello-Kline as “leader in our community when it comes to diversity, inclusion and workers’ rights for decades,” touting her experience in the industry as crucial as the stadium nears completion next year.
In a letter to Commissioner Michael Naft, Reid said much the same, adding, “We must now look toward the next chapter: the hospitality phase for the stadium.”
In a statement released after the vote, the union said the commission “missed an opportunity to show their commitment to equity and diversity today.”
“Some commissioners are wrong to say that they ‘don’t see color’ or that the largest organization of immigrants in Nevada is ‘playing the race card,’ but the fact is, there is not one woman of color on the Stadium Authority board, and the Clark County Commission’s decision is disheartening as we end this decade and head into 2020.”
