Nevada\u2019s university regents jumped at the chance when millionaire TV station owner Jim Rogers said he was willing to serve as chancellor of the state university system on an interim basis, a few years back, for little or not pay. After all, Mr. Rogers has proven more than capable of helping colleges and universities in the Southwest raise millions of dollars in donations.<\/p>\n
From time to time, though, the dynamics of the no-longer-temporary relationship have left some wondering who\u2019s working for whom.<\/p>\n
Last August, Mr. Rogers said he and his family would no longer consider donating $3 million to the University of Nevada, Reno, after a regent\u2019s negative comments on his job evaluation.<\/p>\n
A costly miscalculation.<\/p>\n
Last week, another local group discovered Mr. Roger\u2019s charities aren\u2019t exactly \u201cblind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since 2005, Mr. Rogers by his own reckoning has spent about $40,000 to $50,000 sponsoring a series of monthly Diversity Forum luncheons which are held alternately in Las Vegas and Reno.<\/p>\n
But Mr. Rogers told leaders of the state\u2019s minority community Tuesday that he would no longer sponsor the Diversity Forum luncheons because those community leaders were not purchasing $500-a-seat tickets to a Saturday fund-raising dinner for Mr. Rogers\u2019 pet project — the Nevada Health Sciences System.<\/p>\n
That got some quick attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018I have supported you, but it\u2019s apparently a one-way street, and I\u2019m not going to do it anymore,\u2019\u201d Mr. Rogers told the Reno Gazette-Journal. \u201cThen they told me they didn\u2019t realize how important the Health Sciences System was to me, and they became responsive, so I said I would continue to sponsor the luncheons.\u201d<\/p>\n
They \u201cbecame responsive\u201d once they realized \u201chow important (it) was to me.\u201d What a wonderful phrase.<\/p>\n
Haven\u2019t we seen this dynamic play out somewhere, before?<\/p>\n
Oh yes. Playing adopted son Tom Hagen, Robert Duvall tells movie producer Jack Woltz that his employer is in a position to do many favors for Woltz film studios. The studio is about to have some labor problems; Mr. Corleone can make those go away. One of the studio\u2019s popular young leading men is about to graduate from marijuana to heroin; Mr. Corleone can make sure that doesn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n
When Mr. Corleone\u2019s request for a favor is refused by the film magnate, who seems to believe no olive oil importer from Brooklyn has a long enough reach to affect events in California, Tom Hagen leaves quickly, explaining that Mr. Corleone is a man who insists on hearing bad news right away. A short time later, as we recall, something very unfortunate happens to Mr. Woltz\u2019s prize race horse.<\/p>\n
Later, Vito Corleone\u2019s godson, Johnny Fontane, gets cast in that war movie that makes him a star, after all. Jack Woltz, it appears, \u201cbecame responsive\u201d once he realized “how important this was to Don Corleone.”<\/p>\n
Let’s not be naive. These kinds of “quid pro quos” are common enough in the real world, and especially in “comp city” las Vegas. Someone helped you get a loan or a license for your new casino or dance club, and now they’re wondering if you can comp their pals to some free drinks and “dances,” share out the tip drop, find room on the payroll for a ne’er-do-well nephew.<\/p>\n
Such dealings actually made it onto the big screen in the film “Casino” — Clark County Commissioner L.Q. Jones pointing out that a job for his nephew is the kind of favor the locals expect, even though “I know the boy’s as useless as tits on a boar.”<\/p>\n
The difference with Mr. Rogers is that his reward-and-punish incentives tend to be so blatant, and so public. (I’m told he’s so pleased with the Review-Journal’s respectful treatment these days that he’s even pushing for a special sales tax on ink and newsprint, which would be a “first in the nation” kind of thing.) And who knows, maybe it’s better for everything to be out in the open.<\/p>\n
As a reminder, though, perhaps his checks should come with little strings attached.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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