They Became Responsive

Nevada’s 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.

From time to time, though, the dynamics of the no-longer-temporary relationship have left some wondering who’s working for whom.

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’s negative comments on his job evaluation.

A costly miscalculation.

Last week, another local group discovered Mr. Roger’s charities aren’t exactly “blind.”

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.

But Mr. Rogers told leaders of the state’s 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’ pet project — the Nevada Health Sciences System.

That got some quick attention.

“I said, ‘I have supported you, but it’s apparently a one-way street, and I’m not going to do it anymore,’” Mr. Rogers told the Reno Gazette-Journal. “Then they told me they didn’t realize how important the Health Sciences System was to me, and they became responsive, so I said I would continue to sponsor the luncheons.”

They “became responsive” once they realized “how important (it) was to me.” What a wonderful phrase.

Haven’t we seen this dynamic play out somewhere, before?

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’s popular young leading men is about to graduate from marijuana to heroin; Mr. Corleone can make sure that doesn’t happen.

When Mr. Corleone’s 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’s prize race horse.

Later, Vito Corleone’s godson, Johnny Fontane, gets cast in that war movie that makes him a star, after all. Jack Woltz, it appears, “became responsive” once he realized “how important this was to Don Corleone.”

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.

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.”

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.

As a reminder, though, perhaps his checks should come with little strings attached.

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