Lynette Boggs moves on after political, legal ups and downs

The former Las Vegas city councilwoman and county commissioner moved to Texas in 2008. That was two years after a surveillance video of her in a pink bathrobe hauling out trash and picking up the newspaper outside a home that wasn’t in her district lost her a seat on the county commission.

Her downfall was caused by two things — she and her husband lived beyond their means, and she crossed Culinary Union Local 226 and the Las Vegas Police Protective Association. The culinary loathed her ties to Station Casinos. The police union feared she would oppose raises.

In a rebound, Boggs graduates May 19 from St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio.

On her blog at www.lynetteboggs.com, she asks for donations for her graduation gift, money to support her this summer while she studies for the Texas Bar exam in July.

She promises to write about various subjects including “faith, family, politics, entertainment, travel, literature, sports and even knitting.”

Blogger Boggs detailed the demolition of her political career, although she blames others, taking no responsibility for her own misdeeds.

Boggs was a young black politician, an outstanding speaker with promise. She came from a military family, was Miss Oregon 1989 and was embraced by Republicans as a rising star.

“I received my life’s calling at the age of 12 when I won my first election to the office of vice president of my junior high student body at the American school in Wuerzburg, Germany. I knew as a young girl, without a doubt, that I was called to be a public servant,” she blogged.

Her political career began in 1998 when she ran as a Democrat for the Assembly but lost. She became a Republican and was appointed to a seat on the Las Vegas City Council in 1999. In 2002, she ran for Congress and lost, and in 2004 was appointed to the Clark County Commission.

During her 2006 commission race, the police and culinary unions hired a private detective to prove she wasn’t living in her district. The former journalist said she lost the election “because of the negative news coverage of the allegations.”

In 2007, she was indicted on four felony charges involving whether she lied on election documents and improperly used campaign donations. In 2009, she pleaded no contest to filing a false statement regarding her residency. Unlike a felony, the misdemeanor plea meant she could go to law school.

When she was arrested, processed and “handcuffed inside the county jail I had an encounter with God to remind me that every world changer I had ever admired — King, Gandhi, Bhutto, Mandela, the Apostle Paul and Jesus, especially, came to mind — all had suffered similar humiliations at the hands of their political enemies.”

Boggs’ problem was that she ran with rich people and thought she should share the good life they had — without being able to pay for it. And she lied.

She lied about the nature of a plane trip to a game at her alma mater Notre Dame and didn’t disclose it as a gift. Later she claimed it was an in-kind campaign contribution.

Her Summerlin home went into foreclosure in 2004, and she claimed it was a bank mistake because she had been paying the mortgage. Her husband confirmed that was untrue. (She was known then as Lynette Boggs McDonald, but after they divorced, she returned to Boggs.)

Continuing her pattern of deceit, she covered up having a “rental” home in her commission district by paying “rent,” then taking the check back. You get the drift.

Perhaps she has turned her life around and will use her legal education to help others.

Or perhaps Lynette Boggs is still living large and lying.

Jane Ann Morrison’s column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Email her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call her at 702-383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/Morrison.