Power brokers, friends split over room tax raid, dismissal of wife

Billy Vassiliadis is the mistress who knows her lover cheats on his wife with her but believes he won't cheat on her.

Sig Rogich is the cheating husband in this tale of estranged political giants.

One mutual friend said the breakup of the longtime friends, who are two of Nevada's premier political consultants, has left Vassiliadis feeling heartbroken and bushwhacked by Rogich.

Their split involves betrayal, family pride ... and money, of course.

The split occurred in April after Venetian officials convinced Gov. Jim Gibbons that it would be a terrific idea to take some of the room tax money collected by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and use it to help solve Nevada's transportation calamities. Doesn't sound like betrayal material, but let's delve.

Vassiliadis is president of R&R Partners, the company that holds the advertising and public relations contract for the convention authority. The $325 million five-year contract makes the convention authority R&R's biggest client.

Rogich is owner of Rogich Communications Group and now a consultant for The Venetian, where the top man, Sheldon Adelson, loathes the convention authority.

When the proposal to take room tax dollars from the authority emerged like a stripper from a birthday cake in April, multiple sources said Vassiliadis felt betrayed by his close friend, though Rogich has insisted he had nothing to do with the room tax diversion plan. "At best, Sig's doing nothing," an insider said. "At worst, he's providing comfort, if not strategy" to the ongoing Venetian plan to raid the authority's budget to pay for transportation.

Rogich hired Vassiliadis in 1983 to work at R&R, the firm Rogich started, and they became close personal and professional friends. Rogich put R&R into Vassiliadis' care while he was working in Washington, D.C., and in 1994 sold R&R to Vassiliadis.

Now they're not speaking to each other.

Reason One: Business and betrayal.

Reason Two: Family and betrayal.

In July, Gibbons unceremoniously tossed Vassiliadis' wife, Rosemary, deputy director of the Clark County Aviation Department, off the Nevada Homeland Security Commission. Rosemary Vassiliadis has high-level security clearance and is more than qualified to be on that committee. The airport is a critical component in the war against terrorism.

It looks like the governor bounced her so rudely for payback: Her husband supported his Democratic opponent, state Sen. Dina Titus, in the governor's race.

Who's a close adviser to Gibbons? His drinking buddy, Sig Rogich. So did Rogich have any role in removing Rosemary Vassiliadis? He's telling people he didn't and blames it on Chief of Staff Michael Dayton.

Being your friend, then your foe, is a historic pattern with Rogich.

He was tight with former Gov. Kenny Guinn, a Republican; now they're completely at odds, a parting I chronicled in March.

He was close with Gov. Bob Miller, a Democrat, running Miller's district attorney campaigns. But when Rogich went to work for President Reagan's re-election campaign in 1984, he became Mr. Republican and began supporting Miller's opponents. Now Rogich and Miller have cooled somewhat.

The primary and secondary players wouldn't speak on the record for this column. But I'm told Vassiliadis blames the betrayal on Rogich's need to be relevant.

"At the end of the day, Sig's motivation of money and influence pales to his need to be important," one insider said. "Sheldon put him back in the game."

GOP consultant Pete Ernaut and Rogich, who is godfather to one of Ernaut's children, also haven't spoken in months. Ernaut is president of government and public affairs at R&R. So any attempt at undermining the value of the contract with the convention authority is an attack on Ernaut's financial well-being.

A message left with Rogich asking to discuss "the split with Billy" was answered with a polite but brief phone message Tuesday: "There's nothing I can say about that, other than I don't view it as being accurate and there's nothing more I would really like to say."

It was unusual for the one-time image-maker for the first President Bush to fail to use his eloquent powers of persuasion.

Maybe this one is too tough for Sig to spin.

Or maybe he plans to patch it up with his friend of 25 years as he's done before with so many others.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0275.