Appearing Wednesday on the "Nevada Newsmakers" television show, Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman suggested that those who deface freeways with graffiti should have their thumbs cut off.
"I'm saying maybe you put them on TV and cut off a thumb," Goodman recommended. "That may be the right thing to do."
Wait, there's more.
"I also believe in a little bit of corporal punishment going back to the days of yore, where examples have to be shown," Goodman said.
Is this guy serious?!
"I'm dead serious," said Goodman, adding, "Some of these (children) don't learn. You have got to teach them a lesson, and this is coming from a criminal defense lawyer."
Well, it appears that the one-time criminal defense lawyer created a criminal PR offense by suggesting televised punishment that dates back to what Annie Wilkes referred to in "Misery."
"It's called hobbling...it's for the best," said Wilkes.
Goodman is the mayor of one of the fifty largest cities in America and he's suggesting something primitive that it threatens to set back our civilization by a century or two.
One has to wonder where the heck Goodman's advisors were when this TV program was taped. It's imperative for elected officials to prepare for their appearances on television and radio. Have a message, stick to it and don't risk making a gaffe you can’t recover from.
In the case of Goodman, his idiotic suggestions were not only aired on a TV station in the Las Vegas market, but published across the world in hundreds of newspapers and Internet sites.
Now that's what I call "hobbling your career."
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