In spite of receiving advice that he shouldn’t run for office, John McCarthy moved forward. In April 1978, he approached the Clark County Republican Party and won support for his candidacy. He filed the necessary paperwork the following month. McCarthy presented himself as a reform candidate, vowing to restore Metro’s reputation and prestige.
And although incumbent Sheriff Lamb was acquitted of the tax charges in federal court, those and other allegations, along with the revelations about Detective Joe Blasko and Sgt. Phil Leone being on the Mob’s payroll, had taken their toll. John McCarthy defeated “Mr. Metro” at the ballot box that November. The celebration was short-lived, however. Though it had been difficult beating Ralph Lamb, the next four years proved to be much more so. The problems began immediately.
Promotions, Resentment and a Lawsuit
Both supporters and critics knew John McCarthy as a first-class honest cop who wanted to do a good job. His integrity wasn’t an issue with those who worked with and for him. Those same people also agree that he was politically naïve and not a proponent of the art of compromise; McCarthy was more the type to make decisions based on what he thought was right, stick to his guns, and let the chips fall where they may. One such decision created a firestorm even before he took office.
In order to implement his campaign promises to reform Metro, McCarthy needed people he could trust in positions of authority within the department. That meant promoting patrolmen and detectives, for example, he felt he could rely on to upper-level management positions over others with more seniority, rank, and experience.
Many of the people who felt they deserved promotion had been Lamb supporters and weren’t happy with McCarthy’s election to begin with. The news that they were being bypassed in favor of what they thought were McCarthy’s cronies went over badly. Their reaction wasn’t limited to locker-room grumbling. On December 28, 39 Metro officers filed a class-action lawsuit challenging the legality of McCarthy’s appointments.
Gary Lang, who had agreed to hold two positions in McCarthy’s administration, Legal Advisor to Metro and Counsel to the Sheriff, was aware that emotions were running high even before the lawsuit was initiated. On Thanksgiving Day after the election, he received a bomb threat at his residence and was forced to leave his home for two days; no bomb was found. The lawyer isn’t sure members of Metro made the threat, though. He believes that many people in Clark County had benefited from their relationship with Ralph Lamb over the years, and were threatened by the election results.
Lang litigated the class-action suit on behalf of Sheriff McCarthy. It was his position that, unpopular or not, McCarthy had no choice but to make the promotions he did. And he was confident the Sheriff had the authority to make them. The court found his argument convincing and ruled in McCarthy’s favor in January. The case was over, but resentment lingered.
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