That's the dichotomy erected this week by the Las Vegas City Council - aka Oscar and the Dwarves - after they allowed clinics owned by Dr. Dipak Desai and others to pay that fine and surrender two licenses to practice in the city. This result came after the mayor privately negotiated with his former law partner so both men's interests could be satisfied. Talk about the art of a deal - The Donald could learn from this one.

Mayor Oscar Goodman got his pound of flesh - in the form of the 500 grand and the license - although he lost what is most valuable to him: a chance to preen and posture for hours as he returned to the cross-examining showmanship that kept many a mobster on the streets.

And his ex-partner, Jay Brown, got what his clients needed - a small price to pay for not having to endure a city hearing that would involve one mayor fulminating and six dwarves a pandering. A half-mil and no hearing - in essence, they bought Goodman's silence. Less than seven figures for Mayor Mouth not to open his probably seems like a bargain.

It must have been painful for Goodman and his dwarves to give up the chance to pound more on the doctors, to praise themselves for their quick and tough action, to reassure the public. Problem is, as the public comments later showed, many people will not be satisfied until Desai is shackled and taken to the gallows.

Nevertheless, this is a public relations bonanza for the city, which shut down the clinic as the outrage was boiling and received kudos from patients and others. Now, Oscar and the Dwarves have a fund to help defray patient costs and they have the clinics' licenses.

But we should let some facts get in the way of this good story:

Fact No. 1 - The doctors know they will never use that license again because it has been rendered useless by the public health scare. No one will ever use that clinic again, so they gave up nothing by surrendering the license.

Fact No. 2 - Let's put this in perspective. These doctors are about to be sued for tens -maybe hundreds - of millions of dollars. So writing a check for $500,000 doesn't seem like much. Maybe they can get their insurance company to cover it.

Fact No. 3 - It isn't much, relatively speaking. For instance, the fine is only the third largest imposed in recent memory by the council - they seem to think violations by strip clubs are more serious than clinics potentially infecting thousands of people. In 2004, the council fined Cheetahs $1 million and in 2006, Oscar and the Dwarves hit the Crazy Horse Too for more than twice that amount.

No matter how you feel about the issue, you have to give Brown credit and see the ugly beauty of what he accomplished for his clients. Maybe it caused the doctors some pain to write that check, but the city could have fined them at least three times that amount - and perhaps more. And what's more, they got the city to sign a document that dismisses the complaint with prejudice and says in plain language that they did not acknowledge any liability or wrongdoing.

Now that's juice. Indeed, it can be no accident that the doctors hired Brown, not just because of his long relationship with Goodman, but because of his amazing success in front of local government boards through the years.

Who knows? That five hundred grand may be less than Brown's fee.