Tuesday, Aug. 13, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Insults die hard in politics.
Ask the Nevadans still smarting over a comment from Richard Lamm, who is challenging Ross Perot for the Reform Party presidential nomination.
In 1984, when Lamm was governor of Colorado, he said that one in eight women under 45 in Las Vegas is a prostitute and that "you can't run an honest casino."
Some Las Vegans haven't forgotten.
"It's bad enough to criticize women," said Anne Golonka, president of the Southern Nevada chapter of the National Organization for Women, "but to put down an entire city shows hostility."
Golonka doesn't expect Lamm to win the party's nomination Sunday at Valley Forge, Pa., but if he does, she'll work to defeat him, she said.
"I'll bring it to the fore again," she said. "He's sexist in an insidious way that happens to mature men. He doesn't recognize that he's sexist."
Lamm had been explaining to a high school journalism class why he opposed legalized gambling in Colorado.
Sen. Richard Bryan was Nevada's governor at the time and unintentionally helped keep Lamm's remarks in the national limelight.
Bryan not only criticized Lamm, but he wrote an angry letter to "Tonight Show" host Johnny Carson, who had told a few jokes about Nevada based on what Lamm had said.
After Carson received Bryan's letter, he staged a skit making fun of Nevada. During the skit, Carson stood beneath a sign that instructed Bryan to "Lighten Up."
Bryan this week expressed amusement when asked about the incident and said he understands how politicians can say things that get them in trouble.
"Lamm is very blunt," Bryan said. "His harsh language does not help him in the political sense."
Campaign strategy
Political consultant Lise Wyman will conduct campaign workshops this month at UNLV's Division of Continuing Education.
Wyman will discuss campaign planning and getting out the vote from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. Wyman also will lead workshops on campaign public relations, fund-raising and polling from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Aug. 24.
The workshops cost $25 each and will be in Room 113 of Beam Hall at UNLV. To register, call 895-3394.
archive
