Northern Nevada races watched

Wednesday, Aug. 28, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Republicans are on the hot seat in a few Northern Nevada Assembly races.

While these contests have no bearing on Clark County elections, they are important in determining which party controls the Assembly in 1997. The Legislature convenes in January.

Republicans and Democrats sent 21 members each to the Assembly in 1995.

In the North, three Republican assemblymen are being challenged from within the party. No Democrat has filed against an incumbent from his or her own party.

Assembly Co-Majority Leader Pete Ernaut, R-Reno, is facing a challenge from Raymond May of Carson City, who has received media attention as a government whistleblower.

May was fired as a chemist at the state Health Division after complaining about what he says were improprieties by his superiors. He has been unsuccessful in trying to win back his job.

The winner will face one of two Democrats, Brooke Houghton, a sales associate, or Tod Cieszko, a sixth-grade teacher, in the Nov. 5 general election.

Assemblyman David Humke, R-Reno, co-chairman the Assembly Judiciary Committee, is facing competition from Chuck McCuskey, a retired orthopedic surgeon and past president of the Nevada Medical Association.

The winner will meet Daniel Nightingale, an Independent American, in the general election.

The third Republican facing a challenge from within the party is first-term Assemblywoman Patricia Tripple, R-Reno, a retired University of Nevada, Reno, executive.

Three Republicans have filed to run against her. They are Galen Mitchell, a retired state employee, Don Gustavson, a truck, limousine and shuttle-bus driver making his third run for the Assembly, and Martin Crowley, a Reno attorney who has run for the seat once before.

The winner will meet Democrat Gail Scalzi, who ran two years ago, and Libertarian M. Kent Cromwell.

In Northern Nevada Senate races, at least one Republican primary is attracting attention.

Sen. Dean Rhoads, a rancher near Tuscarora in northeastern Nevada, is being challenged by two Republicans. Rhoads is known as a founder of the Sagebrush Rebellion, a movement seeking to wrest control of federal lands.

One challenger is Ed Presley, who calls himself a research consultant and says Rhoads is "not in the (Sagebrush) fight anymore."

Presley moved to Elko County last November from Las Vegas. He he has been embroiled in legal battles with the federal government over public lands.

The other Republican is Colin Perry, a deputy sheriff in Mountain City, a small Elko County community.