Political notebook: Dirt flying over contributions from unions

Monday, Oct. 14, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Throw enough dirt and some is bound to stick. Throw too much dirt and some is bound to fly back in your direction.

Late last week, the campaign to re-elect Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev., to Nevada's 1st Congressional District charged that Democratic opponent Bob Coffin accepted money from a labor union the federal government has tied to organized crime.

"Organized Crime Money Taints Coffin's Coffers," screamed the headline on the fax Ensign's camp sent out.

The fax noted that the Laborers International Union of North America has been accused of mob ties by the President's Commission on Organized Crime and the Justice Department. More than 80 of the union's officials have been convicted of state and federal offenses over the past two decades, Ensign noted.

Now about that dirt flying back. It turns out a separate union that has contributed to Ensign also has been accused by the president's commission of ties to organized crime and is now being monitored by the Justice Department.

On April 12, 1995, Ensign received $5,000 from the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International Union. That's the international whose membership includes Culinary Union Local 226, which represents Las Vegas hotel workers.

In September 1995, the Justice Department placed the international union under federal supervision for at least 18 months as part of a settlement of a civil racketeering complaint.

Ensign said the Hotel Employees voluntarily accepted a federal monitor while Laborers International has refused. Ensign said preliminary reports indicate the Hotel Employees are "clean" but that the same cannot be said for the Laborers. He has demanded that Coffin refund the money he received from the Laborers.

"Clearly there's been a line of corruption," Ensign said of the Laborers. "We have worked hard to cut out the mob influence in this state, and now (Coffin) has accepted money from a labor union that has potentially strong organized crime ties."

But Coffin, who has defended the Culinary Union in the state Senate, said Ensign has "no brains" for his attack on the Laborers. Coffin noted that the union, which recently held its annual meeting at the Hilton hotel-casino, has helped build many of the major resorts in Las Vegas. Among them are properties owned by Circus Circus Enterprises Inc., whose executives include Mike Ensign, the congressman's father.

"Only a fool would open this Pandora's box right here in Nevada," Coffin said of Ensign. "They (casinos) could not associate with these guys if they were (connected with the) mob. I don't believe for one minute that the Circus Circus people are dealing with unsavory people."

Coffin, however, said he believes Ensign's attack on the Laborers will be fodder for the new federal gaming commission. Critics of the commission worry that its study will lead to federal regulation of the gaming industry. Coffin said the commission obviously would look at resorts built by an allegedly mob-influenced union.

"Public officials in Nevada have had to defend our reputation for all these years and have done a pretty good job of it," Coffin said. "These unions are cleaning themselves up as far as I'm concerned. It's silly for Congressman Ensign to raise allegations of corruption against unions deeply imbedded in Nevada."

Ensign, however, said it would be a leap to conclude that the gaming commission would look at connections between casinos and the Laborers.

"It may be that they could be the only union anyone can use," Ensign said. "You have to use the (labor) market that is there."

In 1995, the 750,000-member Hotel Employees gave $75,804 to incumbent congressmen, including Ensign. Other recipients included House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., and Rep. Susan Molinari, R-N.Y., the keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention this summer. Prominent Democratic recipients included House Minority Whip David Bonior, D-Mich., and Sens. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and John D. Rockefeller IV, D-W. Va.

Laborers International gave at least $560,550 in 1995 and early this year. Coffin, a state senator from Las Vegas, received $4,500 in June.

Other recipients include House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., Bonior, Harkin and Rockefeller. Also on the list is Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., one of the national campaign chairmen for Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole. Ensign is Dole's campaign chairman in Nevada.

Asked about D'Amamto's acceptance of money from the laborers union, Ensign said "I want to keep my comments to the state of Nevada because we have gaming here."

Kemp visit

Republican vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp is tentatively set to visit Las Vegas tonight for a private fund-raiser at the Santa Fe hotel-casino. The event is expected to raise $50,000 to $60,000 for the Nevada Republican Party, said Greg Ferraro, Nevada spokesman for the Bob Dole-Jack Kemp ticket.

Kemp is also scheduled to speak at the Desert Vista Community Center in Sun City at 9 a.m. Tuesday. However, the schedule is subject to change.

Welfare fighter

Anti-welfare activist Star Parker, who addressed the Republican National Convention this summer, will be in Las Vegas on Tuesday to attend a fund-raiser for state Senate District 7 GOP candidate Charles Muth.

Parker, a former welfare recipient from South-Central Las Angeles, also will deliver a noon address to Eldorado High School seniors. She has attacked the fraud and abuse in the welfare system and blames the "liberal establishment" for destroying the poor's incentive to be self-reliant.

Parker is a founding member of Project 21, a national black conservative group. She will be attending a fund-raiser for Muth at the home of local businessman Milton Schwartz. Muth is running against incumbent Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas.

Common Cause

Common Cause of Nevada is holding a public meeting Saturday in Las Vegas to discuss the group's national reorganization plan and its position on various state ballot issues. The meeting begins at 1 p.m. in Room 4412 of the Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington Ave.

Speakers will include state Chairwoman Patricia Fladager and Executive Director Ellen Nelson. The ballot measures to be discussed include term limits for state and federal officials and judges.

Early voting

The Clark County Election Department is conducting early voting from Oct. 19 through Nov. 1 at the department as well as the Boulevard, Meadows and Galleria malls during normal business hours. The Election Department is on the ground floor of the Clark County Government Center at 500 S. Grand Central Parkway.

More than 20 mobile voting sites will be set up for one- and two-day periods during the two weeks before the election at the Fashion Show Mall, Belz Factory Outlet Mall and various libraries, senior and community centers.

A full early voting schedule will be printed in each sample ballot mailed to all voters. Voter eligibility and signatures are verified by election board officials at the early voting site. Early voting ballots will be collected daily and stored in the Election Department vault, along with the mail ballots.

Curbside voting for the disabled will be provided throughout the early voting period at the county government center. For any questions about early voting, call the Election Department at 455-8683.

No results will be available for the Nov. 5 general election until after the polls close at 7 p.m.

Hospital visit ends

Unsuccessful congressional candidate Robert Edwards is "out of the loony bin" and calling for a federal investigation of the hospital where he was committed in Reno.

Washoe District Judge Scott Jordan signed a release order last week after a hearing to determine whether Edwards should continued to be held at West Hills Hospital against his will.

Edwards' physician ordered him hospitalized last week, but Edwards refused treatment and medication.

After the hearing, Edwards told reporters, "They let me out of the loony bin." He said hospital personnel claimed he threatened to kill Gov. Bob Miller, but he said they could not produce evidence he said that.

Edwards received only 1 percent of the vote in the Republican primary in Nevada's 2st Congressional District, which encompasses all of Nevada except urban parts of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson.

He faces eight misdemeanor charges of harassing and threatening employees of a Reno radio station and a reporter for the Reno Gazette-Journal.

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