Kemp says Dole against nuke dump

Wednesday, Oct. 16, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

and Bob Shemeligian

Vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp today said his Republican running mate, Bob Dole, would veto a temporary nuclear waste dump in Nevada.

"There will be no interim nuclear waste dump," Kemp said at a news conference after a speech to about 500 supporters in Las Vegas.

Dole had refused during two campaign visits to Las Vegas to answer questions about the proposed temporary dump.

But Kemp broke the silence with an emphatic statement that Dole would veto proposed legislation to store nuclear waste at the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

President Clinton has also said he would veto a bill placing a temporary dump in Nevada and would not authorize a permanent facility unless scientific studies indicate it is safe. Legislation targeting Nevada as a temporary site was stalled in Congress this year, but is expected to be brought up again in 1997.

On another front, Kemp stepped up the character issue today by hyping Dole as "a man of principle."

"In my opinion, Bill Clinton wants to be re-elected to be somebody," Kemp said at an address in a theater-in-the-round setting at the Desert Vista Community Center in Sun City. "They are all yelling four more years. Four more years of what?"

In recent days, Dole and Kemp have focused on issues they believe could reinforce negative images about Clinton's character, including his troubles in the Whitewater land deal in Arkansas and alleged marital infidelities. Dole, who recently called Clinton "Bozo," says he will make character an issue Wednesday when the two meet in San Diego for their second and final debate.

During his 40-minute speech in Las Vegas to about 500 supporters, including a large number of senior citizens, Kemp said Dole's age is an advantage.

"Bob Dole is running for president at 73 years of age," Kemp said, "but the wisest of candidates has the freshest ideas. Mr. Clinton has the oldest ideas in the world."

Kemp, who quarterbacked the Buffalo Bills, is a former New York congressman and former Housing secretary.

Kemp drew a round of applause when he called for the elimination of the estate tax. He also called for the abolishment of the tax code, but he would not say how to replace it. Dole and Kemp have said the Internal Revenue Service should be abolished.

During the speech, however, Kemp did not address the issue of nuclear waste, despite having told reporters the night before that he would talk about it.

He waited until the new conference to reveal the ticket's viewpoint on the nuclear waste issue.

When he arrived Monday, he had promised reporters he would address the subject today.

"Tomorrow," Kemp replied Monday evening when reporters asked for his position on a proposed nuclear waste storage facility at the Test Site.

Kemp meant he would wait until today to address a proposal to store nuclear waste at the Test Site while Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is being studied as a permanent repository.

Like Clinton, Dole will use science to determine whether he supports a permanent dump in Nevada, Kemp said.

Kemp didn't stop to talk to reporters after he and his wife, Joanne, walked down the stairs from a 727 at the Air Cargo Center of McCarran International Airport. But by shouting, "Tomorrow," he indicated he would discuss a topic his running mate has avoided.

Gov. Bob Miller also entered the fray by sending Dole a letter Saturday asking Dole and Kemp to clarify their position.

"Will you clearly state the position of the Dole/Kemp ticket on interim nuclear waste storage in Nevada?" Miller wrote. "Nevadans deserve to know where you stand before they cast their ballots."

After arriving Monday night, Kemp spoke about 30 supporters at a $5,000-a-plate fund-raising dinner at the Santa Fe hotel-casino.

At the front of the hotel, nearly 100 union members were staging a protest.

Glen Arnodo, political action director for Culinary Local 226, said the demonstrators wanted to underscore that Kemp was speaking at a hotel where union members say employees have been mistreated.

Union members contend that state Sen. Sue Lowden, R-Las Vegas, and her husband, Paul, who are majority owners of the Santa Fe, have refused to recognize the Culinary Union in the three years since employees voted in a federally supervised election to unionize.

The Lowdens, who have filed appeals against the union victory with the National Labor Relations Board, could not be reached for comment Monday.

But in the past, Sue Lowden has said the use of the appeals process should not be taken as a sign that the resort will not bargain.

She said the appeal is a means to protect the rights of employees who voted for the union three years ago, but later came forward to claim they were intimidated into doing so.

The NLRB has ruled that the hotel claims lack merit.

"We want to point out that Dole, (Newt) Gingrich and Lowden are anti-worker and anti-family," Arnodo said.

Jim Denton, Lowden's spokesman, said any comparison between Lowden and House Speaker Gingrich, R-Ga., is "absurd."

"For the Culinary Union to compare Sen. Lowden's record with Newt Gingrich proves that they will say anything and do anything in their misguided attempt to help defeat her," Denton said. "She has voted for working families and to lower taxes. Her voting record shows she has consistently voted with Gov. Bob Miller, who is certainly not Newt Gingrich."

Lowden is being challenged in the Nov. 5 election by Democrat Valerie Wiener, a former press secretary for Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and owner of a communications company.

Protesters and picketed the site of Kemp's address today.