Money for Ensign outpaces Coffin’s

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

and Cy Ryan

Thanks to help from casinos, Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev., maintains a huge lead in the campaign money game.

Contribution reports filed Tuesday show Ensign has raised $1.58 million through Sept. 30, compared with $307,423 for Democratic challenger Bob Coffin in the race for Nevada's 1st Congressional District, which includes urban parts of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson.

Ensign continued to receive more support than Coffin from gaming executives and casino political action committees, receiving about $20,700 from those sources from Aug. 15 to Sept. 30. His large contributors included $5,000 each from Mirage Resorts and Boyd Gaming PACs, $2,500 from Circus Circus Enterprises and $2,200 from the Showboat hotel-casino.

Since July 1, Coffin collected about $10,700 from casinos, including $2,500 from the Bally's Grand Recreation Entertainment PAC.

In the 2nd District, which encompasses the remainder of Nevada and 31 percent of Clark County, Republican Jim Gibbons has collected more money, but Democrat Spike Wilson has spent more.

In reports filed Tuesday, Gibbons, a former Reno assemblyman, lists contributions of $410,305. As of Sept. 30, Gibbons had spent $306,166.

Wilson, a former Washoe County state senator, reports contributions of $279,849, not including a $100,000 personal loan. Since he entered the race this summer, Wilson has spent $332,387.

In the 1st District race, Coffin campaign manager Gene Fisher said Coffin has received a fund-raising boost because of polls that show him running within a couple of points of Ensign.

Since July 1, Coffin has raised $196,968. Ensign has raised $162,559 since Aug. 15. Ensign's report does not include contributions between July 1 and Aug. 15.

"People are looking at our race a lot more seriously," Fisher said.

Ensign downplayed the significance of Coffin's third-quarter results, noting that many of his individual contributors have given the maximum $1,000 allowed by law. Plus Coffin's largest chunk of money continues to come from labor PACs, which contributed at least $57,500 during the third quarter.

Ensign, battered by negative television advertisements paid for by the national AFL-CIO, said he can prove the union has spent $1.5 million against him.

Even with his huge fund-raising advantage -- he had $308,326 in the bank at the end of September compared with $130,194 for Coffin -- Ensign argued that the AFL-CIO spending should be counted toward Coffin's contributions.

Fisher said Ensign is exaggerating the amount the AFL-CIO is spending.

Coffin's contribution totals don't include the controversial $100,000 in personal loans that Ensign and the Republican National Congressional Committee are challenging.

The GOP charges the loans are illegal because they were co-signed by Coffin's wife, UNLV journalism Professor Mary Hausch, and far exceed the amount she could contribute as an individual. Coffin said the loans are legal.