Consultants, reporters have chosen sides in nuke debate

Saturday, Sept. 28, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

A handbook on Nevada politics might need to include the word incestuous.

More than a few Nevada political consultants and reporters have taken sides in the battle over whether nuclear waste should be stored in the state.

Many went to work for the heavily financed industry trying to bring a repository to Nevada.

Others, such as Las Vegas SUN political editor Larry Henry, a former press secretary for Gov. Bob Miller, and Sam Singer, ex-campaign spokesman for Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., worked for the state agency trying to keep nuclear waste out of Nevada.

Among those who sided with the nuclear utilities were campaign adviser Kent Oram and television reporter George Knapp. Their re-entry into the power structure makes them the most visible of the nuclear industry's former employees.

Others, such as veteran political consultant Don Williams and Ed Allison, a Nevada lobbyist for the nuclear utilities, also played prominent roles in the "Nevada Initiative," the industry's aborted multi-media campaign promoting the Yucca Mountain dump.

Williams has continued to give campaign advice to Nevada's political heavyweights despite signing a lucrative deal with the industry.

His most well-known client is former Rep. James Bilbray, D-Nev., who opposes the dump.

Allison, a former aide to ex-Sen. Paul Laxalt, R-Nev., and former editor of the Nevada Appeal in Carson City, has been the nuclear industry's point man in Nevada the past decade. He has hired lobbyists such as ex-Assembly Speaker Bob Barengo to help with issues at the Legislature.

While promoting the dump, Allison has also been a well-paid Washington lobbyist for Nevada's university system. His main task has been to help the system find federal dollars.

Last year, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and R&R Advertising, run by Billy Vassiliadis, top political strategist to Gov. Bob Miller, both tried to hire Allison. But they backed away after their efforts became public.

Allison could not be reached for comment.

But Williams defends his decision to come to the aid of the pro-dump forces.

"None of us wanted the dump," he says. "We were trying to get reparations for what we thought the state of Nevada deserved."

Williams hired Knapp and another former KLAS Channel 8 anchor, Bryan Gresh, to assist him in his research.

Gresh has since become a lobbyist and media consultant. Last year, he lobbied from the Clark County Regional Transportation Commission.

Earlier this month, Gresh and advertising executive Greg Ferraro surfaced as local spokesmen for Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole.

Ferraro, who runs R&R's Reno office, lobbies for the gaming industry.

In 1989, Ferraro did a six-month stint for the nuclear industry as a legislative aide in Washington until he says he found out, "It wasn't my cup of tea."

After he returned to Las Vegas, Ferraro took a job as an assistant to County Manager Pat Shalmy before leaving in 1993 to work for R&R.

Ferraro, who never worked on the Nevada Initiative, described his experience with the nuclear industry as part of his "continuing education" about the governmental process.

But when asked whether he has an opinion about the dump, he responds, "I'm one of those people who sees both sides."

Others who once worked for the nuclear industry also have edged back into the mainstream.

Ex-Channel 8 newsman Doug Bradford, who went to work for Science Applications International Corp., a dump contractor, came within six votes of making it out of the Sept. 3 primary in a Clark County School Board race.

Bradford left SAIC Friday to take a public relations job with Nevada Power Co.

Another former Las Vegas newsman, Dan Burns, left a job as managing editor at KVBC Channel 3 to work with Bradford at SAIC. Burns later ran the Las Vegas office of Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev. He then did a stint as managing editor at KTNV Channel 13 before leaving the state for a television station in Kansas City.

Denny Weddle, a public relations executive and prominent figure in the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, also has worked for the nuclear industry.

Today, as most have departed the industry's employment, the pro-dump effort is being kept alive, on a scaled-down basis, by Las Vegas public relations executive Ace Robison, a former Laxalt aide.

The ease with which these pro-dump employees have returned doesn't surprise some observers, who note that many had longstanding ties to the power structure before jumping ship.

"Most of these folks were guys who developed reputations in Nevada long before they got that account," says Vassiliadis, who counts Oram as a mentor.

Vassiliadis said he may disagree with Oram about a client, but he's not going to "wash away 20 years of friendship."

Miller says he believes it's too harsh to accuse Oram and the others of selling out.

"It was a business decision," he says. "I was disappointed that people of that caliber would make that kind of decision, but it's still just one decision."

Sen. Bryan, who has waged a fight in Nevada and Washington against the nuclear industry for more than a decade, agrees with Miller.

"I wasn't happy that a number of very prominent Nevadans jumped on board the gravy train," Bryan says. "But that was their right, and I have no quarrel with that."

Bryan calls the industry's campaign here a "collossal failure" that merely hardened opposition.

"The Nevada Initiative insulted a lot of people's intelligence," he says. "I think they miscalculated the extent and the depth of Nevadans' feelings about being the nuclear waste capital of the world."