Ken McCall: GOP Assembly District 1 never-ending race

Monday, Sept. 30, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

NERVES ARE beginning to fray in the race that won't die.

Republican Assembly District 1 candidates Anne DiMartini and Jeff Knight joked about flipping a coin for the party's slot after their six-vote Sept. 3 primary election was invalidated by errors.

After a second election was thrown out last week because of a voting error, they probably wished they'd found a quarter and ended their misery.

But they didn't, and with all the ruckus about election errors and negative campaigning, District 1 Republican voters are probably having a hard time making heads or tails about who stands for what. A third special election is set for Oct. 8.

Knight is justifiably upset about a recent DiMartini campaign mailer featuring an obviously distorted photograph that squashes his face into a clownlike image.

His likeness isn't the only thing that's distorted, Knight says.

The flier, mailed out just before last week's doomed special election, sums up Knight's political involvement this way:

* "Registered to vote in 1992."

* "Never voted for United State President."

* "Only voted in one election."

All three, Knight says, are false.

Knight says he first registered to vote when he turned 18 in 1989. After attending classes at the University of Nevada, Reno, and UNLV, he attended Arizona State for two years.

He registered as a Republican in Arizona, and voted in the 1992 presidential election. He came back to Nevada late in 1992 to complete his degree in economics at UNLV and re-registered in the state.

The flier, he says, also takes some "pretty bad shots" at him by claiming DiMartini is the only candidate with "the honesty and the integrity" to represent the district.

How can she say that, Knight asks, when her own flier prints lies about him?

The flier rightly points out that DiMartini, a 44-year-old mother of three and real estate broker, has more life experience than Knight, who turned 25 this month. It presents a long list of her accomplishments, including 12 years in both the hotel and real estate businesses, and activity in state and county Republican organizations.

It sums up Knight's life this way:

"Personal Accomplishments -- 25 years old.

"Business Accomplishments -- salesman."

Ouch. A body blow.

But Knight counterpunches. Getting through college and graduating with an undergraduate degree is an accomplishment, he says, and not one that DiMartini can put on her resume. He's also completed about half his coursework toward a master's degree in government.

Yes, he works as a salesman for an electronics distribution company called Competitive Components. So?

Knight also points out that he grew up in the northwest district, while DiMartini just moved up from Green Valley this year.

DiMartini has stated repeatedly that Knight has "bashed" her in an automated telephone message for spending taxpayers' money by requesting the first special election.

Knight, however, says he didn't authorize or pay for the telephone messages and notes that they weren't flattering to either candidate.

For the record, Democratic candidate Tom Collins, who will face the winner on Nov. 5, says he's never used such automated calling and doesn't plan to.

Despite all the flailing in the ring, there actually are some clear-cut differences between the Republican candidates on the issues. Here are a few:

DiMartini charges Knight is "for dumping more money into a failing school system."

"I'm into majorly auditing it and moving money around that's already there," she says.

Knight says he endured Clark County School District overcrowding and double sessions, which he calls "counterproductive." The school district, he says, is in "dire need" and will require state help to keep up with the growth -- much of which is occurring in his northwest Las Vegas Assembly district.

"The only people who are paying for growth are the kids," he says. "I don't think they're getting an adequate education."

Another dividing line is over nuclear waste storage.

Knight says he's always been opposed to storing high-level nuclear waste "90 miles from my home."

DiMartini hasn't taken a stand on the issue.

"That is one of the most interesting issues that we will be facing," she says. "I'm still researching it."

DiMartini seizes on another issue to prove she and Knight are "worlds apart."

"He sports a union bug on his walk-piece," she says, speaking of a Knight flier.

"I've been endorsed by the NAIB (Nevada Association of Independent Businesses.) That's quite a group right there."

But Knight says that "union bug" she's talking about is a union trademark stamped on by the printer, PDQ Printing.

"It's a union shop," he says. "They stamp that on everything."

As for unions themselves, Knight says, "I think they have a rightful place in society."

Democrat Collins, meanwhile, thinks he's benefiting from the extended Republican campaign, although not as much as people think.

True, they're spending precious time and money on a dwindling number of Republicans willing to cast repeated primary ballots. On the other hand, they're getting a lot of "free publicity."

And name recognition rarely hurts a politician.

Still, Collins is feeling optimistic and continuing to walk the district, talking to everyone he can extend a hand to.

"They're beating each other up," he says. "Once they're done, they've got over 10,000 Democrat and nonpartisan voters they still have to go talk to."