Columnist Jeff German: State GOP gearing for campaign against labor

Tuesday, Dec. 9, 1997 | 11:05 a.m.

NEVADA'S REPUBLICAN Party is planning an assault on organized labor next year.

And it has labor bosses itching to do battle.

Mainstream Republicans backing labor-friendly businessman Kenny Guinn for governor aren't very happy about it, either.

State GOP officials confirm the party expects to mount a petition drive for a ballot question banning unions from using dues for political purposes without a vote of their members.

In a fund-raising letter, which mercilessly attacks labor, state GOP Chairman John Mason asks for donations to help fund the campaign and other GOP projects in 1998.

The campaign is patterned after federal legislation backed by top Republicans on Capitol Hill, including Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev., a political target of the national AFL-CIO last year.

Ensign, running against Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has been critical of the AFL-CIO's involvement in his previous race.

He produced records last year that showed the nation's largest labor organization spent $1 million on local television ads criticizing him during his re-election bid.

Nationwide, the AFL-CIO has acknowledged pouring $35 million into a media blitz against Republican candidates.

In his letter, Mason calls the attack ads an act of desperation on labor's part.

"When labor bosses pull out all the stops to defeat our candidates at the polls, as well as defeat our legislation through high-pressure lobbying tactics and behind-the-scenes arm-twisting, Republicans have a moral obligation to defend ourselves," Mason writes.

Nowhere will the clash between labor and the GOP be more apparent next year than in the Senate race between Reid and Ensign, which is projected to be the most expensive in state history. Reid, who has strong labor ties, is expecting heavy campaign backing from the AFL-CIO.

Hoping to neutralize that support, Republicans plan to raise as much as $700,000 from private contributions for the labor-bashing ballot initiative.

Las Vegas Sands Inc. Chairman Sheldon Adelson, who's made no secret of his disdain for the Culinary Union, Nevada's largest local, would be a logical contributor. But one GOP insider insists Adelson is not among those being asked to support the drive.

In their zeal to help Ensign knock off Reid, however, Republicans risk hurting themselves at the top of their ticket.

Guinn, regarded as the front-runner in the governor's race, has been getting a warm reception from labor.

In September, he received a standing ovation when addressing the annual convention of the Nevada State AFL-CIO here. He was the only Republican invited to speak.

If Republicans go to war with labor, they risk alienating union bosses who've been impressed with Guinn. And that will make it more difficult for Guinn to win over labor on election day.

Union leaders, meanwhile, aren't going to let the Republicans run roughshod over them.

State AFL-CIO boss Blackie Evans says he plans to retaliate if the Republicans launch their petition drive.

Evans says he's already consulted with his lawyers about the prospects of mounting a similar campaign to ban corporate political donations without approval from their shareholders.

He says he's contemplating other ways to strike back, as well.

Republicans may be causing more harm than good for themselves if they stay the course.

The best and the brightest of the Democratic Party say they know how to beat the well-funded Guinn campaign in 1998.

But none of the party's big names want to face him.

You can add Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus to the list of Democratic blowhards.

Titus took herself out of the governor's race this week after concluding she couldn't raise enough money to match Guinn's campaign war chest.

In so doing, she joined fellow Democrats Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa and Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones, who bowed out for the same reason.

Since withdrawing in October, Del Papa has been whining that the casino industry and other major political donors backing Guinn froze her out of the race, where Guinn has accumulated $2 million in bank.

By last week, Del Papa had made enough noise to land her prominent play in the Wall Street Journal.

Just in case no one saw it, Del Papa bragged about the story in a bizarre news release she sent out Monday.

Del Papa was featured in the article, which described the GOP's dominance in statehouses across the country.

To some, Del Papa appeared a bit presumptuous when describing her aborted campaign for governor in the Journal.

"I stood a fairly decent chance," she was quoted as saying. "Let's face it. I'm the kind of person you want in public office."

If that were the case, Del Papa would still be in the race. So would Titus.