Heller files campaign report

Wednesday, Dec. 31, 1997 | 10:11 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Secretary of State Dean Heller filed his campaign finance report minutes before the deadline in his office Wednesday, showing he has received $7,289 in contributions.

But Heller did not identified the office he will run for in the next election. There's a place on the reporting form for the candidate to list the office he or she will seek. Most candidates have filled it in. But Heller has left it blank.

Naming the office is optional.

Heller has been mentioned as a Republican candidate for governor or lieutenant governor, as well as running for re-election.

Candidates who collected more than $10,000 since Oct. 1 must file their contribution report before Dec. 31, identifying those who gave more than $100.

In June 1996, Heller received $5,861 from Tom Fettic, the Carson City Assemblyman who did not run for re-election. Fettic gave his left-over campaign funds from the previous election to Heller.

Newmont Gold also contributed $1,000 to Heller in January 1995. Heller was obligated to report only the money he received since October 1997 but decided to list the donors for the past two years.

As secretary of state, Heller led the drive to reform the campaign reporting law, requiring candidates to disclose earlier contributions, how much they received and who they got it from.

In another report filed with Heller's office, Sen. Mark James, R-Las Vegas, who had toyed with the idea of running for attorney general but then decided on a bid for re-election, reported he collected $60,301 since the law went into effect Oct. 1.

James' biggest contributions of $5,000 each came from the MGM Grand and the Primadonna Casino Resorts, both in Las Vegas. The Howard Hughes Corp., of Las Vegas gave $2,500. There were $2,000 donations each from Robert Black Sr., of Las Vegas and Reno lobbyist Harvey Whittemore.

There were "in kind" contributions of $3,463 each from NCA Management, Inc.; APR, Ltd.; Stonegate Management and A.I.P.I, all of the same address at 5075 Spyglass Hill Drive in Las Vegas.