Philadelphia test for LV lawmakers’ convention

Thursday, July 24, 1997 | 9:12 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- State legislators and their staff members were cooped up in Carson City for six months, but now they are getting ready to spread their wings.

Next month, 31 lawmakers -- nearly half of the 63 legislators -- and 35 of their employees head to Philadelphia for the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Estimated cost to Nevada taxpayers is $122,500 and attendance at Philadelphia is "much higher than normal," says Lorne Malkiewich, director of the Nevada Legislative Counsel Bureau.

The Philadelphia session will serve as a training exercise for Las Vegas, which will host the convention in 1998.

And to entice lawmakers from other states to Las Vegas, the Nevada delegation will be hosting a cocktail party complete with an Elvis impersonator and showgirls.

There will also be a Nevada booth where gifts and information on Las Vegas will be distributed.

This will be financed by a $175,000 up-front appropriation from the Legislature plus approximately $250,000 already raised in private contributions, said Sen. Jack Regan, D-North Las Vegas, who is head of the committee preparing the Las Vegas convention. This is outside the $122,500 travel and lodging costs.

The 31 legislators planning to attend the Philadelphia meeting Aug. 6-9 equals the number that went to Orlando, Fla., in 1991 and to San Diego in 1993.

Malkiewich said the total estimate for travel, lodging and the $130 a day pay for each lawmaker is probably high. Some people will double up in rooms and some lawmakers pay some or all of their own expenses.

Even if it ends up at $122,500, Malkiewich said, "The economic benefit to Nevada of the 1998 annual meeting is approximately 163 times the cost of sending legislators and staff to Philadelphia."

Different this time is the large number of staff. They will be working the Nevada booth that is donated by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. And they will be getting pointers on how to put on the 1998 show.

The lawmakers at the Philadelphia convention will be attending the various seminars and meetings, said Regan.

Las Vegas resorts will be supplying the Elvis impersonator and the showgirls for the cocktail party, which will be run early so it doesn't conflict with two other states that are hosting receptions, Regan said.

Regan is worried about attendance at the Las Vegas meeting. It's an election year and there's the "aura of Las Vegas," he said. And that may be reason enough for some lawmakers to stay away.

But Assembly Speaker Joe Dini, D-Yerington, expects the Las Vegas meeting to draw 10,000 people.

Regan said the budget for the Las Vegas meeting is $1.5 million, which will come in private donations. And the state will be repaid the $175,000 it appropriated in seed money.

Those who have signed up for Philadelphia are Sens. Ernie Adler, D-Carson City; Kathy Augustine, R-Las Vegas; Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas; Lawrence Jacobsen, R-Minden; Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas; Ray Shaffer, D-North Las Vegas; Maurice Washington R-Sparks, and Regan.

Assembly members heading to the meeting are Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas; Douglas Bache, D-Las Vegas; Merle Berman, R-Las Vegas; Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas; Vonne Chowning, D-Las Vegas; Jack Close, R-Las Vegas; Marcia de Braga; D-Fallon; Jan Evans, D-Sparks; Vivian Freeman, D-Reno; Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas; Dario Herrera, D-Las Vegas; Lynn Hettrick, R-Minden, and Ellen Koivisto, D-Las Vegas.

Other Assembly members are Sandy Krenzer, D-Las Vegas; Dennis Nolan, R-Las Vegas; Genie Ohrenschall, D-Las Vegas; David Parks, D-Las Vegas; Richard Perkins, D-Henderson; Bob Price, D-North Las Vegas; Brian Sandoval, R-Reno; Gene Segerblom, D-Boulder City, and Sandra Tiffany, R-Henderson.

Those members on the committee for the 1998 Las Vegas convention are Regan, Jacobsen, Augustine, Coffin, Sen. Dina Titus, Arberry, Cegavske, Chowning, Close, Herrera, Hettrick and Tiffany.