Aide: Miller giving priority to Family to Family program

Tuesday, May 20, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Bob Miller's top aide has told university system Chancellor Richard Jarvis that he must support the governor's proposed Family to Family program or Miller will back off his support for a law school at UNLV.

Jim Mulhall, Miller's chief of staff, confirmed today he talked with Jarvis last week about getting him to approach lawmakers to back the Family to Family program, a proposed support system for parents and young children that has drawn sharp criticism from some legislators.

"I had a discussion with him (Jarvis) about the Family to Family and the law school and a variety of other things," Mulhall said.

Asked if he told Jarvis that if the chancellor did not support Family to Family, then the governor would not support the law school, Mulhall replied, "I can't remember the exact words but that quote capsulates our meeting.

"There is no doubt I drew a vivid picture where the governor's priorities were," Mulhall said.

Jarvis said he did not view Mulhall's statements as pressure. He said he will lobby for Family to Family, but this is not a position taken by the Board of Regents of the University and Community College System of Nevada.

"It's a personal thing, not one taken by the regents," he said.

He said some of his staff "were anxious" after the conversation between Mulhall and him. "I just felt it was a question of lobbying," he said.

Mulhall said he told Jarvis that the Family to Family program is a top priority for the governor and that the law school is down the list.

"If it Family to Family didn't get funded, we would ask important questions about what other priorities were funded," he said. "But I don't think it will come to that."

An administration official, who asked not to be named, said "strong messages" were sent last week to step up the lobbying on Family to Family, which would cost about $11.3 million with 58 new staff members to provide help to families of newborns.

Miller has recommended $3 million in challenge grant money for starting a law school at UNLV. The school would have to raise about $700,000 on its own to open the school.

But lawmakers have indicated they favor giving UNLV the full appropriation rather than forcing it to seek private donations.