Union group says it spent $413,373 on ‘paycheck protection’

Thursday, Aug. 20, 1998 | 10:40 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Organized labor raised and spent $413,373 in its fight with the Nevada Republican Party over the controversial "paycheck protection" petition to limit use of union dues for political purposes.

Nevadans for Fairness, the organization created by the Nevada AFL-CIO, filed its campaign collection and expenses report Wednesday with the secretary of state's office.

The GOP started a petition drive to amend the Nevada's Constitution to require union members to give written permission annually to use their dues for political campaigns. Organized labor, which enlisted Gov. Bob Miller in the fight, countered with its petition that would prohibit any restrictions on union dues.

Both sides then reached an agreement to drop their respective petitions, allowing the present law that does not impose any restrictions to remain unchanged.

The deadline for filing campaign contributions and expenditures is Aug. 25, but Dan Burdish, executive director of the Republican party, says it may not file a report. The law, Burdish said, requires a report if the issue reaches the ballot. "This never got on the ballot," he said.

He added, however, that he would have no problem in filing a report if required by the secretary of state's office. He estimated the party spent "close to half a million dollars" in its efforts.

Pamela Crowell, deputy secretary of state for elections, said the initiative petitions were never filed with her office so there is no requirement for a financial report. She said organized labor voluntarily filed its report.

On the AFL-CIO initiative petition, it would have required full disclosure of campaign contributions -- meaning every penny collected and spent must be identified. And that's what was included in the labor campaign report, which showed people who gave as little as $2.

Most of the contributions came from organized labor. For instance the AFL-CIO nationally chipped in $50,000. So did the Nevada State Employees Union along with its national affiliate that represents government workers.

Three Las Vegas hotel-casinos -- the Bellagio, Hilton and Caesars Palace -- each gave $15,000 to the labor effort. Sahara owner Bill Bennett, former owner of Circus Circus Enterprises, contributed $10,000.

The big expenses in the labor drive went for professional services to help gather signatures. It paid $151,000 to Kimball Petition Management Inc., which was hired to collect signatures. Between Kimball, which is based in San Francisco, and union workers, some 80,000 people signed the petition.

The requirement for a place on the ballot was 46,764 signatures by June 16 with 10 percent of the voters in 13 of the 17 counties. Republicans estimated they had enough signatures to qualify before the agreement was reached.