PAC set to fight GOP move

Thursday, Feb. 12, 1998 | 10:39 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Organized labor took its first step Wednesday to sink a proposed constitutional amendment backed by the Nevada Republican Party that would curtail political spending by unions.

Claude "Blackie" Evans, director of the Nevada State AFL-CIO, registered with state election officials a Committee for Political Action (PAC) to raise money to counter the GOP move.

Officers of the PAC include Gov. Bob Miller and union officials. Evans said some businessmen may also join.

Evans said the PAC is going to try to match the $250,000 that the GOP intends to spend to get the initiative petition on the election ballot this November. The GOP has hired National Voter Outreach, a firm in Carson City, to gather 46,764 signatures of registered voters to qualify the petition for the ballot.

The deadline for the signatures is June 16. Ten percent of the registered voters in 13 of Nevada's 17 counties must sign the petition.

The proposed amendment would require a union member to give approval before part of his dues could be spent on political campaigns. Evans said this was the Republicans way to quiet labor's voice in any election.

The unions may propose a counter constitutional amendment, Evans said, but that's still up in the air.

"There are a lot of business people on our side and we would not do anything to hurt our friends," he said.

The name of the Evans PAC is "Nevadans for Fairness" whose is address is the AFL-CIO office in Carson City. Co-chairs of the PAC are Debbie Cahill of the Nevada State Education Association, a union of school teachers, and Glen Arnodo of the Culinary Union in Las Vegas.

AFL-CIO official Danny Thompson is chairman and the governor and Dan Rusnak, who is president of the laborers union in Reno, are trustees.

The effort by the Republican Party is opposed by Kenny Guinn, the front-runner for the GOP nomination for governor. But Aaron Russo, also a Republican candidate for governor, and Lt. Gov. Lonnie Hammargren both support the initiative petition.

The GOP proposal is in response to the huge sums spent by organized labor in the last election to defeat Republican candidates across the nation including Nevada Rep. John Ensign.

If the initiative petition gets on the ballot it must be passed by the voters in this election and again in 2000 before it becomes part of the constitution.

Meanwhile Secretary of State Dean Heller is awaiting a legal opinion whether there will be spending limits imposed on this initiative petition.

Nevada voters in 1996 approved a proposed constitutional amendment that would limit contributions to $5,000 for any campaign for approval or rejection of a ballot question.

Heller noted the Legislature did not put this provision in the law with the other election reform legislation. He asked Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa in January whether there was a limit on contributions involving ballot advocacy contributors, absent any law, and what the penalty would be for violating this provision.