GOP, labor cut deal over proposed Nevada constitutional changes

Brendan Riley

Tuesday, June 16, 1998 | 6:47 a.m.

CARSON CITY, Nev. - Nevada Republicans and state labor leaders cut a deal Tuesday that will keep their rival plans for campaign contribution and finance changes off the November ballot.

The agreement was reached on the last day this election year for filing petitions that seek constitutional changes in Nevada.

As part of the deal, a GOP attorney signed a stipulation promising there will be no appeal of Clark County District Judge Myron Leavitt's recent ruling that a Republican-backed "paycheck protection" ballot proposal was unconstitutional.

The ballot initiative would have require unions to ask members for written permission to spend dues on political activities.

In turn, a coalition that included organized labor, teachers, Democratic Gov. Bob Miller and others agreed not to file their petition to block regulation of union dues and to require full disclosure of every campaign contribution.

The "Nevadans for Fairness" coalition had collected far more signatures than needed to qualify the plan, but recalled people en route to every county seat in the state with boxes of signatures.

Representatives of both groups said dropping the proposed ballot initiatives would free up more money for the candidates they support.

State GOP Chairman John Mason said advocates of the paycheck protection "decided to put this issue behind us and focus on our primary goal of electing Republicans. Pursuing this issue legally will only drain resources that can be better used by Republican candidates."

State AFL-CIO chief Claude "Blackie" Evans said supporters of the "Fairness" petition wanted to push ahead with it anyway but finally heeded a plea to drop it and avoid a campaign that could have cost $2 million.

The group already had spent at least $300,000 organizing and collecting signatures.

"We stopped counting at 85,000 and we only needed 46,764," Evans added. About 60,000 signatures had been collected for the rival GOP plan.

While neither plan will be on the November ballot, Nevadans should get to vote on plenty of other ballot proposals - possibly including a medical marijuana plan whose supporters filed their signed petitions in 13 of the state's 17 counties on the Tuesday deadline.

"Nevadans for Medical Rights" is pushing the petition that allows the use of marijuana, upon the advice of a physician, for "treatment or alleviation of cancer, glaucoma, AIDS, persistent nausea, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and other medical problems."

Other proposals that got on the ballot earlier include one to limit the time that lawmakers are in regular session to just 120 days every other year and another calling for term limits for members of Congress.

There's also a plan to remove the lieutenant governor as president of the Senate, a property tax break for water-conservation efforts and a change in the way the state Commission on Judicial Discipline operates.

Remaining proposals on the ballot include one dealing with sales taxes, another on resolving constitutional and statutory differences, another on locations of district courts and an advisory question on changing the day for observing Nevada Day to create a three-day weekend.

Several ballot proposals had been discussed by various interest groups but were dropped - including a plan to double the tax on Nevada casinos.

Ken Mahal of Las Vegas, president of the Nevada Seniors Coalition, proposed starting the petition, saying the resorts have "had a free ride long enough." He said Tuesday that a legislative effort is now in the works.

The deadlines for turning in signatures were May 19 for referendum petitions dealing with state laws and Tuesday for petitions seeking to amend the Nevada Constitution.