Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: Things to think about

Thursday, Feb. 4, 1999 | 11:42 a.m.

THE EVALUATION of the 1998 U.S. Senate race in Nevada recently released by the Pew Charitable Trust in Washington, D.C., was interesting and good reading. Most of the information was accurate and the conclusions made sense.

The final paragraph of the report made me wonder if the writers had missed reading the Sun. "In a close election, it is easy to argue that many considerations figured into the outcome. In our view, two factors were ultimately decisive. First, the ground war conducted by organized labor was extremely important. This personal contact style of mobilization remained under the radar until very late in the campaign. ... "

A quick check of our newspaper shows this very issue was mentioned several times by columnist Jeff German as early as June and July. Two months before the general election he spelled it out even more clearly when writing:

"Nevada's labor movement is determined to play a vital role in the November general election.

"For the first time in years, it has come up with a gameplan to mobilize the 120,000 members of the Nevada AFL-CIO into a giant voting bloc.

"The campaign is called 'Labor '98,' an ambitious grass-roots operation funded by national and state union money.

" 'We think we literally have the ability to sit down at the kitchen table with every union household in Nevada and explain to them the issues important to labor,' says Glen Arnodo, political director of the Culinary Union, the largest AFL-CIO local in the state.

"The Culinary Union, which is serving as the point in the massive grass-roots drive, plans to send 90 of its members into the field full time to encourage union families across the state to vote for the slate of candidates endorsed by the AFL-CIO. ..."

German was making public campaign strategy for our readers well above any political radar screen.

Justice For Home and Condo Owners has its own program on radio station KLAV, 1230 on the AM dial. "Homeowners Voice" will be on the air every Tuesday at 2 p.m.

The organization is seeking legislation in Carson City that will increase the authority of the state ombudsman, provide for optional arbitration and a secret written ballot for the election of Homeowners Association directors.

In a letter to homeowner champion Las Vegas Sen. Mike Schneider, Phil Testa says:

We feel association homeowners would best be served by using a secret written ballot, double envelope system, counted by a disinterested, neutral third party, for election of directors, whose terms should not exceed two (2) years. This should be done entirely by mail, allowing elections to be held in a timely manner.

We believe arbitration and mediation should be optional, not mandatory as is now required.

Additional powers need to be granted to the State Ombudsman.

The latest report from the UCLA Higher Education Research Institute has some good news and some bad in its 1998 national college freshman survey.

Beer drinking is at a record low in the survey's 33-year history.

There appears to be a continuing disengagement from academics. Among the new college freshmen, 37.7 percent say they felt "bored in class" during the final year in high school.

Interest in politics continues downward and so does the interest in legal training. Despite this, volunteerism continues to climb upward so there is no lack of social interest among high school students. Almost 75 percent of the freshmen report volunteer work, but less than 19 percent expect to continue community service in college.

Other bits of information point out that the support for both abortion and casual sex are down.

Linda Smith and Troy Wade are among the leaders promoting the Nevada Test Site Historical Foundation. Linda, born and raised here, and Troy both have the educational, work and historical credentials needed to lock into place the important role the NTS has played in Nevada, United States and the world.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of Southern Nevadans who can recall the founding of the NTS almost 50 years ago. All of them, and those who came later to work there and live in Clark, Lincoln and Nye counties, have something to offer.

If you want to participate, contact the NTS Historical Foundation, P.O. Box 30182, North Las Vegas, NV 89036-0182. Telephone is (702) 257-7900.

Former Henderson Mayor Cruz Olague has announced that he is running to become the mayor of Las Vegas. He believes that after beating cancer there is no challenge too great to face and win.

Watch for a campaign spelling out safety zones around our schools and an overall fight for safe streets.

Can a person with lots of energy and little money make a dent in Las Vegas politics? I told him it will be an uphill, if not impossible, fight. He quickly said that's what they told him about his fight with cancer.