Legislators reject Nevada’s entry into presidential primary

Sunday, June 6, 1999 | 9:27 a.m.

With legislators' rejection Monday of a measure to appropriate $1.4 million for the primary, Nevada became the fifth state to decide against joining the regional primary.

Arizona, Idaho, Montana and New Mexico also have rejected the plan. Utah, Wyoming and Colorado have agreed to hold a three-state primary on March 10.

The Nevada Senate passed a bill to fund the primary on a 12-9 party-line vote, with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed.

But in the waning hours of the 1999 session on Monday, the Democratic-controlled Assembly Ways and Means Committee killed the measure.

"Democrats believe given the budget situation, there was not a need for the state to fund a presidential primary," said Rory Reid, state Democratic Party chairman. "There were other priorities."

Secretary of State Dean Heller and Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, both Republicans, criticized the move, saying the plan would have given Nevada and the intermountain West greater political clout.

They said a primary held between the California and New York primaries and the Super Tuesday vote in the South would have made the region more important to candidates in terms of momentum and delegate count.

Republican Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt also has touted the virtues of the Western primary, saying it would attract more candidates to the region.

But Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, questions whether Nevada would have gained from such a primary.

"The candidates stop here anyway on their way to California," she said. "We always get presidential candidates."

Democrats also rejected the primary because its timing would have violated party rules and subjected the state party to penalties by the national party, Reid said.

"Our state delegation would have been muzzled at the national convention," he said.

With the national party balking at the primary, Democratic lawmakers thought they had no choice but to kill the bill because a Republican-only primary would have been a public relations bonanza for the GOP, Titus said.