Editorial: Just who is being partisan?

Sunday, April 30, 2000 | 10:42 a.m.

Republican politicians in Nevada are complaining that their Democratic counterparts are trying to get partisan mileage out of nuclear waste legislation. They are upset that Democrats are highlighting that it is the GOP-led Congress which is behind a bill that would send high-level nuclear waste to Nevada as soon as 2007. These Republicans contend that this shouldn't be a partisan issue, that elected officials from both parties in Nevada have always worked together in the past.

We agree that nuclear waste storage shouldn't be partisan. But the facts are that it is the Republican congressional leadership that has made this partisan, making it one of their top legislative priorities. The votes taken on this issue don't bode well for Nevada Republicans, either. Of the 34 senators who voted against the nuclear power industry-inspired bill, just two were Republican. And in the House, of the 167 who voted with Nevada, just 18 were Republican.

Nevada Republicans also mention that it was the Democratic-controlled Congress in 1987 that started this whole mess, when they narrowed the three states under consideration -- Nevada, Washington and Texas -- to just one, Nevada. What they omit is that it was a Republican president, Ronald Reagan, who signed this legislation into law (also noteworthy is that George Bush, whose home state is Texas, was vice president at the time).

Today it is a Democratic president, Bill Clinton, whose veto is the only thing standing in the way of nuclear waste from heading to Nevada on a fast track. Since Clinton is constitutionally barred from seeking another term, who occupies the White House for the next four years is of tremendous importance. Vice President Al Gore already has signaled he would support the president's veto. Yet presumptive Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush hasn't said a word for weeks on this specific legislation, a silence that suggests he agrees with the legislation advocated by the nuclear power industry, which has contributed heavily to his campaign.

If Nevada Republicans want to blame someone for making this a partisan issue, they shouldn't be pointing at Democrats. They instead should be condemning their fellow Republicans in Washington who have been leading the charge on behalf of the nuclear power industry.