Pundits see lack of key issues

Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2000 | 9:04 a.m.

UNLV political science department Chairman Ted Jelen does not exactly see fireworks when he looks at Nevada's election year landscape.

"It's a fairly boring year for issues," Jelen said. "This isn't a great year for public policy."

In Nevada's congressional races, the only issue with any legs so far has been the debate over affordable prescription drugs.

Of the state's three congressional races this fall, pundits believe the only one with any suspense is the 1st Congressional District contest between Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and state Sen. Jon Porter, R-Henderson, her leading Republican opponent. That district covers portions of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., facing nominal opposition in the 2nd Congressional District, is considered a lock for re-election in a district that covers the rest of the state.

"There are no well-known Democrats up here who can effectively challenge him," said Eric Herzik, political science professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. "The Democrats are candidate-poor."

Observers also suggest that former Republican Rep. John Ensign would have to stumble badly in order for Democrat Ed Bernstein to have a chance in the U.S. Senate contest.

"It's certainly Ensign's race to lose," Herzik said. "Ensign came real close to defeating Sen. Harry Reid in 1998 and handled his loss gracefully. Ensign has run campaigns before, and Bernstein is an amateur campaigner, and amateurs are more prone to make mistakes."

Ensign and Bernstein have spent more time on their competing prescription drug plans than on any other issue. Bernstein traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, to publicize the inexpensive medicine across the border. Ensign countered with a television commercial in which a senior citizen stated that "others want us to buy risky medicine from Tijuana."

Nevada State Democratic Party Chairman Rory Reid said congressional candidates from his party would do a better job fighting proposed shipments of high-level nuclear waste to this state than would their GOP opponents.

"If it weren't for Democrats in Congress and the White House, we would have nuclear waste in Nevada today," Reid said. "The Republican leadership has made it a priority to dump waste in Nevada. It's a plank in their national platform."

But Ryan Erwin, executive director of the Nevada Republican Party, said the state's GOP congressional candidates are just as fervently anti-nuclear waste as are their Democratic foes.

"On nuclear waste we're all going to be fighting it," Erwin said. "It's a Nevada issue, not a Republican or Democratic issue."

Reid blamed Republicans for leading the assault on the gaming industry through threats of increased regulation and elimination of wagering on college sports.

"That is being stopped by Democrats from Nevada and New Jersey," he said. "Congressional Democrats also believe we should bolster Social Security, improve Medicare by including a prescription drug benefit, invest in education and use any surplus that remains to pay down the debt."

But Nevada GOP congressional candidates would have a stronger voice in Congress because Republicans will retain majority control, Erwin predicted. He said state Republicans believe people should be able to invest at least a portion of their Social Security contributions, and support a discount prescription drug program started by Gov. Kenny Guinn.

"This is an anti-gun control state, which is in line with the Republican Congress, and an anti-tax state, which is also the same position taken by the Republican Congress," Erwin said. "Republicans believe tax dollars belong to the people of America whereas Democrats believe tax dollars belong to the federal government."

At the state level there has been talk of a potential fiscal crisis caused by a slowdown in new resort construction as well as the spread of gaming in other states. Teachers have proposed a new business tax to help fund education, and state Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, is advocating an increased gaming tax on large resorts.

Proponents of both initiatives have until November to gather the requisite signatures for consideration by the Legislature next year. But most observers believe that legislators have no appetite to raise taxes at this time. That sets up the possibility both initiatives could be on the 2002 general election ballot, making taxes the biggest state issue that year.

"Nobody wants to talk about the tax base," UNLV political science professor Michael Bowers said. "We rely on gaming and sales taxes, and both are dependent on a good economy. If the economy takes a bad turn, the state will be in a great deal of difficulty. But we'll just keep putting off talk about taxes until we reach a crisis."

It is widely accepted that the most important task the Nevada Legislature will have when it meets next year is legislative district reapportionment, which occurs once every 10 years following the census. But with the prospect of Democrats retaining their Assembly majority and Republicans hanging on to the state Senate, political observers expect bipartisan compromise on that issue.

Executive directors of the conservative Nevada Policy Research Institute and liberal Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada both say there are issues deserving political attention. The question remains whether Nevada's candidates will embrace these issues.

The institute's Terry Campbell said conservatives expect the Legislature to consolidate state agencies and eliminate programs that are already duplicated at the local government level. Campbell also said lawmakers ought to consider mandatory and more frequent standardized testing of youngsters beginning with first graders.

"We have some serious problems with education in Nevada," he said. "We have the highest high school dropout rate in the country. Only 20 percent of our fourth graders are proficient or higher in reading."

Bob Fulkerson said his alliance supports increased emphasis on environmental issues, such as air pollution and other negative aspects of population growth. He also said the state must address health care for uninsured workers.

"The lack of access to health care is most acutely felt in the African-American and Latino communities and among low-income people," Fulkerson said. "How we treat the most dispossessed in our democracy is a sign of how strong our democracy is."

Other issues that need to be addressed by candidates include uncertainties about electric utility deregulation and lingering problems with the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles & Public Safety computers, said UNLV political science professor Steven Parker.

"Open space for parks could be another populist issue because Clark County is below the national average," Parker said.

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