Dini may give up Assembly post

Monday, Jan. 10, 2000 | 9:08 a.m.

Dini, D-Yerington, says he hasn't completely decided. "I haven't made up my mind whether I'll even run or not," adds the veteran lawmaker, first elected to the Assembly in 1966.

Dini, 70, whose family owns a casino in Yerington, has done a masterful job of protecting rural counties and northern Nevada. Many southern Nevada legislators feel he has been fair to the south as well.

One option would be for Dini to seek another term but surrender the speaker's job to Henderson Assemblyman Richard Perkins.

Similar speculation was raised in 1997 and 1999. Dini got along so well with Perkins, a Henderson police officer elected in 1993, that in 1995 he appointed him majority floor leader.

If Dini wins another term but gives up the speaker's job, he could become chairman of a key Assembly committee.

One possibility is Government Affairs, which he presided over for 10 years and which handles water issues, but which is already led by Democrat Doug Bache. Another is Commerce, which deals with issues he relates to as a businessman but which is led by Las Vegas Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley.

Another possibility is Reapportionment, which would place Dini in the limelight for one term but would only be a one-term committee.

Dini said he'd be interested in Reapportionment and Commerce but not Government Affairs because he thinks Bache "has done a great job there, and I'd never step on him."

Perkins said, "There has been an enormous amount of pressure to bring the speakership to southern Nevada, but rather than let it become a controversy in the caucus, we'll wait to Election Day to figure this out. "

If the Republicans pick up the eight seats they would need to wrest the majority from the Democrats, it could be a moot point.