Columnist Jon Ralston: Bush avoids Nevada, nuclear waste issue

Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2000 | 9:22 a.m.

Jon Ralston, who publishes the Ralston Report, writes a column for the Sun on Sundays and Wednesdays. Ralston can be reached at 870-7997 or through e-mail at ralston@vegas.com.

Silence is not always golden, especially in the political world, where what a candidate doesn't say often reveals much more than any rhetoric.

Take George W. Bush. My guess is the Republican presidential anointee, fresh off his Iowa caucus victory, his coffers overflowing, and his New Hampshirephilia at a zenith, isn't thinking much these days about Nevada. No, those four electoral votes probably don't figure in his current calculus.

In fact, Bush has yet to visit the state, and while he has said much to disturb gaming supporters (he doesn't like the industry), he has said nothing about the hottest hot-button issue in Nevada: nuclear waste.

But his record in Texas -- and revelations this week about who is raising money for him -- fill the void left by his lack of words on the issue, despite pleas from Nevada pols, including Gov. Kenny Guinn, that he say something, anything.

Bush already is on record in Texas as helping to smooth the way for a company, whose executives have donated large amounts to his campaigns, to build a low-level nuclear waste dump. Bush advocated allowing the outfit, Waste Control Specialists, to bypass state courts and go directly to federal court to fight opponents. That should scare all of the states' righters here, especially those who see the dump as a classic manifestation of an imperious federal sovereign.

But there's more -- and it should be even more worrisome to those who wonder what Bush might do. The Jan. 24 Newsweek reports that a half dozen or so wealthy businessmen have fueled Bush's fund-raising machine by using their connections to help bundle money to the campaign.

One member of this exclusive coterie is a man named Tom Kuhn, who is the president of the Edison Electric Institute, the lobbying arm of the electric power industry and one of the more fervent Capitol Hill advocates for the Yucca Mountain project.

Kuhn, Newsweek reports, arranged a June 22 reception last year for Bush and wrote a memo to utility employees on Bush's campaign stationery asking for donations. What's more, Kuhn also reminded potential donors to put a tracking number on their checks so Bush knows where the money came from. "It does ensure that our industry is credited," Kuhn wrote, "and that your progress is listed among the other business/industry sectors."

So Bush not only is hauling in cash from the proponents of the dump, he also will have no illusions when he is elected about who raised and who gave the money. And he has brought the head of an organization that wants to put the repository at Yucca Mountain into his campaign inner circle.

Guinn, who has endorsed Bush, said that he believes the Texas governor "will take the position we have asked him to for some time. He's just waiting to get the latest information." Guinn said it is unfair to judge anyone just by who is raising or donating money to his campaign.

Fair enough. But in politics you often can tell a lot about a person by the company he keeps. And because Bush seems to have an allergy to the state and because he has been mute on the dump, he is allowing conclusions to be drawn based on the available evidence. And it gets more and more damning.

Vice President Al Gore has offered the shibboleth that most visiting supplicants for money and votes do, saying the decisions on Yucca Mountain should be based on "science, not politics." Yes, his rhetoric may be empty. But at least he has said something, and the Clinton administration's actions -- a promised veto -- have stopped the interim storage bill. Period.

Thanks to Sen. Harry Reid's ruthless attempts during his last campaign to turn the dump into a partisan issue -- and thanks to the Republican Congress' advocacy for the interim storage bill -- Bush isn't the only one with a problem. Nevada Republicans, especially U.S. Senate contender John Ensign, who has not yet endorsed Bush, surely will be tarred with the same brush.

Remember Congress is expected to take up nuclear waste, considered one of Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott's highest agenda items, as early as this week. It's almost inconceivable that Guinn, Ensign & Co. are not pressing Bush for a statement, not so much for his sake, but for their credibility.

Guinn says he doesn't expect Bush to visit the state until "after the nomination is over with." How considerate. Once he manages to find Nevada on his campaign map, perhaps Bush will consider breaking his silence.