Forbes will attend Porter fund-raiser

F. Birusk Tugan

Monday, June 5, 2000 | 9:36 a.m.

Despite their disagreements about legalized gambling and storing nuclear waste in Nevada, wealthy publisher Steve Forbes is coming to Las Vegas to help raise money for Republican congressional candidate Jon Porter.

The former GOP presidential candidate will attend a $500-a-plate dinner on July 15 at the home of university Regent Tom Wiesner.

Porter, who is running against Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., plans to highlight his stance on tax issues at the fund-raiser.

"Steve Forbes brings credibility to our views on tax reform," said Josh Griffin, Porter's campaign manager. "He is known as an advocate of tax reform, and Jon Porter's one platform is tax reform, but their views on the issue are not identical."

Forbes, who ran two expensive but failed campaigns for the Republican nomination for president, claims he is "an outsider" in Washington but he usually agrees on many issues with GOP leaders who favor shipping high-level nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

When asked in January what he thinks about the Yucca Mountain project, Forbes said he was "undecided pending further study." Porter "adamantly opposes Yucca Mountain."

"If he (Forbes) is not completely against Yucca Mountain, they disagree," Griffin said.

And their disagreements don't end there.

Although the Forbes magazine publisher said two years ago that expansion of gambling should be decided at the local or state level, he remains a critic of legalized gambling. As a New Jersey resident, Forbes notes that he voted against casino gambling in Atlantic City in 1977.

"If he (was) opposed to gambling in New Jersey in 1977, that's between him and New Jersey," Griffin said. But he added that Forbes is not against gambling in Nevada.

Griffin said he expects about 100 people to attend the dinner and to raise at least $25,000.