Douglas County GOP Chair Willard knocks off Cafferata

Scott Sonner

Sunday, May 28, 2000 | 10:07 a.m.

CARSON CITY, Nev. - Beverly Willard defeated Patty Cafferata Saturday in a hotly contested race to succeed Cafferata's mother, former U.S. Rep. Barbara Vucanovich, as Republican national committeewoman from Nevada.

Willard of Carson City won by a vote of 195-172. Chairman of the Douglas County GOP, she also heads the county's campaign for U.S. Senate hopeful John Ensign.

"I'd like to see the party pull together and be united to elect Republicans. That's our first goal," said Willard, a member of the Douglas County Sheriff's mounted posse.

Cafferata, a Reno lawyer who was national committeewoman from 1992-96, had run on a platform aimed at expanding the party at the grassroots level and raising money in small amounts.

"'We need to think about our image when we talk about throwing around sums like $100,000. People already think we're the party of fat cats," she said.

Vucanovich, the first congresswoman to represent Nevada, served seven terms before retiring in 1996. She campaigned unsuccessfully in support of her daughter for the national post.

Tom Wiesner, Republican national committeeman from Nevada since 1984, was re-elected to that slot on Friday. He is 13th in seniority among 168 committee members nationally.

Willard, Wiesner and Bob Seale, the new Nevada GOP chairman, will have seats on the floor of the national GOP convention in Philadelphia July 31-Aug. 4 along with the 17 voting delegates of the Nevada delegation.

Ensign, U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, Gov. Kenny Guinn and his wife, Dema, were among those elected Saturday as delegates to the convention.

The others are:

State Treasurer Brian Krolicki, state Controller Kathy Augustine; Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio of Reno; Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick of Gardnerville; Sen. Maurice Washington of Sparks; Assemblyman Greg Brower of Reno; John Mason of Douglas County, outgoing state GOP chairman; Peter Ernaut of Reno, former chief of staff to Guinn and current campaign manager for Ensign; former Lt. Gov. Lonnie Hammargren; Mike Weber of Washoe County; Shirley Blair of Clark County; Lia Roberts of Clark County and Lynette Boggs-McDonald of Clark County.

Seventeen alternates also were elected.