NRA buys billboards to back Ensign candidacy

Monday, Oct. 16, 2000 | 10:20 a.m.

The National Rifle Association, which often gets involved in Nevada congressional elections and has 35,000 members in this state, has once again thrown its support behind Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Ensign of Las Vegas.

The association's political action committee has purchased billboards in Las Vegas that say, "Vote Freedom First ... Elect John Ensign." Mailers have also been sent out to voters on Ensign's behalf from the Virginia organization that vigorously supports gun ownership rights. Ensign is running against Democrat Ed Bernstein, also of Las Vegas.

State Sen. Jon Porter, the Henderson Republican trying to unseat Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., in the 1st Congressional District, also picked up the association's endorsement.

Chuck Cunningham, the association's director of federal affairs, said Ensign and Porter received the endorsements because Bernstein and Berkley have accepted campaign donations from the Handgun Control Voter Education Fund, a political action committee. Bernstein and Berkley have received $2,500 and $5,000 respectively from the education fund.

"That's an automatic 'F' for us," Cunningham said. "Handgun Control has been in favor of banning guns."

When Ensign won his first House term in November 1994, his vanquished opponent, then-Rep. James Bilbray, D-Nev., blamed his defeat in part on hit pieces the association mailed out criticizing his support of the 1994 Crime Bill that banned semiautomatic rifles.

Ensign also picked up the association's endorsement in 1998 during his unsuccessful campaign against Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Actor Charlton Heston, president of the association, met with Ensign during the campaign in Las Vegas at an event that was protested by a small group of gun-control activists.

Both Ensign and Bernstein support the right to bear arms, though neither are members of the association. But Ensign does not support any new gun laws. Bernstein has said he would approve safety lock laws that protect children from gaining access to firearms.

Mrs. Lieberman visits

Hadassah Lieberman, wife of Democratic vice presidential candidate and Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, will be joining local union officials at a private party in Henderson Tuesday evening to watch the third televised debate between presidential contenders Al Gore and George W. Bush.

Vice President Gore is on the top half of the Democratic ticket with Lieberman. Republican Bush, the governor of Texas, is paired with vice presidential running mate Dick Cheney, who visited Las Vegas last week.

Forum canceled

A women's issues forum scheduled for Wednesday at UNLV featuring candidates for U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives has been canceled because of scheduling conflicts among several candidates.

For more information, call UNLV's Women's Research Institute of Nevada at 895-4931.