Bryan’s retirement leaves rare open seat

Thursday, Oct. 19, 2000 | 10:31 a.m.

Former Republican Rep. John Ensign and Democrat Ed Bernstein are the leading contenders for Nevada's first open U.S. Senate post since 1986.

The two Las Vegans are expected to get the majority of votes in a Nov. 7 general election contest that also includes four minor party candidates. At stake is a six-year seat that is being vacated by retiring two-term Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev.

Republicans have more to gain by winning the seat because a pickup in Nevada would make it that much harder for the Democrats to try to overcome the 54-46 GOP advantage in the Senate.

Ensign, a 42-year-old veterinarian and former gaming executive, has been considered the favorite by polls and pundits and enjoys a substantial fund-raising advantage over his opponents. But his lead has been slashed because he has been the target of negative television advertisements criticizing his congressional voting record and anti-abortion position on the abortion issue.

The 51-year-old Bernstein, head of the Edward M. Bernstein & Associates personal injury law firm, is running for office for the first time. A multi-millionaire and host of a weekly televised talk show, he had already lent his campaign nearly $900,000 through mid-August.

Both candidates oppose efforts to tax or regulate gaming. They also oppose proposals to ship the nation's high-level nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. But each man argues that he is better equipped to represent Nevada on these issues than his opponent.

Ensign, for instance, said it would be easier for him to convince fellow Republicans to vote with Nevada's position against the waste shipments. But Bernstein said the state will lose its battle if Republicans retain control of Congress. That's because a majority of current Republicans have voted to ship the waste to Nevada.

Bernstein, who is pro-choice on the abortion issue, has made this topic a priority, knowing that a majority of Nevadans favored the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, which legalized the procedure. But pro-life Ensign has chosen to emphasize his record on other issues important to women, including annual mammography screenings for Medicare recipients and increased funding for breast cancer research.

They both support more affordable prescription drug coverage for Medicare recipients, including bulk purchase plans designed to pass huge discounts to consumers. But they have criticized each other's proposal as being too risky for seniors, and both claim their own plans will result in larger savings for consumers.

As part of his plank, Ensign wants to streamline the U.S. Food and Drug Administration so that it takes less time to approve new drugs. If Bernstein had his way, it would be easier for pharmacists to import less costly medicine from foreign countries, passing those savings on to consumers.

Ensign would replace the federal income tax code with a flat tax or national sales tax. He would eliminate death and marriage penalty taxes. He also wants to extend tax credits for builders of affordable low-income housing.

"I would cut government spending to have tax cuts," Ensign said. "We can eliminate the 1993 tax hike on Social Security benefits. We can look to a dependant care tax credit that says that if you're taking care of mom or dad or grandma or grandpa or a disabled child, instead of institutionalizing that person let's give the family a tax credit to take care of them."

He would allow people to invest a portion of their Social Security payments in tightly-regulated government securities. He also believes 95 percent of all federal education dollars should be returned to the classroom. Ensign wants the money to be used to raise teachers' salaries, but he also favors competency testing to "weed out the bad ones."

Like his foe, Bernstein wants to preserve Social Security but believes the GOP plan of allowing some payments to be invested privately is a risky proposal. He favors class size reduction, supports interest-free bonds to repair schools, and wants to expand the Head Start program.

"We need to encourage companies to provide child care for employees, and provide tax incentives to do that," Bernstein said. "It's easier sometimes if you get people off welfare and put them to work by helping out with child care."

Bernstein also has a contract with Nevada women that contains support for the Democrats' patient's bill of rights, and an increase in widows' Social Security benefits. He also supports equal pay for equal work regardless of gender, and elimination of penalties against women who take time off work to care for children or older relatives.

The others vying for Senate are Citizens First candidate Bill Grutzmacher of Las Vegas, Reno resident Kathryn Rusco of the Green Party, Independent American Party candidate Ernie Berghof of Las Vegas and Libertarian J.J. Johnson of Pahrump.