Gibbons aims for third term

Thursday, Oct. 19, 2000 | 10:29 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Democrat Tierney Cahill has no illusions about toppling two-term Republican Congressman Jim Gibbons.

The sixth grade school teacher from Reno has raised only $6,500, she's a political novice and by mid-October had yet to make a trip through rural Nevada, where a good portion of the 2nd Congressional District voters reside.

"I came out of the woodwork," said Cahill, who entered the race to show her students that anybody can go after a seat in Congress.

But she picked the wrong race. Gibbons is an old political hand. He served three terms in the Nevada Assembly from Reno, ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1994 and was then elected to his first term in Congress in 1996. In 1998, he polled 81 percent of the vote.

Gibbons, 55, says he wants to continue the battle to keep nuclear waste out of Nevada, protect the long-term solvency of Social Security and promote more local control of the school system.

He has raised more than $500,000 and his office churns out daily press releases on his activities and the federal grants he secures for the state. His wife, Dawn, is an odds-on favorite to win a second term in the Assembly in the seat he once held.

Latest voter registration figures show there are about 40,000 more Republicans than Democrats in the 2nd Congressional District, which covers all of Nevada except the core of Las Vegas and Henderson.

Before being elected to his present office, Gibbons, as a private citizen, gathered 85,000 signatures for a constitutional amendment that would require a two-thirds vote before any taxes could be raised. That passed the voters easily on two occasions and is now in the Nevada Constitution.

While Gibbons is coasting this election, Cahill says the going has been rough and frustrating. She had to continue teaching but was off during October to allow her to campaign. "I've learned a lot," she said.

She was the only Democrat to file for the office but the party has not flocked to support her. Earlier she criticized Democratic leaders for not giving her any backing. She has retreated, saying she now realizes that she's a political novice and the realities of the situation.

Despite the problems, Cahill is not discouraged by politics. "I can see myself down the road doing it again for another office."

Also in the race are candidates from the five minor parties.

Daniel Hansen, founder of the Independent American Party in Nevada, is making at least his seventh attempt at elective office. He wants to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Reserve System. And he would place troops at all the borders to stop illegal immigrants and drug trafficking.

Kenneth Brenneman of Las Vegas is the candidate for the Citizens First Party, formerly called the Reform Party. He wants to put prayer and the Bible back in schools and government offices, abolish the IRS also and make English the official national language.

Others in the race are A. Charles Laws of Reno for the Green Party, Terry "Curt" Savage of Incline Village for the Libertarian Party and Robert Winquist, also of Incline Village for the Natural Law Party.