Lackluster issues may aid incumbents

Thursday, Oct. 19, 2000 | 10:49 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- This is not a "throw the bums out" election year, political experts say, because everything is going too well.

At the state and local level, the economy is good, there are no burning issues, and there is a lack of voter interest.

Political scientist Eric Herzik said those factors bode well for incumbents in the contests for the state Senate this election.

The Republican majority, which was 12-9 in the 1999 Legislature, looks pretty safe, Herzik said. "We may well see near the same numbers."

The 1999 Legislature passed a balanced budget, didn't raise taxes and didn't increase its own paycheck. This time around, most candidates are opposed to the initiative petitions to impose a 4 percent business-profits tax sought by the teachers union and the raise in taxes on major gambling casinos proposed by Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas.

So controversy is lacking in these legislative races, Herzik said.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, says there are a couple of "sleepers" who may surprise Republican incumbents. But Herzik said, "I don't see the Democrats picking up the seats they need" to become the majority.

There are nine seats up in this election -- five held by Republicans and four by Democrats. Neal already won his election in the primary by gathering slightly more than 50 percent of the vote in a contest with two other Democrats in District 4. No Republican filed in that district.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, and Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, face opposition only from third-party candidates who are given little chance of pulling an upset. Raggio represents District 3, and Rhoads the Northern Nevada District.

One of the Democrat "sleepers" is Terrie Stanfill, president of a Las Vegas consulting firm, who is taking on GOP Sen. Ray Rawson, a Senate leader, in District 6.

Stanfill has organized an aggressive door-to-door campaign to overcome a big discrepancy in campaign funds. On the last disclosure statement filed in August, Rawson reported he collected $202,331 and spent $140,035 in the primary to defeat Frank Mathews. Stanfill had collected only $36,491 and had spent $9,325 for the general election.

Stanfill, involved in numerous civic groups, stresses planning to avoid future traffic and growth problems, rather than waiting until the roads and homes have been built. She said children "must have up-to-date textbooks, modern computers and freedom from fear in their schools." Senior citizens, she said, should not have to choose between buying food or high-priced prescription drugs.

Rawson, who heads the dental program at the Community College of Southern Nevada, is seeking a fifth term. He has been a prime sponsor of starting a dental school in Southern Nevada, pointing out that the state is 50th in the nation in access to dental care. He wants to develop a long-term care insurance program to avoid bankrupting the state-run Medicaid system, and he advocates keeping casinos out of neighborhoods. He has asked for bills at the 2001 Legislature to establish a zero-tolerance policy for drug use in high schools and to create a "Putative Father Registry."

District 6 has a Republican majority of 28,750 to 26,408 Democrats.

Others in the race are Duncan Dodge of the Citizens First Party and Jess Howe, an Independent American candidate who wants to "return this country to its traditional moral values and biblical principles, starting with Nevada."

Another possible surprise, according to Democrats, is Ed Beaman, who is trying to knock off Republican incumbent Mike McGinness of Fallon.

Beaman, who has lived in Pahrump for nine years and works for the Clark County Fire Department, says the main issue is economic development in rural counties. Mining is in a tailspin, and Beaman said the people in his district are looking for other industries to shore up the economy.

He added there are 40,000 people in the Pahrump area but they have no voice in the Legislature. "We're twice the size of his" city, referring to McGinness' hometown of Fallon.

Beaman, however, must overcome a Republican voter-registration majority of 20,428 to 17,956 Democrats.

McGinness was chairman of the Senate Taxation Committee last year and refused to approve any increases in taxes or major fees. Since the 1999 Legislature, he has headed a committee looking at the problem of long-term care in Nevada.

The district, one of the largest in the United States, includes Churchill, White Pine, Esmeralda, Lincoln, Mineral and Nye counties and parts of Eureka and Lander counties.

In District 2, Sen. Ray Shaffer, a Democrat from North Las Vegas who has been in the Senate for 16 years, is being challenged by Republican Richard Gardner, 60, an instructor of constitutional studies at the Freeman Institute.

Incumbent Democrat Valerie Wiener in District 3 is after a second term and is opposed by Lou Toomin, a Republican. Toomin served one term in the Assembly as a Democrat and has run three times since unsuccessfully for the Legislature. Alice Lillie, a Libertarian, is the third person in the contest.

Sen. Ann O'Connell, R-Las Vegas, named as the best lawmaker in the 1999 Legislature in one poll, is opposed in District 5 by Democrat Charles "Chuck" Hawk, Independent American John Lusk and Libertarian Mark Warden.

Titus is a heavy favorite in District 7 to beat Republican Ken Sondej. Incumbent Democrat Mike Schneider faces Channing Grant, the GOP candidate, in District 8.

In Northern Nevada, Raggio faces Lois Avery of the Natural Law Party, who has run several times for office. And Rhoads goes against Libertarian William "Billy" Oswald in the Northern Senatorial District, which encompasses Humboldt and Pershing counties and portions of Elko, Eureka and Lander counties.