Cheney, GOP governors to campaign for Bush in Nevada, Bush supporter’s ties to nuke waste industry criticized

Saturday, Oct. 21, 2000 | 3:52 a.m.

line THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Republican vice presidential contender Dick Cheney will make a campaign stop Tuesday in Reno, while four GOP governors will appear on George W. Bush's behalf Monday in Las Vegas.

A campaign spokeswoman said details were still being arranged for Cheney's visit, but he would address a rally sometime Tuesday evening at Reno-Tahoe International Airport.

The governors of Colorado, Idaho, Utah and New Mexico are set to appear late Monday afternoon at a Las Vegas senior center with Texas Democrat Hugh Berlanga, who will stress Bush's bipartisanship.

But Democrats say Bush is making a mistake because of Berlanga's ties to the nuclear waste industry.

Berlanga, a Texas legislator for 21 years, is now a $500,000-a-year lobbyist trying to gain approval for a low-level nuclear waste dump in Texas.

Nevada officials are trying to fend off efforts to place a permanent nuclear waste storage site at Yucca Mountain and a temporary site at the Nevada Test Site.

Democrat Al Gore is trying to use his stance on nuclear waste to win votes in Nevada, saying his position is more favorable to the state than Bush's.

Bush supporters say Bush and Gore hold essentially the same stance, even though Gore has said he would veto a temporary dump in Nevada and Bush has not made that commitment.

Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Jenny Backus said the Bush campaign's decision to send Berlanga here "speaks volumes" about his priorities.

"(It) shows either an incredible ignorance of the state interests on the part of Bush or it means Bush is sending a subliminal message to Nevada families about his true feelings on nuclear waste," she told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Bush spokesman Andrew Malcolm said Berlanga was chosen because he worked with Bush on many bipartisan issues until his retirement after the 1997 session.

He said there was no connection between his lobbying for a nuclear waste repository and the decision to send him to Nevada.

Among Berlanga's clients is Waste Control Specialists, which is trying to bring a low-level nuclear waste dump to Texas.

The company's owner, Harold Simmons, contributed at least $90,000 to Bush's gubernatorial campaign and $1,000 to his presidential effort.

Meanwhile, Gov. Kenny Guinn will campaign for Bush with three other GOP governors Monday and Tuesday in Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin.

No other Nevada visits are planned by Bush or Gore. Gore's Sept. 18 Nevada visit was his second since mid-1999, compared with one for Bush.

Cheney campaigned in Las Vegas earlier this month.

Nevada, with just four electoral votes, remains in the tossup column as the Nov. 7 election approaches.