Reid’s PAC took donation from Yucca subcontractor

Benjamin Grove

Thursday, Oct. 26, 2000 | 11 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The political action committee managed by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., took $50,000 from a subcontractor at Yucca Mountain, a proposed nuclear waste site now under study -- a project Reid has fiercely battled.

During July, August and September, Idaho-based Washington Group International made the largest of 12 donations totaling $156,500 to Reid's Searchlight Leadership Fund PAC, according to an IRS form filed by the Searchlight PAC.

The company also is a bidder on future work at Yucca that could mean billions in new business.

Formerly known as Morrison Knudsen Corp., the company has been involved in the heavy construction work ongoing at Yucca and hopes to win lucrative future contracts.

The Department of Energy is paying contractor TRW Environmental Safety Systems and a host of subcontractors including Washington Group, to complete studies at Yucca designed to determine if the mountain is a safe place to bury waste.

But the company also has a long history of doing good work for Nevada dating to the Hoover Dam, Reid spokesman Mark Schuermann said.

The company is the contractor for Interstate 15 widening and has a role in Las Vegas Wash flood control projects in Las Vegas.

"They have longtime ties to Nevada," Schuermann said. "Nobody has fought harder to prevent nuclear waste from being transported to Nevada than Sen. Reid. That's where their interests diverge."

Reid does not consider accepting the money as a conflict of interest, Schuermann said. Company officials agreed.

"The main reason (for the donation) is we do a lot of infrastructure work in Nevada," Washington Group spokeswoman Rhonda Clements said. "It's just to show community support. Our giving money has nothing to do with Yucca Mountain. It has to do with our longtime interests in the state."

Among the other donors to Reid's PAC: developer American Nevada Corp., owned by the Greenspun family that owns the Sun ($25,000); Southern Wine & Spirits ($25,000) boxing promoter Top Rank, Inc. ($25,000); Boyd Gaming Corp. ($5,000); Coast Vacations, Inc. ($5,000); Quest Technologies ($5,000).

Reid's PAC spent $246,853 during the three-month period. He gave money to: the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which funnels money to Democratic Senate candidates nationwide ($87,500); Silver State Voter Contact Program ($75,000); Nevada State Democratic Party ($40,000); Board of Regents candidate Jim Ratigan ($5,000); Hispanics in Politics ($1,000).