Columnist Ruthe Deskin: Voters face candidates’ final push

Ruthe Deskin

Thursday, Sept. 28, 2000 | 9:51 a.m.

Ruthe Deskin is assistant to the publisher. Her column appears Thursdays. Reach her at deskin@lasvegassun.com.

'Tis the season to be wary.

We are on the homestretch of the campaign season and political candidates will be pulling out all of the stops.

Voters will be faced with tough decisions as they are besieged with TV ads, newspaper columns, half-truths, polls, prognosticators, debates, endorsements and everything that goes with last-ditch efforts to be elected. Decisions should be made on facts, not fiction, although the latter is easier to find.

At any rate, it's full steam ahead and may the best man, or woman, win.

So, what else is new?

Sun political columnist Jon Ralston, in his new book, rehashes Kenny Guinn's campaign for governor with the startling revelation (really!) that Guinn was "The Anointed One." Anointed by the gaming industry, that is. It's a repeat of the line taken during the election campaign when Guinn soundly defeated former Mayor Jan Laverty Jones. Ho-hum reading for anyone who has been around Nevada politics for a number of years. For example, who can forget the McCarran-Biltz-Wingfield combination of anointers?

If one insists on using the term "anointed" for Guinn, I suppose you can say he was. I and many others urged him to run for governor for many years after his retirement from the Clark County School District. We knew him as a man of intelligence and integrity, so we "anointed" him a long time before he chose to run. The voters did the rest.

Retiring Sen. Richard Bryan is stretching out a helping hand to Ed Bernstein's efforts to become the next U.S. senator from Nevada. I usually stay away from endorsing candidates, leaving that to pundits, but I do like to keep the record clear.

In this case, I remind voters that John Ensign's stand on the storage of nuclear waste in Nevada has been steadfast and clear. Any inference that he might equivocate on the matter is entirely false. Besides, wouldn't it be a good idea to have a Republican in the Senate in a position to sway some of his party affiliates?

How many years ago was it when a local group decided to build a hotel-casino on the old Boulder Highway and they were told it was a pipe dream?

The Showboat was the result and it paved the way for others off the Strip. The "Boat" also proved catering to locals was good business. Like so many Las Vegas landmarks, the Showboat will be no more shortly, when it becomes the Castaways.

Change is called progress, but sometimes it happens too fast.

Few people could engender the outpouring of warmth and affection shown Barbara Greenspun when she and her family were honored by the Clark County Public Education Foundation at the Hero Award Dinner.

Although the Sun publisher prefers anonymity to a public display, she is most deserving of the accolades she received for her overwhelming generosity to our community.