GOP conservative has ties to Nevada casinos

Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2001 | 11:33 a.m.

Energy Secretary-nominee Spencer Abraham, who could end up deciding whether Yucca Mountain is suitable for a nuclear waste repository, is well-known to Nevada's casino industry.

MGM-MIRAGE Chairman Terry Lanni and Sig Rogich, a top casino industry consultant and strategist for Gov. Kenny Guinn, hosted a fund-raiser in Las Vegas for Abraham last September in his failed bid to win re-election to a U.S. Senate seat from Michigan.

The fund-raiser, which took place at the MGM Grand hotel-casino, reportedly collected as much as $50,000 for Abraham's campaign.

Abraham -- a conservative Republican who has a record of supporting the nuclear industry's campaign to store high-level nuclear waste in Nevada -- lost in November to Rep. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

Lanni, who backed President-elect George W. Bush and a number of Republican congressional candidates last year, described Abraham as a "very decent, very smart fellow."

"He's the kind of guy you can talk to," Lanni said.

The casino industry, which has a lot to lose if a nuclear accident were to occur at Yucca Mountain, is on record opposed to storing the deadly waste at the Nevada site, which is 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

But the industry and the rest of the business community have done little to enter the fray against the nuclear industry's push here.

Lanni said he hoped Bush, who is expected to have the final word on Yucca Mountain, won't forget the important role Nevada played in getting him elected.

"Hopefully, President-elect Bush will remember that the very last electoral votes cast were from Nevada, and they put him over the top," Lanni said.

Guinn said from Carson City this morning that he expected Abraham to consider the promise Bush made to the governor during the presidential campaign on nuclear waste storage.

"I would hope that the new energy secretary would abide by President-elect Bush's commitment to Nevada that he is going to veto any temporary storage bills and predicate any permanent storage on scientific data rather than politics," Guinn said.

Rogich, who worked with Abraham in the White House of Bush's father from 1989 to 1992, said he considers the defeated Michigan senator a friend.

"I found him to be a pretty fair guy in the past," Rogich said. "But I have not discussed the nuclear waste issue with him at any great length, and naturally I would be concerned if he was to be predisposed in any way."

Rogich, an early opponent of making Nevada the nation's nuclear waste dumping ground, said he would have "no qualms" about going to Abraham as a friend if called upon in the fight against Yucca Mountain.

Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, the casino industry's Washington lobby, said he also considers Abraham a friend.

Abraham chaired the Michigan Republican Party from 1983 to 1989 while Fahrenkopf headed the Republican National Committee.

"He's a very bright, very intense guy," Fahrenkopf said from Washington. "But I have no idea where he's at on nuclear waste."