$103,178 spent by lobbyists

Brendan Riley

Wednesday, June 27, 2001 | 9:45 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Sens. Ray Shaffer, Mike Schneider and Dina Titus and Assemblymen Morse Arberry and Mark Manendo head the list of lawmakers wined and dined by lobbyists, who spent $103,178 in the first four months of Nevada's 2001 session.

Lobbyists for mines, utilities, taxpayer and business associations and the University of Nevada, Reno were the top spenders among about 700 advocates registered for the session.

Of the $103,178 in spending through May, only $11,509 was identified as being spent by lobbyists in one-on-one meetings with individual legislators.

All the rest of the spending was for group events, attended by large groups of lobbyists, legislators and others.

Shaffer, D-North Las Vegas, is No. 1 among lawmakers, taking $922 in food and drink from lobbyists; followed by Schneider, D-Las Vegas, at $880; and Arberry, D-Las Vegas, chairman of the powerful Assembly Ways and Means Committee, at $868.

Titus, D-Las Vegas, the Senate minority leader, was fourth at $598; followed by Manendo, D-Las Vegas, an assistant majority whip, at $557.

Other lawmakers above the $500 mark included Sen. Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, at $545; Assemblyman John Oceguera, a freshman Democrat from Las Vegas, at $534; Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, at $525; Assembly Education Chairman Wendell Williams at $522; and Assembly Government Affairs Chairman Doug Bache, D-Las Vegas, at $507.

All the rest of the 21 senators and 42 Assembly members are under $500 in combined February-May totals - and 14 of them didn't take a penny's worth of booze or food from the lobbyists, or sent checks to the advocates to cover what was spent on them.

A breakdown of "group event" spending by lobbyists shows the top-spending advocates in February remained at the top of the list through May because of the high cost of their start-of-session dinners and receptions.

That included Bob Dickens of the University of Nevada, Reno, at $13,380; Carole Vilardo of the Nevada Taxpayers Association, at $9,672; Russ Fields of the Nevada Mining Association, at $8,142; and Kami Dempsey, representing the Nevada Pro-Education Alliance, at $7,119.

But others were catching up as the session drew to a close -- notably John Pappageorge, who spent $6,685 on group events in April and May. Nearly half of that for an "end of session" party last month.

Pappageorge represents major utilities, engineers, Nevada judges, public broadcasters and others.

The top lobbyists through May in spending on individual lawmakers included Bill Gregory, representing builders, utilities, cab firms, Clark County and others, at $878; Debbie Cahill of the Nevada State Education Association at $639; Steve Hartman, representing developers, tour bus and cab firms and other interests, at $536; Pat Shalmy of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce at $521; and Berlyn Miller, representing the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and other interests, at $453.

Jim Avance, representing slot machine firms, spent $416; Ken Lange of the Nevada State Education Association spent $413; Danny Thompson of the state AFL-CIO spent $410; Jane Healy of International Game Technology spent $340; Jim Wadhams, representing insurance firms, mortgage bankers, mines, builders and others, spent $329; and John Cummings of the Community College of Southern Nevada spent $326.

While they wield tremendous clout at the Legislature, casino lobbyists were far from the top of the list for February-May spending.