Atkinson Gates eyes run for Congress

Adrienne Packer

Tuesday, March 6, 2001 | 1:56 a.m.

Clark County Commissioner Dario Herrera might be considered the lead candidate for Congress, but the young politician many have labeled "anointed" is hardly alone in the race.

Three-term Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates, who sits two seats down from Herrera on the commission dais, said Monday that she too is interested in seeking the county's newly created third seat for U.S. Congress.

"It's premature to put yourself out there because the boundaries haven't even been drawn yet," Atkinson Gates said. "But I'm pursuing it."

Herrera and Atkinson Gates have both visited Washington, D.C., in the past month to determine how much support they have from political heavyweights. So far some of the same organizations, such as labor unions, support both politicians.

Atkinson Gates said topping her list of reasons she would like to work in the nation's capital are the threat to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain and a wide variety of health care issues.

Topping her opponents' list of why Atkinson Gates shouldn't run for a federal office will likely be ethics.

Atkinson Gates was dinged by the Nevada Ethics Commission twice during her last four-year term.

The Ethics Commission ruled she violated the ethics code by submitting the name of a friend to a list of potential concessionaires at the airport. Atkinson Gates appealed and the ruling was eventually overturned.

She also was admonished by the ethics panel for talking to casino executives along the Las Vegas Strip -- a region the county board regulates -- about housing a daiquiri business in which she had an interest.

Atkinson Gates is confident her nine years on the County Commission and her eight previous years on the Clark County School Board will overshadow the ethics cases.

Her theory was backed by her landslide victory in the November election, she said.

"(The ethics accusations) happened four years ago," Atkinson Gates said. "People have a lot of trust in what I'm capable of doing. I don't think it will be an issue; it's water under the bridge."

Atkinson Gates, who said she will make her formal decision when the congressional boundaries are drawn in May, is not threatened by her colleague Herrera either.

Borrowing a label given to Gov. Kenny Guinn during his election in 1998, some political insiders have called the 27-year-old Herrera the "anointed one." But Atkinson Gates doesn't buy it.

"I don't believe in the anointed process," she said. "The voters decide. May the best person win."