$95,493 spent by lobbyists

Brendan Riley

Thursday, May 24, 2001 | 10:19 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Assemblymen Morse Arberry and John Oceguera and Sens. Ray Shaffer and Mike Schneider head the list of lawmakers wined and dined by lobbyists, who have spent $95,493 in the first three months of Nevada's 2001 session.

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

Of the $95,493 in spending through April, only $9,346 was identified as being spent by lobbyists in one-on-one meetings with individual legislators.

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

Arberry, D-Las Vegas, chairman of the powerful Assembly Ways and Means Committee, is No. 1 among lawmakers, taking $868 in food and drinks from lobbyists.

Shaffer, D-North Las Vegas, is second at $659; followed by Schneider, D-Las Vegas, at $597; and Oceguera, a freshman Democrat from Las Vegas, at $513.

Others above the $400 mark included Assembly Education Chairman Wendell Williams at $488, Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins at $453, and Assemblyman Mark Manendo, an assistant majority whip, at $440. All are Southern Nevada Democrats.

The rest of the 21 senators and 42 Assembly members are under $400 in combined February-April totals -- and 17 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 April because of the cost of their start-of-session dinners and receptions.

That included Bob Dickens of UNR 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.

The top-spending individual lobbyists through April included Bill Gregory, representing builders, utilities, cab firms, Clark County and others, at $763; Debbie Cahill of the Nevada State Education Association at $546; Berlyn Miller, representing the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and other interests, at $453; and Pat Shalmy of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce at $387.

Danny Thompson of the state AFL-CIO spent $370; Ken Lange of the Nevada State Education Association spent $332; John Cummings of the Community College of Southern Nevada spent $326; Jim Avance, representing slot machine firms, spent $310; Jim Wadhams, representing insurance firms, mortgage bankers, mines, builders and others, spent $303; and Jane Healy of International Game Technology spent $272.

While they wield tremendous clout at the Legislature, casino lobbyists were nowhere near the top of the list for February-March spending. For example, Harvey Whittemore, whose many clients include the Nevada Resort Association, is down for just $44.