Demos called key to dump fight

Jace Radke

Monday, April 15, 2002 | 9:34 a.m.

After pumping up candidates to a crowd of about 200 at the Clark County Democratic Convention Saturday, Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain has become a high priority for Democrats nationwide.

"My understanding is that (House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo.) will make this a caucus issue," Berkley said after delivering the keynote address at the Riviera.

Berkley said she has been saturating representatives in Congress with information on Yucca Mountain.

"It has reached a point where some of my colleagues have said that if I bring up Yucca again, they'll vote against us," Berkley said. "I've tried to emphasize that they are going to have to defend their votes on this if anything happens in their district.

"Thinking about a spill in their district got them quiet."

Berkley told the delegates at the convention that electing County Commissioner Dario Herrera, the main Democratic candidate for the newly created 3rd Congressional District, is key to keeping waste out of Nevada.

"If the Democrats have control of the U.S. House of Representatives, it will be Speaker Gephardt instead of Speaker (Dennis) Hastert, (R-Ill.)," Berkley said. "We are six seats away from that, and we're going to pick up a seat in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and two in California.

"The sixth seat is in Southern Nevada with Dario Herrera. The nation will be focusing on Nevada and Dario Herrera on election night."

Nevada's elected officials may soon have another fight on their hands, Berkley said.

"I just heard that (Arizona Sen. John) McCain is going to bring back the NCAA betting ban," Berkley said. "I guess now that campaign finance reform is done and he doesn't have the press surrounding him, he needs another issue."

Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins told the delegates that the upcoming election would determine the vision Nevada will follow over the next decade.

"We are last or near last in the country in so many indicators," Perkins said. "We've let insurance companies gain control and it's forcing our doctors to leave the state. We have the highest teen suicide rate in the nation and we are spending $1,000 less per pupil than the national average.