Columnist Erin Neff: Herrera, Porter battle for House seat is heating up

Erin Neff

Friday, April 26, 2002 | 5:11 a.m.

WARRING SIBLINGS often sit nicely at dinnertime when Daddy takes his place at the head of the table with a view of everyone.

A similar scene played out Thursday in the nation's capital with congressional campaign opponents Jon Porter and Dario Herrera seated calmly next to each other (with no apparent kicking under the table) before a House subcommittee.

But everything about their appearance before the subcommittee -- from their coifed hair, prepared statements and even how they got to the table -- is all about partisan politics and not the unified front both claimed in their opening remarks.

Herrera had been seething for weeks after learning Porter -- a Republican state senator -- was an invited witness on the committee's schedule. Herrera's campaign worked the connections straight up to House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt's office, begging for equal time.

He could probably imagine the television ads come October when the race for Nevada's new 3rd Congressional District seat really heats up. Spot opens with a highlighted Herrera quote from a newspaper: "Where has Jon Porter been to fight Yucca Mountain?" Then footage of Porter in the hearing room with the voiceover saying: "Jon took his 20-year fight against the dump straight to the only people who could make a difference -- the U.S. Congress."

Now Herrera can run his own footage showing he is already fighting for "Nevada's families" on Capitol Hill.

When Porter arrived in Washington on Wednesday, he met reporters outside the Capitol with Republican U.S. Sen. John Ensign, who attacked the notion that Porter is soft on the dump, as his opponent has charged, because he has taken money from a nuclear energy lobbyist and House Republican leaders who support the repository.

"To even question whether Jon Porter has been fighting Yucca Mountain is ludicrous," Ensign said. "Jon Porter was fighting Yucca Mountain when I was still treating cats and dogs."

The former veterinarian knows the two breeds, like Republicans and Democrats, don't play nice.

Porter tried to joke with the subcommittee's co-chair, U.S. Rep. Jack Quinn, R-N.Y., about the importance of Nevada's testimony Thursday.

"You also have two opponents in a hotly contested congressional race working together here in unity," Porter told Quinn.

Well, almost.

Porter got to speak first, got to mention his bid for Congress, and in the course of defending Nevada from a New York Times editorial, he also got in a bit of his own resume.

"I've been fighting this dump since 1985 as a city councilman," said Porter, who at that time was a Boulder City Councilman.

Quinn introduced Herrera by saying he was "quite happy to see the two of you at the same table" -- more a remark to Porter than any appreciation that Porter's Democratic opponent had somehow finagled his way onto the dais.

Herrera jumped right into Democratic Campaigning 101, mentioning the transportation of waste "perhaps past the homes of many of your families." While Porter simply defended Nevada against the charge that the state is employing scare tactics ("Yes, it is scare tactics because you should be scared," Porter said.), Herrera played on some traditional Republican themes as well.

The chairman of the Clark County Commission mentioned the $360 million he says the county will have to spend to prepare for the shipments of waste through its borders and inferred the cost would jump exponentially when the other 703 counties nationwide are factored in.

"What you have is the greatest unfunded mandate in the history of the federal government," he said.

Herrera can't claim to have worked against the dump for as long as Porter has (heck, he was 11 1/2 when Porter passed his first resolution against it). But he also wanted to show just how much he's fighting against Yucca -- mentioning to the committee how he has spoken to county officials across the country and lobbied the National Association of Counties about it.

"Counties are preparing resolutions of opposition across the nation," he said as a House committee across the hall rapidly sent a resolution supporting Yucca Mountain to the full House.

Last week Herrera slammed Porter on Yucca Mountain during a press conference promoted as a "show of unity" against the dump. The most Porter could muster up in response came Wednesday in Washington when he praised Herrera's work against the repository but added: "Shame on anyone who would try to divide Nevada right now. We have to send a unified message."

Both men were unified on that message Thursday for the good of the state, but more important to them was the opportunity to boost their political capital in front of Congress.