IAP candidate wants to take on feds

Monday, April 29, 2002 | 9:19 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- David G. Holmgren lives on his cattle ranch in Mineral County, about 30 miles from the nearest community -- tiny Gabbs.

Telephone service doesn't reach his spread, so he communicates with the outside world by cell phone.

But Holmgren says he "will drive all over the state" to get his message across as the candidate for governor from the Independent American Party.

His issue, he says, will be states' rights -- or sovereignty -- on everything from Yucca Mountain to mining to ranching to handguns.

This is the first try for elective office for the 47-year-old Holmgren, who has lived in the state for more than four years. A fourth-generation rancher who spent most of his life in Montana, he has an allotment of more than 500,000 acres from the Bureau of Land Management.

"It's not my interest to run for governor," Holmgren said. "It's in my interest to help the party support the platform and also to support Nevada's sovereignty as a state with equal footing with the rest of the 50."

Holmgren was selected as the IAP candidate at the party's convention in Elko earlier this month. He doesn't have any campaign funds so far. The incumbent, Gov. Kenny Guinn, has raised more than $2 million.

But Holmgren says he and IAP lieutenant governor candidate Ike Yochum "will go as far and wide as we can to get the issue out."

The issue, in Holmgren's mind, is the overbearing federal government.

Holmgren declines to say whether he supports or opposes the proposed nuclear dump at Yucca Mountain. But he said he takes issue with the fact that the Energy Department is trying to use the area's underground water, despite the denial of the state engineer's office.

"Nevadans have a right to speak forcibly. And they (the federal government) are going against the sovereignty of the state. I support Nevada's choice,"he said.

Holmgren believes the federal government "is running the ranching industry into the ground."

"The feds showed their intention recently by trying to coerce ranchers to give 50 percent interest in water rights for water development of those springs," he said.

Although he leases BLM land, Holmgren owns the water rights. His wife, Jackie, a geologist, said, "The BLM is trying to encroach on our water. They are trying to tell us how to use it."

Holmgren and his wife first came to Nevada in the early 1980s, during a gold boom in the state. She did some exploration and he said he was "buckarooing." Holmgren said he staked "a few gold claims on the Carlin trend."

The couple returned to Montana, but in 1997 purchased the ranch they now own.

The mining industry, Holmgren believes, is stifled by too many rules.

"Our small miners are hit hard by new federal regulations. We need to support this industry."

He's irked that the federal government "is infringing on the rights of people to own guns. Now they (the federal government) think they can gather up the guns."

Despite state government's financial pinch, Holmgren doesn't favor new taxes. The state, by asserting its sovereignty, could tap into a wealth of resources on the land now managed by the federal government, he said.

"Nevada is wealthy," Holmgren said, but it needs to be able to use its lands. Rural communities can't survive because they don't have a tax base due to land being tied up by the Bureau of Land Management and other federal agencies, he said.

On the casino industry, Holmgren said, "It looks to me like it's suffering. I'm sure the gambling industry will figure out different ways to avoid increased taxes."

On Guinn, Holmgren said, "I can't tell what he's done. It doesn't seem like he's upholding state sovereignty. I'm not condemning Guinn. I just want to see the issues brought forward."

One of his "pet peeves," Holmgren said, is the multitude of laws passed every session by the Legislature. He said lawmakers "should do some house cleaning" and eliminate many of the laws on the books. But he could not give any immediate examples of laws that should be repealed.

No IAP candidate has ever won a statewide office. The party has 14,691 registered voters, or 0.02 percent of the total in Nevada.

"I have no guess of what my chances are," Holmgren said. "I will get out there and campaign on the real issues and see what happens."