Political notebook: Unavailable? No, just out of pocket

Erin Neff

Friday, Feb. 22, 2002 | 9:48 a.m.

A new catch phrase is becoming hip among unreachable politicians.

It used to be a person was unavailable for comment. Nowadays, they're "out of pocket."

What does that mean?

Sen. John Ensign's spokeswoman couldn't really elaborate this week when the senator went missing during the Presidents Day recess.

"It just means he's out of pocket," Traci Scott said.

Democratic Caucus Leader Lindsey Judstrup gave the same answer when Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, was recently unable to be reached.

An informal survey of local wags finds the "out of pocket" excuse is spreading faster than the once-chic Gulf War mantra "Mother of all" phrase.

Is out of pocket meant to imply the cell phone is not in the person's pocket, or to imply the phone is in a pocket that's out of cell range?

If the latter is true, reporters trying to reach Gov. Kenny Guinn and Sen. Harry Reid on Wednesday were in fact told the truth. Both were definitely out of most cell phone reaches while touring the Nevada Test Site.

Buy a vowel

Congressional hopeful Lynette Boggs McDonald wanted to bank on a former New York City mayor's popularity by getting the current mayor to support her.

But when her campaign this week announced a $2,000 contribution from current NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, they misidentified arguably the most popular Republican outside of President Bush.

The second sentence of the press release drops the name of the mayor who shepherded not only New York, but the nation, through the Sept. 11 tragedy. The only trouble is the reference also dropped a key vowel.

Time's Man of the Year, the high-priced speaker-for-hire and recently-knighted Rudolph Guiliani was described as "Mayor Guliani."

The proud Italian might take offense to the missing vowel. At least the press release correctly spells Bloomberg's name in his endorsement of Boggs McDonald for her race to unseat incumbent Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.

"Lynette has the vision, the drive and the tenacity to win," Bloomberg said. "When she is elected to office, she will be the first black female Republican ever elected to Congress in this country. When that happens, I want to be able to say, 'Yes, I was a part of that.' "

Boggs McDonald's campaign had an easier time releasing word of an honor the Las Vegas City Councilwoman will receive tonight. The Asian Chamber of Commerce will award Boggs McDonald as 2002 Elected Official of the Year during an event tonight at the Rio.

New director

The Nevada Democratic Party has hired an AFL-CIO official to be the party's new executive director.

Pam Egan, a former aide to Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., will begin her new job March 11. She replaces Liz Carrasco, who said she left the job to spend more time with her family.

Party Chairman Terry Care said Egan has experience in Washington and is knowledgeable about Western issues.

Egan, 37, has served as acting western regional coordinator for the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations' Working for America Institute. In that job, which she has held since April 2001, Egan advised labor, business and government organizations in 13 Western states on workforce training and economic development.

She was selected by the union for special assignment to Las Vegas last November to help local workers affected by the economic slowdown and casino layoffs.

A Montana native, Egan worked for Baucus from 1987 to 1992.