Gates excited about opportunity to lead DNC Black Caucus

Erin Neff

Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2002 | 9:50 a.m.

Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates has for some time thought about how she can make an impact nationwide.

She once thought about running for Congress, but says now that she has been named chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee's Black Caucus, she has found her dream role.

"I am really excited about it," Gates said. "There's so much that I want to do.

"I really wanted to do something on a national level and frankly, this is more important and will have a greater impact than if I were elected to Congress."

Gates was elected Friday during the DNC's winter meeting in Washington to head the organization's oldest caucus. She is a three-term county commissioner who has been a DNC member since 2000. She was supported in her bid for chairwoman by mayors, congressmen and former cabinet secretaries.

In her new position, Gates will focus primarily on ways to bring blacks more political clout.

Her main goal is registering a million blacks to vote.

On Tuesday Gates took part in a conference call with wealthy blacks who are 30 and younger who want to raise money for the caucus.

"I was so excited during that call because we just talked about ways to get African-Americans, who are not part of the national process, involved," she said.

In addition to the necessary fund-raising duties, Gates also envisions creating a nationwide mentoring program to groom black candidates for office.

"It works from the bottom up," Gates said. "If we can get them registered and get them to run for offices at the local level, in a few years it will create candidates for other offices."

Gates said she already has discussed that initiative with state Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas.

"(Democrats) are in such a quandary right now about not having candidates for state offices because we don't have people coming up," Gates said. "We're going to change that."