Columnist Erin Neff: Porter, Herrera equally guilty of avoiding issues

Erin Neff

Friday, July 19, 2002 | 3:46 a.m.

THE NEVADA STATE Democratic Party issued a press release Tuesday asking: "Where's Jon?"

It didn't take long for the party to get an answer as Republican Jon Porter on Wednesday and Thursday willingly came out to discuss his favorite issue -- the troubles facing his Democratic opponent. The race for Nevada's 3rd Congressional seat is supposed to mean something. It's the first time the state has ever had three congressional representatives, it's a district whose crafting stymied the Legislature and forced last year's special session, and it's being eyed nationally for its importance in the political balance of power.

But within the district's borders, the race is playing out like a county commission race in the rurals. Non-issues have become the rule of the day as Nevada stands poised to send a third representative to Washington, D.C., for the first time.

The leading Democrat seeking the seat, Clark County Commissioner Dario Herrera, blames all of his troubles on a mudslinging Porter, whom he claims won't engage him on the "issues."

But it's been the Democrats who consistently, and oftentimes misguidedly, attack Porter. Their issues? Porter's absence at a town hall meeting, campaign contributions Porter has taken, and the way Porter files his election reports.

Porter said all of those issues were simply designed to take the focus off of Herrera's own problems -- a controversial loan from a convicted felon; a housing authority contract won without his bidding or board approval; conflicted interest in county votes, and questions over his personal finances -- all of which caused him to lose a key law enforcement endorsement.

"I'd love to talk about the issues," Porter said.

Sure he would.

A race that could decide the way Congress deals with prescription drug coverage, Social Security, Medicare and education is mired in the muck of who attends which event and who is hurling slime.

Herrera actually cried foul when he said an endorsement process by a police union was taken over by politics. Endorsements, by their very nature, are supposed to be political.

The issue-oriented Porter was busy last week shuttling opposition research on his opponent to the press. There were transcripts of a 1970 federal trial involving the man who loaned Herrera $85,000 in 1999.

The 28-year-old Herrera deflected this by reminding that he wasn't even a glimmer in his parents' eyes back then.

It's a good thing the issues are finally surfacing in the 3rd district. For a while it was just sniping over how many Republicans and Democrats lived there.

Porter, a former state senator, was widely blamed for stalling redistricting talks at the end of the 2001 legislative session while whining over a pocket of 200 voters he wanted included in the 3rd Congressional District he would later seek.

Democrats, and a few Republicans, said it was Porter who essentially caused the deal to break off and send the 63 lawmakers back to Carson City two weeks later for a special session to approve redistricting.

So it's little wonder that he's not discussing why he's switched his stance on Social Security and his opposition to Medicare coverage of prescription drugs.

He's happy to attack Herrera for losing the Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs endorsement without mentioning that he didn't win their endorsement in the first place.

Herrera has spent the past several months deriding any questions of his character or decision-making ability simply as political attacks.

Both of these guys had the nerve to take their issue-oriented campaigns to Washington, D.C., this spring to try to sway the House from ramming through Yucca Mountain.

The real purpose of that trip will be seen later this fall in the television ads highlighting each man's "fighting for Nevada families" on the state's biggest battle. If you talk to either of them for more than five minutes you realize it was all for their campaign's PR.

The national political parties have a role in that. Just about everything either Herrera or Porter does is cleared through an alphabet soup of political organizations -- DNC, RNC, DCCC, RNCC -- the national and congressional committees for the two main parties.

Local issues have been lost.

One of these guys will get to take his message to Washington, D.C., in a few months. It's a good thing Congress is well versed in non-issues.