Anti-tax authors sought for work on ballot

Adrienne Packer

Monday, July 22, 2002 | 9:28 a.m.

Finding taxpayers opposed to tax increases isn't difficult; getting them to put their arguments in writing is a different story, according to Larry Lomax, Clark County's Registrar of Voters.

Lomax, criticized for his appointments to a committee assigned to write opposing arguments to the Regional Transportation Commission's proposed $2.7 billion transit initiative, will re-run advertisements for volunteers beginning today.

"I'm trying to find someone who says they're opposed," Lomax said.

The American Civil Liberties Union claimed Clark County commissioners violated state law, because the two volunteers appointed to write opposing arguments are not against the initiative.

Joseph Hogan, the only member of the anti-initiative committee, summoned the help of the ACLU when he learned his fellow authors would be Carole Vilardo, president of the Nevada Tax Association, and John Olive, former counsel for the Regional Transportation Commission.

On their applications, both Vilardo and Olive acknowledged they were not opposed to the initiative but said they would be willing to write the arguments against the tax increase for the Nov. 5 ballot.

"You try to do the right thing and people take issue with it," Lomax said. "We're not trying to get in the midst of a controversy here."

Gary Peck, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada, said last week that state law says volunteers writing the opposing side to a ballot question must truly be opposed. He threatened to take the county to court if the committee makeup was not reconsidered.

"I want to commend the registrar of voters and the D.A.'s office for promising to do the right thing," Peck said. "It's just unfortunate that we had to go through this in the first place."

Lomax said he will submit the names of additional volunteers to the County Commission Aug. 3. The committees will then write their arguments and craft rebuttals of each argument. The questions will be edited by Lomax, translated into Spanish and printed in both English and Spanish.

The delay caused by the ACLU's challenge created a tighter deadline, Lomax said.

Sun reporter Launce Rake contributed to this report.