Reapportionment steals thunder from ‘incumbents’

Monday, June 3, 2002 | 9:26 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- In the year after reapportionment, incumbency can be elusive.

Just ask three-term Assemblyman Don Gustavson, R-Sun Valley, or two-term Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, R-Reno. Neither, despite experience in the Legislature, will be able to use the terms "re-elect" or "incumbent" during this election.

Both were drawn out of their districts last year during the shuffling of boundaries to even out the populations.

Or ask Assemblyman Bob Price and Assemblywoman Vonne Chowning, both Democrats from North Las Vegas, who moved in order to run for re-election after they were included in other districts in the reapportionment scheme.

In the first election since legislators redrew the maps, a handful of lawmakers are finding themselves on the short end of incumbency, unable to boast of their experience in official campaign literature. A couple of them say it's payback for unpopular stands.

"Sharron and I got the shaft," Gustavson said. "We didn't vote for the good old boys, and now they are making it tough for us."

"We're playing in a game where some of the cards were stacked against us," Angle said. "But we don't throw our hands in. We keep playing."

Both Gustavson and Angle said part of the reason for losing out was their voting against the so-called "trench bill" involving the lowering of the railroad tracks through downtown Reno.

One-term Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, gets to run as the incumbent against Gustavson, who has served three terms, and in Angle's former district Assemblyman Greg Brower, R-Reno, is allowed to use the magic word "re-elect."

Nevada law says members of the Legislature cannot use the words "re-elect" or "incumbent" if they run in a district with a different number.

"You would think that where there are two incumbents, there would be equal treatment. That would have been the fair thing to do," Angle said.

Price, who was in District 17, was drawn into District 7 with Assemblyman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas. He didn't want to run against his friend, so he moved into the revamped District 17.

With that move Price can advertise his campaign for re-election, according to Legislative Counsel Brenda Erdoes.

Chowning, who was drawn into a different district, moved back into her old District 28 and is also free to run as the incumbent.

Price and Chowning had to plan their moves carefully, to ensure that they lived in a neighborhood that had been in both the old and new district. But they were both glad to make the move.

"We were already looking at moving," Price said. He and his wife, Nancy, have bought 2 1/2 acres near what he calls "my best-fed constituents," a pig farm in North Las Vegas, and plan to build their dream retirement house, he said.

For now, they are living in a motor home in a mobile home park, but that also works into the long-term plan, he said.

"When we retire, we can be one of those motor home people."

Chowning and her husband, Elmer, moved six blocks to stay in her district but, she said, "It came at a time when we were downsizing anyway.

"It worked out. It wasn't something we planned on, but it worked out nicely."

Price and Chowning could move into incumbency, because the reapportionment created districts in Southern Nevada. No such option was open to Gustavson and Angle in the north, where seats were lost.

With the merger of districts in the north, some incumbents had to be left out. That's where the politics came in.

When Gustavson's District 32 was merged with Smith's District 31, the majority Democrats weren't going to let the advantage work against a fellow Democrat, Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, said. So the number stayed with Smith.

In the merger of Brower's and Angle's district, a new number was created -- District 26. But the reapportionment bill specificallly allows the incumbent in District 37 -- Brower -- to use the term "re-elect."

There was also a specific exemption in the reapportionment bill allowing Republican John Marvel of Battle Mountain to use "re-elect," even though his district was renumbered from 34 to 32.

It may be immaterial, Gustavson and Angle said, noting they're not sure this is a good year to be running as the incumbent. Gustavson said he sees a backlash against returning legislators.

"I think I'm going to capitalize on the anti-incumbency feeling," he said.