Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: Who’ll lead the way?

Tuesday, March 26, 2002 | 8:46 a.m.

NOW WOULD be a really good time for some leadership.

I don't know how many campaign slogans over the years have extolled various candidates with catchy words and flowery phrases designed to capture the attention and the vote of the electorate, but I would think that in almost every case the word leader was among them. Proven leadership, the ability to lead, a leader for our time -- you name the slogan and I can find a candidate who used those words as a stepping stone toward election.

So, if my count is correct, practically every member of the Nevada Legislature got there in some way by convincing the voters that he or she was a leader and just the person we need to help us find our way to a better tomorrow. So where are they now that we need them?

I can't think of a time in the history of our state when so daunting a task lay before us as the fight this summer against the federal government's plan to send the nation's high-level nuclear waste to a site just a short drive from Las Vegas. Nothing else we have had to face as a state has ever posed a real and present danger to the existence of this state as a tourist mecca as has the specter of this deadly poison coming our way. It is so dangerous that no one else in the entire country wants this stuff in their back yard, so they are content to put it in ours.

If ever there were a moment in time when unanimity of thought and action would be expected and required it would be right here and right now because this is the time when Nevadans write the plan for our future. Will we forever be known as the place where poison lives and not much else or will we continue to be the tourism capital of the world, a rich and inviting oasis that promises the very best of fun, food and frolic to travelers from around the globe? And, at the same time, provides work for thousands of people each and every month for as long as we can see.

So where are the leaders to stand up and lead the fight against President George W. Bush's plan to bury us under 77,000 tons of radioactive waste? Where is the leadership in the state capital and state Legislature that will join in the fight being led by our congressional delegation in Washington, which is fighting almost insurmountable but still winnable odds?

Gov. Kenny Guinn has told us he wants a special session to appropriate the needed funds without which our fight would be futile. Speaker of the Assembly Richard Perkins has told us he stands with the governor and will do what he can to make sure Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign have the financial resources they need to win this fight. Our two senators have asked both men to get them the money now so they can mount an effective strategy designed to win the hearts and minds of our fellow Americans who don't yet know the dangers that will travel their own streets, highways and railways and over their waterways and, perish the thought, sink to the bottom of them.

But Gov. Guinn and Speaker Perkins aren't enough, it seems. The Sun will soon publish a report indicating the level of support for a special legislative session to provide the money requested by Sens. Reid and Ensign. It doesn't look good because it looks like the Senate, led by Reno Sen. Bill Raggio, is coming down against any such notion of helping ordinary Nevadans avoid lifetimes of anxiety and concern about when and where the shoe will drop upon them and their families. Sen. Raggio is a Republican and so is most, but not all, of the negative support for the special session.

That is unfortunate because this is a Nevada fight, not a Republican or Democratic one. There are times when national parties and loyalty to a president who has broken his word to Nevadans that he gave as a mere electoral calculation should not count for anything. This is one of those times because it is our health and safety, our livelihoods and our futures that hang in the balance. Whether you are one of those who believe this is the worst thing that could happen to us or just a bad thing, the fact remains that there is nothing good that can come from sending radioactive garbage through Nevada to what would be a suburb in many Eastern states.

But it is a fact that President Bush made the decision to send that stuff here when he could have decided not to do so. It seems also that the facts will be that most Republicans in the Nevada Legislature will spurn their party leader and Nevada's governor in his quest to get the much-needed funds to give us a fighting chance against the nuclear power producers and their allies in the federal government who are imposing this solution upon us against our will. And, yes, it appears that some Democrats are also firmly in the "no" column when it comes to providing the help that the voters need. Shame on all of them.

In one respect, it is a good thing that this fight will probably be over by the time the elections come around this November. If we lose for lack of money, the voters will have a very clear picture of those who helped and those who didn't. They will have an unequivocal view toward those who led on this issue and those who hid from it. And they will know exactly who to blame for not making a stand against a tyrannical federal government hellbent on destroying that which the world recognizes as one of the 21st century's stellar cities.

It doesn't have to be this way. Bill Raggio can be a leader. He can do what his governor wants and encourage his party faithful to let loose with the money that Reid and Ensign need. If he needs some more encouragement, Sen. Ensign should be ready, willing and able to bring that point home in a very clear, concise and maybe even a public way. The same goes for the errant Democrats. Sen. Reid cannot win this thing unless the state is behind him and if he needs to make that clear to the voters about who is standing in the way, he should do just that.

And, as for our good governor, he knows where the money has to come from however difficult it may be to find the millions required. His job is to call that special session and get the money. If he leads the way I know he can, the money will be forthcoming and the feds will know they are in a fight. If he is not successful, at least the voters will know exactly where to place the blame because there will be blame to be sure.

Not everyone can pick up and leave this state when that poison starts rolling through our streets and seeping into our drinking water. There will be 1.5 million people in Clark County alone who will have to stay and live with the constant fear and trepidation that those trucks will roll into their lives. They will know who led and who failed to follow.

And, because it is their families who may suffer, they will not forgive.

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