Political notebook: Democrats looking for surprises at state convention

Erin Neff

Friday, May 10, 2002 | 8:54 a.m.

When Democrats convene tonight for their state convention, party faithful will be hoping for a repeat of their last gathering.

On April 13, Matthew Dushoff leaped to the dais at the county convention and surprised everyone with his announced run for governor.

State Party Chairman Terry Care is paging Oscar Goodman to do a repeat performance.

Although Goodman proclaims to be the happiest mayor, he's also the happiest buzz name in the realm of would-be candidates.

"How many days do I have left?" he joked this week, referring to the May 20 deadline to file for office.

"It's not too late," he added.

Not too late to file, of course, but Goodman added: "It's not too late to win."

Tick. Tock.

Yucca to the dogs

Gov. Kenny Guinn is fond of over explaining complex issues like medical malpractice and taxes with charts and hand gestures.

But his Yucca Mountain explainer to the group Working in Communications on Thursday went to the dogs.

Nevada is the Chihuahua, he said, to the government's Great Dane.

"The court system equals the Great Dane to the Chihuahua," Guinn said. "If we lose in the U.S. Senate, our best case is in the courts.

"It doesn't matter if they lower the Great Dane to the Chihuahua or raise the Chihuahua to the Great Dane," he added. "It'll be equal."

Unless, of course, the judge is a Saint Bernard.

The greening of Yucca

Who said Yucca Mountain isn't an issue to run on?

The Greens are taking it as their issue this weekend, calling it "the most heinous assault against life ever perpetuated."

Green Party candidates will kick off their campaign in Mercury on Sunday at the gates of the Nevada Test Site and Yucca Mountain. Whatever happened to taking Mom out to brunch?

The party is hoping Nevadans see Green this November by voting for Lane Startin in the 1st Congressional District; Paul Lenert for secretary of state; Michael Toscano for Clark County Commission E; and Brandi Harrison for county recorder.

Charles Laws is also considering running for governor.

Herrera and Culinary

Congressional candidate Dario Herrera doesn't want to add politics into the mix of the current labor negotiations on the Strip.

So, he's not taking sides -- well, not really -- in the Culinary Union's talks with gaming companies.

"I think politics should be the furthest thing from anyone's mind as the Culinary and the gamers move forward in the negotiations," said Herrera, the Democrat running for Nevada's 3rd Congressional District. "Obviously that's an issue between the gamers and the Culinary Union."

But in the next breath Herrera mentions how proud he is to have the support of Southern Nevada's largest union, which has endorsed him.

The union's threatened strike -- with potential backing by national labor unions -- could either give more muscle to Herrera's grass-roots campaign or tie him to workers who aren't willing to pay a penny for the health insurance they currently get for free.

"Free health care is a benefit that Culinary members have enjoyed," Herrera said. "Having that go away would be disastrous to those members."

Not that he's taking sides.

For the record