Lieutenant governor’s post kept by Hunt

Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2002 | 11:25 a.m.

Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt was re-elected by a margin of 10 percentage points Tuesday in a campaign noted for slashing attacks by both candidates.

The election positions Hunt as a potential front-runner for other state or federal offices.

Hunt defeated Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny with 52 percent of the vote to Kenny's 42 percent. Kenny conceded the election shortly after 8 p.m.

Hunt joined fellow Republicans Gov. Kenny Guinn, Congressman-elect Jon Porter and Attorney General-elect Brian Sandoval for a victory party at Caesars Palace, a few miles north of her restaurant, the Bootlegger.

She and her political brethren noted that Republicans control every state constitutional office.

"We're going to focus on the future now," Hunt said. "We have the dream team in the constitutional offices." Hunt said the focus of her next four-year term will continue to be the economy.

But Hunt could also find herself in training for higher office, said state archivist Guy Rocha, a historian and native Nevadans.

He noted the job of lieutenant governor has been held by many people in the state's history who have moved on to higher office.

Paul Laxalt, Republican lieutenant governor from 1963-1967, ran successfully for U.S. Senate in 1974. Democrat Harry Reid, lieutenant governor 1971-1975, served as a congressman from 1983-1987, then ran successfully for Senate, where he still serves.

"This person may find themselves is a very important role," he said. "In this case, I think the lieutenant governor's position is the potential springboard for the governor's office."

If she runs for the state's highest office, Hunt could find herself facing a familiar opponent.

Both Hunt and Kenny have hinted that they might like to move into the governor's mansion.

While no woman has been elected governor, Nevada could be ready for a female chief executive, Rocha said.

"Within the next four to eight years you could have a viable female contender who can win," he said. "I think the time is right in Nevada."

For now Tuesday's loss marked for Kenny, a Democrat, the end of a decade as a rising star in political office. Kenny said that despite the loss, she enjoyed the chase.

"I've never had more fun than working on this campaign," she said. "We brought up a lot of issues -- education, health care, public power -- and I certainly hope the lieutenant governor will look at those issues and address them."

Kenny, who will serve as commissioner through December, said she does not know what her plans will be, or even if she will remain active in politics.

"I've had a lot of job offers," she said. "Lots of things are possible."

Hunt's swearing in will be in January along with Guinn, who trounced his Democratic opponent state Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas. Neal did not have the backing of his own party.

The campaign for lieutenant governor was punctuated by harsh attack ads from both sides. Hunt's ads originally stuck to generally positive themes throughout the primaries, where she won over 80 percent of the vote, into October.

But Kenny's media buy clearly wounded Hunt. Ads attacked Hunt for allegedly supporting pay cuts to minimum wage workers who receive tips, failing to support small businesses and failing to pay all required taxes, fees and bills for her restaurant.

Hunt's ad campaign fired back last month with charges that Kenny left lawsuits and bankruptcy behind when the Clark County commissioner left Illinois for Las Vegas in the late 1980s.

Hunt's ads also featured union members announcing their support, a response to Kenny's union endorsements.

The simmering issue of Nevada Power Co.'s rate increases and the related issues of a potential government takeover of the private utility company also were campaign fodder. Kenny's ads criticized Hunt for favoring the power company in the ongoing struggle.

"We're all concerned about power rate increases," Hunt responded last week. But the incumbent also said she did not support Question 14 on Tuesday's ballot, which advises the Legislature to authorize a hostile takeover by a government agency.

As lieutenant governor, Hunt will continue to serve in a handful of defined jobs: as president of the State Senate, vice chairwoman of the Nevada Transportation Board, member of the Executive Branch Audit Committee and chairwoman of the Nevada Commission on Tourism and Economic Development.

The policy positions give the lieutenant governor a potentially potent voice in economic development and infrastructure affecting the state, as well as a bully pulpit to speak on a broad range of issues.

Hunt said she will take the momentum of her victory and work to encourage more economic development in Nevada. She said labor will be a part of that development and will be targeted for a labor-business summit early next year.

"I couldn't have won without the Democrats, without the labor crossover and particularly without the rank-and-file labor having the guts to vote for me," she said.

Hunt, citing the union support that crossed over to her campaign, said she will convene a labor summit early next year to "keep the economy booming, generating revenue for the state."

Hunt could continue a trend that has seen the lieutenant governor's stature and duties grow over the last few decades, Rocha said.

Once a job of waiting to serve as acting governor, Hunt and her predecessors -- and changes in state law -- have redefined the position.

"You've seen candidates who were successful try to upgrade the office from essentially a ceremonial position," Rocha said. "Up until the latter part of the 20th century, the lieutenant governor was really a non-player, but what we've seen in two of the last three administrations, we've seen lieutenant governors become much more active."

He said the lieutenant governor has become "the ambassador, the economic ambassador," of the state. It is a role that Hunt, who formed an economic task force to deal with the fallout from the Sept. 11 terror attacks last year, helped define.

But probably the most important job the lieutenant governor has still is to wait. If the governor dies, is incapacitated or leaves office, the lieutenant governor becomes acting governor.

It has happened, and not so long ago. In 1991 Lt. Gov. Bob Miller became acting governor after Gov. Richard Bryan ran successfully for U.S. Senate.

Miller, like Bryan a Democrat, then ran successfully for the governor's seat -- twice.

Four other lieutenant governors in Nevada have become acting governors, Reid among them.

Two other candidates in this election garnered votes for lieutenant governor. Libertarian William Oswald received 1.9 percent of the vote, Independent American Merritt "Ike" Yochum received 1.3 percent, and "None of These" received 3.4 percent.

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