Politicians begin drive to Nov. 5 in earnest

Erin Neff

Thursday, Sept. 5, 2002 | 11:20 a.m.

The day after the primary dawned not with an election hangover, but with renewed vigor for the 61 days remaining until the general election.

As most voters were finishing their morning coffee, district attorney candidates faced off, a sheriff's candidate made his pitch and Nevada's congressional hopefuls civilly attacked each other on TV.

By lunch the states's leading attorney general candidates took part in their first debate and political consultants were readying the battle plans for November.

"Didn't I just see you?" Attorney General candidate John Hunt said late Wednesday morning to a supporter he had recently bid adieu on primary night.

DayONE Las Vegas, a live phone-in interview show on Las Vegas ONE, featured mini-debates with DA candidates David Roger and Mike Davidson, both fresh off of their primary wins.

But it was sheriff's candidate Randy Oaks and the leading candidates in Congressional District 3 who really began to define election issues.

Oaks criticized Metro's operations and said he wanted to be an "agent of change," -- something he said front-runner Bill Young cannot be due to his allegiance to current Sheriff Jerry Keller.

Young declined an invitation to appear with Oaks.

And despite the already shark-infested advertising waters of Congressional District 3, both Democrat Dario Herrera and Republican Jon Porter smiled nicely as they traded veiled insults.

"He's always been a big insurance guy," Herrera said initially of Porter.

Porter decried the tenor of the negative ads saying it's "unfortunate when you have campaign consultants writing scripts."

But the real differences between major candidates emerged during a luncheon meeting of the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association, featuring Hunt and his Republican opponent Brian Sandoval.

Sandoval, the former chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission, said he would make fighting Yucca Mountain his top priority. But Hunt said a major difference in the race is Sandoval's decision to take campaign contributions from a leading Yucca lobbyist, former Nevada Gov. Bob List.

"Once you start taking money from them, how can you possibly suggest you'll stand up to them?" Hunt asked. "I won't take money from nuclear power or Nevada power and I have no political baggage."

Sandoval defended his campaign, saying his personal friendship with List will not get in the way of his job as attorney general.

"I've told him, in terms of when it comes to Yucca Mountain, I'm going to roll over you," Sandoval said. "Friends are friends. I'm going to be loyal to him ... but I'll beat him."

Hunt then criticized Sandoval's significant support from gaming, suggesting something untoward about a former gaming commissioner essentially getting money from the industry.

"The day after he resigned they pulled up a Brinks truck to campaign office," Hunt said.

Sandoval said both he and Hunt had solicited gaming for donations and that the industry decided he was the better candidate.

"They said, we liked the job you did as chairman," Sandoval said. "You were tough, but you were fair."

A very chatty Hunt, playing to a partisan crowd of trial lawyers and judges, then suggested Sandoval represented the shareholders on Nevada Power's rate cases.

Sandoval said he represented Shareholders of Nevada, a group including about 10,000 senior citizens who were also seeking reasonable power rates.

Neither candidate took a side in the current public versus private power debate, with both saying they needed more information.

Both candidates said they were strong supporters of the death penalty, and both would run a leaner attorney general's office by streamlining work and positions.

Sandoval said his background as a two-term assemblyman, coupled with chairing the Gaming Commission and serving as a litigator give him balanced experience. He also said he would litigate cases as attorney general, including Nevada's fight against Yucca Mountain in the courts.

Hunt said he also believed the attorney general should be the lead litigator on Yucca and every major case.

"It's the attorney general," he said, "not the attorney administrator."