Hastert touts Porter in very private fund-raiser

Erin Neff

Friday, Aug. 15, 2003 | 9:47 a.m.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert brought in some hearty praise, some union adoration and an estimated $25,000 for Rep. Jon Porter on Thursday.

Hastert, R-Ill., stumped for his fellow Republican at a private lunchtime fund-raiser at Palace Station before meeting with Carpenters Union officials at the Carpenters International Training Center.

The carpenters' political muscle was also flexing Thursday morning at the union's Lamb Boulevard headquarters, where Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., stopped by to prime the pump for next year's re-election run.

Hastert, whose district is west of Chicago, employs traditional Chicago-style politics, including reaching out to unions. During his last visit to Las Vegas, the speaker visited the Culinary Union training facility.

Hastert told the crowd at the closed Palace Station event that Porter has hit the ground running and that he has done well in his freshman year, according to those who attended. The press and general public were shut out.

While Hastert is two heartbeats away from the presidency and is a major political player nationwide, he's remembered locally for his strident support of the Yucca Mountain project.

Perhaps that's why Porter issued a pre-emptive press release Monday criticizing the Energy Department for "secret" shipments of deadly nuclear waste.

"I am deeply concerned to learn through newspaper reports that the Department of Energy shipped deadly nuclear waste across country -- in the dead of night," Porter said in his statement. "If the transportation of this deadly waste is so safe, as the DOE claims, then why on earth did they ship it shrouded in secrecy?

The statement continued: "This is exactly what's going to happen if they are permitted to send it to Yucca Mountain and why we must continue to fight the storage and shipment of deadly waste here."

Porter may need to take the lesson on secrecy to heart, especially when he's hosting powerful Republicans who want to store "deadly waste" 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Weeks, not days?

One high-ranking state lawmaker is beginning to believe talk that the Nevada Supreme Court may have thought about its role in the tax debate long before a lawsuit landed in its lap.

The lawmaker, who requested anonymity, was invited to speak at a function after the Legislature completed its work and reports about a comment that piqued the lawmaker's interest.

A "very close friend" of one of the Supreme Court justices was seated next to the lawmaker at the luncheon and fielded a question from a person seated to the lawmaker's other side.

The person asked the friend of the justice how the Supreme Court arrived at its controversial July 10 opinion. The friend replied: "Well, they worked on that for three weeks and it was as good as they could do."

The lawmaker said the statement appeared highly unusual, given the fact that Gov. Kenny Guinn sued the Legislature on July 1 and parties to the suit had until July 7 to submit supplemental briefs before the opinion three days later.

"It was my understanding they only worked on the case for two or three days, not weeks," the lawmaker said.

The three weeks comment may have been a misstatement, or may be overinterpreted by the lawmaker, but it certainly is adding fuel to the conspiracy theory.

Guinn appointments

Little-recognized state boards and commissions usually get as much attention as politicians pay to their jobs during the humdrum days of August.

But a few notable names popped up in Gov. Kenny Guinn's appointments Thursday to boards.

Developer and former Clark County Commissioner Jay Bingham was appointed to the Colorado River Commission.

UNLV history professor Hal Rothman was named to the Historical Records Advisory Board and Channel 8 news anchor and avid biker Gary Waddell was appointed to the Motorcycle Safety Advisory Board.

The Nuclear Projects Commission appointments include former Attorney General Brian McKay, Polo Towers owner Steven Molasky and Clark County Commissioner Myrna Williams.

Nevada Republican Party Chairwoman Lia Roberts was appointed to the Taxicab Authority.

For the record

State Treasurer Brian Krolicki will host the Nevada Women's Money Conference on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the MGM Grand Conference Center on Koval Lane. The educational event is free.