Friday, Jan. 16, 2004 | 11:01 a.m.
Jon Porter called in sick on Thursday, but the congressman still made about $100,000.
Vice President Dick Cheney flew into town for a few hours on Thursday to raise money for the ailing Porter, who could not attend because he has been grounded in Washington after undergoing ear surgery.
Cheney told the crowd of about 150 people at the Bellagio that he was in town to make "absolutely certain" that Porter, a freshman congressman, will be re-elected in November.
"The president and I enjoy very much working with Jon," he said. "We're counting on Nevada to send him back to the United States Congress."
Cheney's visit came just one day after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia held a hearing on the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. The vice president did not comment on the Yucca dump, which the Bush administration supports, and he did not grant interviews to local media.
Instead, much of the vice president's speech focused on the work of the Bush administration, and Cheney said he and President Bush intend to win Nevada in 2004, just as they did in 2000.
"We have a record of accomplishment, I believe, to show for our efforts," he said. Cheney pointed to the Medicare bill, tax cuts, a surge in the economy and removal of Saddam Hussein as some of the administration's top accomplishments.
In 2003, he said, "Saddam Hussein controlled the lives of 25 million people."
"Today, a year later, he's in jail in Baghdad and he will never again threaten the people of Iraq or of the United States," he said.
Cheney said the administration will continue to work to stabilize nations with weapons of mass destruction, address doctors' concerns about rising medical malpractice insurance and confirm President Bush's judicial nominees.
And, he said, the administration will push Bush's plan to allow more immigrants to work legally in the country, a plan that he called both "good for the economy" and "humane."
It also, he said, will increase national security by giving authorities a better idea of which immigrants are traveling in and out of the country.
"We'll run hard and take nothing for granted," he said. "With your help, we'll have a great victory for the Republican ticket come November 2004."
Porter's wife, Laurie, attended the function along with his mother, Bette, his son, Chris, his daughter, Nicole, and his aunt, Charlotte Seger. Laurie Porter told the crowd that her husband is recovering quickly.
"He is doing well, but the doctor absolutely told him that he was landlocked for a little longer," she said.
One of Porter's staff members held up her cell phone so Porter, using his good ear, could listen to the speech from Washington.
Porter said he was disappointed that he couldn't attend the luncheon but he thought his family represented him well.
And he said he realized that the attendees, who paid $250 a plate, probably didn't miss him too much.
"I'm a realist," Porter said. "I think most people were there to see the vice president."
While environmentalists and others have protested at recent Bush and Cheney events in Nevada, they did not picket the Bellagio on Thursday.
Porter, who also opposes the Yucca proposal, said he and other Nevada Republicans who support the Bush-Cheney ticket do so because they strongly agree with the administration on other issues besides Yucca Mountain. He said he has "made it clear" to Bush that he disagrees with the proposal.
"People realize that it's 49 states against Nevada and it's not (about) political parties," Porter said of the controversy.
Marilyn Kidwell, who along with about 80 people paid $1,000 to attend the lunch and a reception to have her picture taken with Cheney, said she appreciated the vice president's comments on national security.
Kidwell, a homemaker who served in the military for six years, and her husband, a physician who served 26 years, worry most about national security issues, she said.
"Someone might think I'm very hawkish, but I'm glad to see Saddam gone and I hope that next we'll go after Osama (bin Laden)," she said.
Cheney was greeted at McCarran International Airport just after 11:30 Thursday morning by key members of the Republican Party, including regional Bush-Cheney campaign chairwoman Sonia Joya, who also serves as state director for Sen. John Ensign, Clark County Republican Party Chairman Brian Scroggins and Clark County Republican Party Chairwoman Betty Rumford and her husband, Merton.
The vice president was accompanied by a 14-car motorcade.
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