Porter addresses Bishop Gorman students on wide variety of topics

Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2004 | 9:24 a.m.

Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., addressed about 100 students at Bishop Gorman High School Tuesday on a range of issues from the nuclear dump at Yucca Mountain to the Patriot Act, and told them his dream as a teenager was to be a rock star.

Porter's appearance came six days after Democrat Tom Gallagher, his opponent in the 3rd Congressional District race, addressed many of the same Gorman students, some of whom will be voting for the first time on Nov. 2.

Gorman Senior Christine Pike, an 18-year-old Republican, said she was surprised to learn that Porter had first publicly opposed a nuclear repository at Yucca Mountain two years before she was born, when -- as a 20-something Boulder City Councilman, he helped pass an anti-nuke dump resolution.

"He spoke very well on the issues, especially Yucca Mountain, which I believe will affect many of our futures," Pike said following the hourlong speech and question-and-answer session.

Cash Burger, a 17-year-old senior and Democrat who is too young to vote in the upcoming general election, said Porter's answers to the students' questions were "clear and concise" but that he did not agree with the congressman's position on the Patriot Act.

Porter told the teens he supports the Patriot Act giving law enforcement officials the same tools in fighting terrorism that they currently have in the war on drugs and organized crime.

Porter also told the students that while former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction, Hussein "raped and pillaged 300,000 to 400,000" of his own countrymen and harboured terrorists. "We did the right thing" going to war in Iraq, he said.

Porter, a former insurance salesman first elected to Congress two years ago, said that while attending Catholic high school in Iowa he was a keyboard player for a garage rock band called Shadrack and had dreams of making it big as a rock 'n' roll musician.

He said a compact disc of an album the band recorded about 30 years ago has netted him "about 20 cents" in royalties in recent years.

"I like talking to -- and listening to -- young people," Porter said before Tuesday's speech. "Their issues are similar to those of adults, but many times they are more blunt in the questions they ask. They cut to the chase."

Gallagher said he also has enjoyed speaking to a number of high school and college classes because one of his major issues is getting the federal government "to fulfill its obligation to education."

"I've been impressed with the intelligence and focus of all of the classes I've spoken to," Gallagher said. "They ask great questions."

Gallagher said he has a "particular focus" on the teenage voter because, while working as chief counsel to Sen. John Tunney of California in the early 1970s, he helped implement legislation that lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.