Senate race getting contentious

Kirsten Searer

Friday, Oct. 15, 2004 | 10:53 a.m.

In retrospect Sen. Ray Shaffer, R-North Las Vegas, admits it probably wasn't the best idea to call his opponent a "piece of you-know-what" on a recent public television debate.

It just that the two opponents "got into a little, I don't know, angry mood," Shaffer said.

"I probably shouldn't have been as nasty as I was," he said. "That's not the real me. But he was pounding on me for everything. I couldn't get a word in. It was just out of hand."

The buildup to the moment was long coming.

The 72-year-old Shaffer earned the wrath of the Democratic Party -- and especially Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas -- when he defected to the Republican Party in 2002.

Titus has pegged this seat her number one priority and is following through by helping to raise money to unseat Shaffer, who has served in the State Senate for five terms.

"We're going to beat Shaffer big time," Titus said.

In 2002 Shaffer switched from the Democratic Party to the Republicans to win the chairmanship of the Senate Transportation Committee, a move that might prove fatal in a district with a 6,700-person Democratic voting edge.

Then, at the tail end of the contentious tax debate of 2003, Shaffer took off to Hawaii for a conference -- and so that his wife could make a pre-paid cruise -- while legislators cast the final votes on the tax package.

Shaffer said he knew the tax package had enough votes to pass, despite what he thought of it.

And he said he doesn't feel he let down his constituents, pointing out that he had served in the 120-day regular session and most of the two special sessions.

"I gave them 60 days beyond the 120 days," Shaffer said. "If that isn't dedication, I don't know what is."

With such a strong Democratic advantage in the district, Titus said Shaffer could have kept the seat as a Democrat.

"He should have stayed a Democrat, he would have held that seat forever," she said. "Or he should have stayed a Republican and maintained some credibility."

Shaffer said he thought about declining to run, but Sharon Shaffer, interrupted him and said, "for about two seconds."

"One of these days I've got to get out of there, but I've got several issues that are unsettled, hanging," Ray Shaffer said.

All of this, of course, made many Nevada politicians smell blood. Several Assembly members were rumored to be looking at the seat, but Lee, a three-time assemblyman who ran unsuccessfully for state controller in 2002, jumped into the Democratic primary.

So did Shaffer's wife, Sharon, and Mike Schaefer, a disbarred Las Vegas attorney. Two other candidates also threw in their names.

Lee emerged unscathed from the Democratic primary, but put out several campaign fliers questioning Sharon Shaffer's intent to win the race, something that angered the couple.

Ray Shaffer has shown since that he's not willing to give up his seat without a fight.

He said he wants to strengthen regulations on school administrators, which he said often benefit from a good 'ole boys network. And he said he hopes to tweak the tax package passed last year, saying the gaming industry doesn't pay its fair share of taxes.

"You've got to be kidding, they've never paid enough taxes," he said.

Republicans have helped Shaffer raise money and organize canvassers, but Shaffer's fate has largely been left up to him and his wife, who are coordinating the campaign.

"It's obvious that this is Sen. Titus' top target," said Joe Brezny, director of the Republican Senate Caucus. "We've known all along this was going to be a tough race for us. But Sen. Shaffer is well-known in his district and I think we're going to see a lot of party crossover on election day."

Lee argues that Shaffer is an ineffective senator who hasn't help coordinate state and local government to energize North Las Vegas.

"For too long, the folks in our area in Senate District 1 have been overlooked," Lee said. "I believe the next senator in our area needs to provide a better vision."

He often touts his record of growing up in North Las Vegas, starting out as a dishwasher and building two successful construction companies.

Lee also promises to bring "respect and responsibility" to the district.

Shaffer has concentrated much of his efforts in past months in drawing up a proposal to store the nation's nuclear waste in an underground repository in New Mexico instead of Nevada.

The site contains a thick layer of rock salt that would better hold nuclear waste than Yucca Mountain, which would be at risk because of a fault line under the mountain, Shaffer said.

Beyond Shaffer's new political party, Lee has hammered the senator for being eager to accept free meals from Carson City lobbyists. Shaffer argues that lobbyists don't take "stupid" legislators out to dinner, proving that he is in the loop of things.

"That's the way we look at it," Shaffer said. "Maybe my opponent isn't brilliant enough, smart enough, doesn't have enough sense to talk to a lobbyist."

The 49-year-old Lee, who said he would take his wife and seven children with him to Carson City, argues that he did his business as an assemblyman "in the light of day, never over cocktails."

It's one of several jabs flying, and certainly won't be the last.

Shaffer and his wife remain close after she lost the Democratic primary. Some political watchers say that Sharon Shaffer does much of the work for her husband, and he doesn't deny it.

"We went into the marriage as a partnership and it's still the same way," Shaffer said.