Heller bringing in funds to run for Gibbons’ post

Benjamin Grove

Tuesday, April 19, 2005 | 11:15 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Nevada Secretary of State Dean Heller, who intends to run for Jim Gibbons' congressional seat, made a flurry of phone calls to donors in the last few days of March to net a total of nearly $120,000 in the first three months of the year, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission.

The Republican hired veteran campaign manager Mike Slanker's firm, November Inc., late last month, but had done little fundraising before a three-day binge, Slanker said.

"It was all on phone calls -- asking for checks," Slanker said.

Heller likely would face Gibbons' wife, Dawn, who is plotting a bid to run for her husband's seat. She will run if her husband runs for governor, said Jim Denton, her political consultant. Dawn Gibbons raised nearly $101,000 in the first quarter.

The former Reno assemblywoman had about $59,000 on hand after expenses, according to FEC records. Dawn Gibbons has traveled to all 17 counties in Nevada since she announced her intentions in January, Denton said.

Rep. Gibbons, R-Nev., who is likely to run for governor, raised about $59,000 for his congressional campaign fund -- but also raised an untold sum for his governor's race.

Gibbons essentially has two funds, one for an unlikely re-election campaign, and the "Friends of Jim Gibbons Steering Committee" for a potential governor's race.

State rules do not require that the money raised for that fund be reported until the end of the year, and steering committee manager Robert Uithoven declined to say how much had been raised.

"Our fundraising efforts have been geared toward Friends of Jim Gibbons Steering Committee," Uithoven said.

Gibbons also has nearly $350,000 cash on hand in his congressional re-election account, which by law he can use for a governor's race.

In other campaign fundraising:

Reid also maintains the Searchlight Leadership Fund, a political action committee he uses to raise money for Democratic candidates.