Friday, June 17, 2005 | 9:39 a.m.
Republican Sharron Angle is already painting herself as the most conservative candidate in a sure-to-be-heated Republican primary for Congress.
Angle spent time this week touting her endorsement from the Club for Growth, an anti-tax group that infuses money into congressional races nationwide.
Its president, former Congressman Pat Toomey, said the group gave Angle its first endorsement of the 2006 election cycle largely because she is seen as an independent thinker.
Her anti-tax reputation will play well in a crowded Republican primary, Toomey said.
"There's a very, very strong anti-tax sentiment, certainly among Republican primary voters," he said.
The early activity in the race indicates it might be one of the more interesting of the 2006 election.
Congressional District 2, which has about 10,000 voters in Clark County and encompasses the rest of the state, is expected to be vacated in 2006 by incumbent Jim Gibbons, who is planning to run for governor.
Also in the mix are Secretary of State Dean Heller and Gibbons' wife, former Assemblywoman Dawn Gibbons.
While both Heller and Gibbons are well-known as successful campaigners, Angle's entrance into the race brings a whole new dynamic.
She has been staunchly anti-tax, and was the loan legislator to vote against a property tax relief measure this session.
The measure caps property tax increases on single family homes at 3 percent and businesses at 8 percent, but instead of voting for it, Angle said she plans to push a petition to create a Proposition 13 in Nevada again in 2006.
"People are not fooled by the property tax reform that was supposedly put through the Legislature," Angle said. "They understand that's an unconstitutional measure and it offers them no guarantees.
"Even though they're glad they got some immediate relief, they're ready to push forward with property tax restraint," she said, referring to the Proposition 13 push.
She also has been a consistent "no" vote on spending increases in the Legislature.
Toomey said the Club for Growth likes that independence.
"We like a person who's going to stand on principle," he said. "We think we need more people like that in Washington."
On Thursday Angle pointed to her vote against Assembly Bill 135, which would have increased assessments on insurance companies to pay for additional work to investigate insurance fraud.
Gov. Kenny Guinn vetoed the bill, and Assembly leaders later concurred that the increase wasn't needed.
"I feel like I actually ushered in a more constrained Legislature this time just by having that only no vote, because it did embarrass the rest of the Legislature," Angle said.
Angle admits that she has annoyed Democratic leadership in the Assembly so much that they declined to pass a single one of the 16 bills she introduced this session.
Just eight of the bills even received a hearing, she said.
And already, representatives of Gibbons and Heller are saying that Angle isn't as conservative as she says.
While she was a consistent "no" vote in the Legislature this year, she also voted along with massive spending bills.
"Fiscal conservatives don't vote for the largest budget in state history," said Mike Slanker, a campaign consultant for Heller.
Angle said she had to vote for some spending bills because they were attached to funding she puts at a priority.
"There are legitimate reasons for government to spend money -- highways, education, safety, police and homeland security," she said.
"...You weigh it," she said. "You say, 'is there more good stuff here than bad stuff?' And if there is, than I'll go with the good stuff and hopefully we can deal with the bad things that are there."
Slanker pointed out that when Heller was in the Assembly in 1991, he voted against tax increases and the overall budget, which at the time was the largest in state history.
"That's a fiscal conservative," Slanker said. "That's what you do when you're a fiscal conservative, you don't vote for bigger government."
Angle and Toomey are already picking on Dawn Gibbons' vote in favor of the $833 million in tax increases in 2003.
"She (Dawn Gibbons) has a liberal tax-and-spend voting record that I think is out of step with most Republicans, and certainly out of step with the ideas that give us maximum economic growth," Toomey said.
Gibbons eventually voted for the tax increases because the budget stalemate was holding up school funding, said Jim Denton, her campaign consultant.
In a statement recently released to media, Gibbons said, "I stood up for our kids and our voters and I don't apologize for that."
That was after she supported smaller tax increases than the one proposed by Guinn, Denton said.
Angle's "no" votes might not all play well with voters, Denton said.
He pointed out that Angle voted against money for the Millennium Scholarship, against ethics reforms and against a bill that will allow Nevadans to purchase cheaper Canadian prescription drugs from state-approved pharmacies.
While Republicans have a nearly 50,000-voter advantage in the district, Adrienne Elrod, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said Democrats are seeking a viable candidate for the seat, especially because it will likely have no incumbent.
"It is definitely a race that we are targeting and will be very focused on in the months ahead," she said.
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