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Campaign manager Robert Uithoven whispers to Senate candidate Sue Lowden during a Lincoln Day lunch in Battle Mountain Saturday, February 20, 2010.
Sunday, April 4, 2010 | 2 a.m.
Harry Reid
Sun Coverage
Sun archives
- Harry Reid takes on Sue Lowden early, hoping labor is listening (3-14-2010)
- Tea Party candidate adds drama to Great Reid Hunt (3-7-2010)
- Tea Party candidate could siphon GOP votes in bid to remove Harry Reid (3-5-2010)
- Sue Lowden files for U.S. Senate seat to battle Harry Reid (3-1-2010)
- SEC filing: Sue Lowden cut jobs, got bonus (2-24-2010)
- Sue Lowden hates taxing and spending and bailouts (2-16-2010)
Of all the scheduled stops on Sue Lowden’s bus tour of rural Nevada, a Reno shopping mall is not on the list.
Having just charmed voters at the “Crossroads of the West” gun show, the Republican Party’s next great hope to unseat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is ensconced in a leather captain’s chair, feet up, Starbucks in hand, waiting on an aide to run an errand at a clothing boutique.
The tensions of her candidacy are clear: Lowden, a one-time Jersey Shore waitress, is trying to channel her working-class roots to connect with a conservative populism that rails against privileged elites, while she herself lives a life of wealth and luxury associated with the country club establishment. She and her husband are casino executives worth an estimated $50 million.
Lowden’s tour bus is hardly Scott Brown’s pickup truck.
The “Monaco Executive” comes complete with kitchen, shower and bed. An armed driver doubles as a bodyguard. Lowden’s face is meticulously rendered on the side of the bus, next to iconic Nevada imagery, including the Strip and Hoover Dam. She oversaw the detailing personally.
“I have a lazy left eye,” she said. “We had to touch it up a lot before we got it right.”
Other candidates have leaflets at events; Lowden has banners. Big banners.
In Winnemucca, while her rivals troll for votes at a nearly empty barbecue joint, Lowden sips a Manhattan and talks to business leaders — and prospective donors — at a Basque restaurant.
Nevada’s political elite get the message. Over the course of a two-day tour, Rep. Dean Heller and Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki visit the bus to wish her well.
In any other year, a candidate would highlight a lavishly funded campaign with establishment support — a way to put some distance between herself and 11 other Republicans vying to take on Reid in November. In 2010, it can be a liability. The Tea Party movement that’s animating the GOP primary here, although fractious, is defined in large part by its deep hatred of the political establishment. Lowden’s chief rival, Danny Tarkanian, is seeking traction by labeling her an entrenched insider.
Meanwhile, Reid’s campaign is making her balancing act more difficult. Recognizing she presents perhaps the most potent threat to Reid’s re-election, it isn’t waiting for GOP voters to weigh in. It’s launched an offensive, issuing near-daily attacks portraying Lowden as a greedy corporate chief who treated her employees poorly to boost the bottom line.
Similar to, different from Sarah Palin
On paper, Lowden is Senate Majority Leader Reid’s perfect foil. She’s an attractive woman adept at retail politics.
On a snowy Sunday in February, she was going all Sarah Palin at the gun show with the voters who will decide the GOP nomination.
Lowden had them at hello, but her concealed-carry permit didn’t hurt either.
She makes the rounds and poses for pictures. At one booth, Lowden, 58, picks up a tube top and flirts with the salesman.
“I bet they love this in Virginia City,” she said.
He laughs: “Yes, they do.”
She moves on to the holsters.
“A lot of these holsters make you look fat,” she said. “You don’t want to look fat while you’re carrying.”
In many ways, Lowden is Nevada’s answer to Palin.
Their profiles are strikingly similar: one-time beauty queens who got their starts in television news before embracing conservative politics and seeking office. Both connect through body language (smiles and winks), stick doggedly to message and revert to their reporter roots when under media fire by answering questions with questions. Lowden and Palin are self-described “hockey moms” and profess a love of shooting.
The Palin parallels, however, cut both ways.
The two share a propensity for gaffes when they go off script. For example, while talking to reporters about her casino company’s battles with the Culinary Union, Lowden falsely claimed that as a state senator she was the swing vote against a bill that would have overturned Nevada’s right-to-work law. No such bill ever existed.
Like Palin, Lowden shrugs off the errors with a smile, as if to say, “Everyone makes mistakes. Moving on.”
Still, their stories diverge in one crucial area. Palin rose from small-town mayor to Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate in part because of her image as a politician with the common touch — someone willing to get her hands dirty plucking salmon from the family fishing nets and shooting wolves, albeit from a helicopter.
Lowden, who loves to watch the Westminster Kennel Club dog show, could have a harder time convincing working-class Nevadans that she’s one of them.
To be sure, Lowden has decidedly humble roots. Her grandparents were Lithuanian immigrants who worked in Pennsylvania coal mines. She grew up in the small town of National Park, N.J., and was raised by a single mother. As a teenager and through college, she spent summers serving food at a fish fry on the New Jersey shore.
In 1973, Lowden won the Miss New Jersey crown and was second runner-up in the Miss America Pageant, using the scholarship money toward a master’s degree in human development. Despite marrying a wealthy casino owner, friends say Lowden still hunts for sales and splits sticks of gum.
But Lowden’s blue-collar background doesn’t square easily with her conservative politics. As a state senator, she fought for corporate tax breaks and sought to curb the power of labor unions. It was a Republican fervor few saw coming.
Political instinctsrevealed in ’92 race
Lowden likes to tell Republican crowds that this Senate race is a rerun of her first, and only successful, political campaign, albeit on a larger scale.
In 1992, she beat state Senate Majority Leader John “Jack” Vergiels in a heavily Democratic district.
Senate candidate Sue Lowden speaks to a Lincoln Day breakfast crowd in Lovelock while on a campaign swing through northern Nevada Sunday, February 21, 2010.
Lowden had made a name for herself as a TV reporter and anchorwoman in Las Vegas before trading her decadelong career in journalism for an executive suite at her husband’s casino company, Sahara Resorts Inc.
She attacked Vergiels out of the gate, targeting his votes on a $300 million tax package and a 300 percent pension increase for legislators. She also highlighted his connection to a penny-stock scheme that had been investigated by state regulators.
The killer instincts surprised friends and political pundits. They seemed to surprise Vergiels even more.
As the campaign heated up, he told a newspaper columnist, “She hasn’t learned yet to keep her mouth quiet ... She ought to get her research together and stop talking like everything’s a sound bite.”
But that was the strategy, even though the pension increase was reversed before it took effect and Vergiels wasn’t indicted in the securities investigation.
“We forgot people don’t care about the details,” a Democratic operative familiar with the campaign said. “With a smile and really taking some time to hit the high points, she could satisfy the questions of people at the door. She took up the task as if her life depended on it. She won, and she did it handily.”
Friends and associates knew little about her political leanings until that campaign. Lowden said she changed her registration from independent to Republican in the late 1980s because “I couldn’t take it anymore. I have a passion for right and wrong.”
What brought her off the fence is unclear, but her most recent political act before running for state Senate was touring Vietnam with Bob Hope and the USO in 1971.
Campaign worker Nick Vander Poel (L) talks with Sue Lowden and husband Paul Lowden on Sue's campaign bus during a stop in Reno while making a campaign swing through northern Nevada Sunday, February 21, 2010.
In the state Senate, she showed her conservative colors.
Lowden’s signature achievement in the 1993 session was an effort to privatize the state’s workers’ compensation system.
Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, Lowden and her husband were engaged in a labor war with the Culinary Union over its efforts to organize the Santa Fe, one of the couple’s four casinos.
Labor and management at the Santa Fe fought bitterly throughout 1993. The union won an election, 300-241, but the Lowdens challenged the results, claiming employees had been intimidated.
In Carson City, Lowden supported a proposal to remove union representatives from the workers’ compensation board. And the union attempted to frustrate her reform efforts and embarrass her during legislative hearings.
In one instance, a Santa Fe cook said he had been fired for testifying about working conditions at the casino. The company denied the charge, saying he had violated the casino’s tip rule.
In 1995, as the Lowdens continued to challenge the Santa Fe election results, she continued the battle against organized labor at the Legislature. She proposed an amendment requiring gaming-employee unions to undergo the same regulatory scrutiny as casino operators. The measure was a shot at the Culinary, which, under new leadership, was seeking to turn the page on its past affiliations with organized crime.
The following year, as Lowden ran for re-election, the Culinary launched a “So Long, Sue” campaign. The union backed Valerie Wiener, a former press secretary for Reid, and lobbed a vicious attack, saying Lowden opposed immunizations for children.
Labor leaders cited her support of a bill that would have eliminated a mandate for parents to vaccinate their children. At the time, Lowden said children were “dying from the shots themselves” amid a national scare, and that requiring immunizations is “the ultimate government intervention.”
Senate candidate Sue Lowden laughs with Vicki Kawelmacher from the Women's Shooting Academy at a gun show in Reno while on a campaign swing through northern Nevada Sunday, February 21, 2010.
She lost re-election by 9 percentage points.
Feeling the heat from multiple directions
In mid-March, Lowden and her husband, Paul, are holed up in the second-floor conference room of the Jones Vargas law firm with the Lowden legal archive — affidavits, correspondence, rulings and newspaper clippings spanning two decades.
The meeting is to counter the almost-daily attacks she’s taking from Reid and his team of researchers.
For a little more than a month, Reid’s campaign had been working to define Lowden, seeking to inflict a fatal wound — and failing that, soften her up for a general-election trouncing. Aides have scoured every personal and professional record. “Lowden’s casinos, a dangerous place to work,” read one withering news release.
All of this serves a simple campaign narrative: Lowden will do anything to make a buck. Within the past week, Reid’s campaign had painted her as a legislator who crafted tax policy to enrich her business and a homeowner who cheated workers out of payment for the construction of the $4 million estate.
Although weak, the attacks are nevertheless dangerous in a state struggling with some of the highest unemployment and foreclosure rates in the country.
So, Team Lowden was a bit testy. Campaign manager Robert Uithoven said Lowden would no longer publicly respond to the Reid camp’s charges.
“When Harry Reid is ready to come out and launch these attacks himself, we’ll have at it,” Uithoven said.
Lowden smiled and shrugged, then punched away at her BlackBerry, head down.
On one level, the move allows Lowden to grab the high ground in what’s expected to be one of the nastiest races in the country.
On another level, the episode shows Reid is getting under Lowden’s skin, if only by distracting her from a rigorous and competitive primary.
Lowden expected the Reid onslaught, but it appears her campaign wasn’t prepared for it this soon.
Instead of prepping for an impending debate with Tarkanian she was poring over files related to Reid’s attacks.
As the front-runner, Lowden is fighting two battles. Whether she can withstand the dual, scorched-earth assaults from Reid and Tarkanian is the race’s biggest question — one she shakes off with swagger.
“This is all winging it,” she said. “Throughout my life, I see a door cracked open and I’ve been getting through it.”
After long break from politics, a new GOP role
When the door closed on her career in the Legislature, with her failed re-election bid in 1996, Lowden immersed herself in business and family and put politics on the shelf.
On the campaign trail, Lowden emphasizes she’s the only candidate who knows what it’s like to make payroll.
Senate candidate Sue Lowden pauses while talking to attendees of a Lincoln Day lunch in Battle Mountain during a campaign tour of northern Nevada Saturday, February 20, 2010.
Over the past two decades, she has held various titles, first at Sahara Gaming Inc., then Archon Corp. Asked to cite her major corporate responsibilities, she said she oversaw workers’ compensation in 1992. Beyond that, her day-to-day role is less clear. In an interview, she said most of her work has involved marketing and public relations.
Michael Gaughan, a longtime casino operator who owns the South Point, summed up the prevailing industry view of the Lowdens: “Her husband was a hermit, and she was the one out front.”
Reid is mining this part of Lowden’s resume for his attacks, digging up a ream of workplace safety violations at four Lowden properties.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited the Lowdens’ companies more than 221 times over 20 years, resulting in more than $100,000 in fines.
Celeste Monforton, a workplace safety expert at George Washington University, said that for an industry not perceived as hazardous, the number and level of fines for the hotel and casino violations are notable. The largest fine appears to be a $17,500 penalty for a repeat violation at the Hacienda for failing to keep the floors free of nails, splinters and loose boards.
Lowden’s campaign dismisses the issue. Besides suggesting that some of the violations were the result of “union thuggery,” it cited a 1992 letter from Reid himself urging Illinois regulators to give Paul Lowden a gaming license. In the letter, Reid calls the Lowdens “great assets” to Nevada.
“When you build things of this magnitude, generate tax revenue and create thousands of private-sector jobs, putting it into context with others who have invested in this state, the Lowdens have always been solid, upstanding corporate citizens,” Uithoven said. “The fact is they were always able to maintain their business and gaming licenses.”
Lowden’s life changed in 2004, when she lost her teenage son, Will, to alcohol and drug addiction. It’s hard for her to talk about it. Over the course of two days of interviews, she broaches the subject a few times, unprompted — and then moves on.
After Will’s death, Lowden sank into a deep depression. Friends weren’t sure she would emerge.
Gradually, she recovered, inching back into politics. She held fundraisers for candidates and supported former Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt’s 2006 gubernatorial campaign, weighing in on strategy.
Sue Lowden waves goodbye to supporters as she leaves Elko during a campaign swing through northern Nevada Saturday, February 20, 2010.
“I saw the spark ignited back in her,” said Hunt, who has known Lowden since her TV days. “I realized she hadn’t skipped a beat.”
When Hunt lost the Republican primary, Lowden supported the winner, Jim Gibbons — and stood by him publicly after he was accused of assaulting a cocktail waitress in a Las Vegas parking garage.
Cheerleading in the rain is typical Lowden. She once told a friend that if a happiness gene exists, she had it.
Her optimism is the source of high praise and harsh criticism from Republican leaders and operatives who recruited her as party chairwoman in 2007.
That Lowden would embrace one of the most thankless jobs in party politics speaks volumes about her desire to get back into the game. The Nevada Republican Party was in debt and drifting aimlessly after years of dominance.
At the same time, Democrats were working to build a network of volunteers and activists in advance of their party’s early presidential caucus, with an eye toward Reid’s 2010 re-election campaign.
Lowden worked with Republican consultants to remain competitive.
But it was too little, too late. Democrats had a yearlong head start, and Lowden had little to no help from the state’s top Republicans.
All told, in 2008 Nevada Democrats raised $3.5 million compared with the GOP’s $695,535.
But you won’t hear any of that from Lowden, who presided over the party’s worst losses in memory, including a presidential landslide and the loss of a congressional seat and control of the state Senate.
“They were really difficult years,” Lowden said. “We didn’t have a Harry Reid leading the charge to persuade companies to help us with our caucus.”
To a certain extent, party insiders say Lowden did the best she could with a bad hand. Some operatives, though, questioned her skills as a manager, blaming her for failing to build even a skeletal network of precinct captains and ground troops for Election Day.
Sue Lowden talks with Jay Elquist during a stop at Cowboy Joe in Elko while campaigning on the Lincoln Day circuit in northern Nevada Saturday, February 20, 2010.
Some say she squandered the opportunity to cultivate the GOP grass roots during the state party’s aborted 2008 convention, when, faced with an uprising from Rep. Ron Paul supporters, she recessed without selecting delegates to the national convention. In a strange twist, an unopened ballot box was discovered in a Reno casino cage last year. It’s an event that rank-and-file Republicans haven’t forgotten.
A case can also be made that Lowden’s candidacy reflects her failure as party chairwoman to develop talent. When Reps. Dean Heller and Jon Porter passed on the chance to take on Reid, she entered the race, dismissing a crop of other candidates.
“I didn’t think anyone else could beat Harry Reid,” she said.
Extreme right wing a factor in Nevada politics
At the gun show, Lowden works the receptive audience.
“Harry Reid has pissed off a lot of people,” one man says. “And Nancy Pelosi, I wouldn’t pee on her if she were on fire in the street.”
Lowden smiles, hands the man a pamphlet and moves on.
She chats with a vendor about a “fair tax,” before he offers this:
“I was going to tell you Harry Reid was here 45 minutes ago. Then you would ask me, ‘Where is he now?’ And I would say, ‘He’s laying down in the parking lot.’ ”
The man laughs with gusto, the image of a bullet-riddled U.S. senator hanging in the air.
Lowden flashes a beauty-pageant smile and makes an awkward exit.
The exchanges illustrate the delicate line she walks, appealing to the Republican base — including the active fringe — while recognizing that each step to the right takes her further from the politics of a general election.
Few issues provoke more anger among Tea Party members than the Bush-era bank bailout. And Lowden has tried to have it both ways, echoing her attempt to be both establishment and grass-roots candidate.
Dr. Patricia Wright uses Sue Lowden's back to write down contact information at Cowboy Joe in Elko Saturday, February 20, 2010 during Lowden's campaign tour of Lincoln Day events in Northern Nevada.
In January, she seemed to espouse an appreciation for the nuances of the financial crisis and congressional decision-making.
“It’s easy to say, ‘No, I wouldn’t have voted for it,’ ” she told a Northern Nevada newspaper. “But people were panicked, we were facing collapse — that’s what they were saying. It’s easy to say from a distance, ‘I would have voted no,’ but I can’t do that.”
Indeed, the facts were on her side. Many mainstream economists says the injection of capital into major financial institutions prevented the collapse of the financial system.
As Reid’s campaign points out, her casino company appears to have benefited, if indirectly, from the bailout, receiving a $29 million line of credit in 2008 from Colonial Bank, which later received $550 million in federal assistance through the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Tarkanian, sensing an opening, claimed Lowden supports socialism.
Lowden responded by walking back her comments, saying that they were part of an “intellectual conversation” with the reporter and that she would not have voted for the bailout, period. In an interview, she went further, saying that the financial meltdown was the result of too much government regulation, not too little.
How this dance plays with the Tea Party crowd is unclear, but Lowden hopes to win its support.
“I think they’re good for the country,” she said of the Tea Party movement. “We’ll see if they’re good for me.”
typical liberal tone to this article.
liberal + rich = good.
conservative + rich = evil.
ensign and lowden...
could you imagine...
would be the dumbest senatorial pair of any state in the national...
a couple of snot nosed spoiled rich folks who are completely out of touch with the average joe...
pathetic...
absolutely pathetic...
i wonder...
is lowden running because the economy is in the crapper and her casino business is down???
Just what Nevada needs 2 casino owner Senators. (Ensign put on front as a Veterinarian, his partner ran the business)
Just what we need to send the message of "diversification."
How did the Lowdens get a big loan to buy a casino, with no experience in that industry. (other than having connections to New Jersey)
What about the phoney stock deal that was to channel money to Lowden's brother and son, which drew the ire of other investors? Is that where the son was going to get the money to "party?"
The Sun is not bias.
Just the other day, they did a story on Ried.
Man was it a hard hitting piece of journalism.
Now, this article is a puff piece and really is a campaign ad for Lowdewn.
(I hope you guys see my attempt to make fun of the very bias Sun and realize that my two sentences above are the exact opposite of what happened.)
The Sun is not bias one single bit.
Sue, if the bailout was necessary, why not just re-elect Harry who at least has some clout? Harry already did the "gun" thing before you. And was her "candidate development" responsible for Ensign? Hmm. Guess she can just lower the return on the slots [she must have learned something in the family business] and hope for the best.
It's folks like Lowden & her husband who have destroyed the middle-class in this country!
Hey Birdiedreamin: They both could not be any worse then those two wack-jobs that represent your state of California.
LOWDEN ON BAILOUTS:
Lowden 2010:
"All she said is it's easy for people to (play) Monday morning quarterback (for) votes," Uithoven said. "It's easy for him and others to say they would have voted no. But Sue Lowden is not willing to say it was an easy vote for (Congress)." (LAS VEGAS SUN/Jan. 20, 2010
Reality:
NEVADA APPEAL/Jan. 17, 2010 --
Lowden had different reactions to the bank bail-out legislation and the stimulus package.
On bail-out spending: "It's easy to say, no, I wouldn't have voted for it. But people were panicked, we were facing collapse -- that's what they were saying. It's easy to say from a distance I would have voted no, but I can't do that."
In hindsight, he (Uithoven) said TARP was bad legislation but that Lowden is focused on the future.
CHUCK MUTH (president of Citizen Outreach and Nevada Conservative blogger/Oct. 10, 2008
http://www.opinioneditorials.com/guestco...
"this deal (the bailout) stunk like yesterday's diapers"
It was the government's way of calling the "garbage man" a "sanitary engineer." It was, indeed, a con. The people didn't buy it -- but Congress did
It all came down to this fundamental philosophical question: Is home ownership a "right" or a "privilege"? Conservatives instinctively know the answer is "privilege." Home ownership is something to be earned. You save enough money for a down payment and establish a credit record of trustworthiness.
QUESTION: Why can she give a definitive answer on the stimulus but not bailouts? In either case she was on the outside of Congress and did not have the full story. To say you can take a definitive position but not the other makes no sense.
LOWDEN ON BUSINESS:
Lowden 2010:
"fighting for your job is my job" (TV Ads)
Reality:
LAS VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL/Feb. 24, 2010 --
Sue Lowden's husband was awarded a $200,000 bonus from their casino company last year at a time when its work force in Laughlin was cut and matching worker 401(k) contributions were stopped.
The work force at the Archon-owned Pioneer Hotel & Gambling Hall in Laughlin dropped from 459 people in September 2008 to 353 people in September 2009. In April 2009, it stopped its 25 percent match of employee contributions to the company 401(k) program.
Paul Lowden, the company president, collected a $550,000 salary and a $200,000 bonus in 2009, and the same in 2008, according to the company report. Sue Lowden, who is executive vice president, secretary and treasurer, was paid a salary of $138,000 in 2009 and did not collect a bonus. In 2008, her salary was $136,182, plus a bonus of $6,797.
LAS VEGAS SUN/Feb. 25, 2010 --
Washington -- Republican Sue Lowden's company gave her husband a $200,000 bonus last year -- bringing the couple's combined paycheck to nearly $1 million -- even as it slashed more than 100 jobs and eliminated the employee savings match, according to an annual report.
The company cut its workforce by 25 percent in 2009, eliminating 106 jobs and doing away with the company match for employees' 401(k) savings plans. The savings plan was costing the company $67,000 a year.
While her husband received the $200,000 bonus for two years in a row, Lowden said he had not received a salary increase since 1996 and had turned down additional stock options. Her pay has steadily increased.
LAS VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL/Jun. 21, 2005 --
Archon Corp. diluted minority shareholders' interests by giving unjustified bonuses to relatives of majority shareholder Paul Lowden.
In the complaint, filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, D.E. Shaw & Co. claim that Lowden, who is also Archon's board chairman, gave bonuses worth $4 million each to close relatives to the detriment of minority shareholders.
Last month, Archon granted Paul Lowden's son, Chris, and his brother, David, options to purchase 150,000 shares for $1 per share, effectively amounting to a combined bonus package of $8 million, SEC filings show.
However, they confirmed D.E. Shaw's claim that bonuses in the $4 million range for employees who are not senior executive officers are very rare for firms capitalized at less than $200 million.
LOWDEN ON ETHICS:
Lowden 2010:
"I was a state senator in this very difficult time of right to work," Lowden said in an interview. "You know, was it going one way or another? And it went right through the Assembly. It passed that the state would not be a right-to-work state. And I stopped it in the Senate" (RENO GAZETTE JOURNAL/Mar. 15, 2010)
Reality:
(RENO GAZETTE JOURNAL/Mar. 15, 2010)
The only problem? There never was such a bill, and there never was such a vote, which Lowden acknowledged later when pressed for specifics.
"I don't even know what she's talking about," said D. Taylor, secretary-treasurer of Culinary Local 225 who was involved in the fight to unionize the Santa Fe. "I guess that's a bill that's all in her mind".
Unable to find any bill that matched Lowden's description, the Reno Gazette-Journal asked her to clarify her remarks. She admitted she had been wrong in her re-telling of the 1995 session.
Admits misstatement: "I absolutely want to clarify that," she said. "We've gone over the records meticulously, which maybe I should've done before I said anything. It was my vivid recollections of so many close votes. That's how I remembered it, but the record doesn't show it."
LOWDEN ON REID:
Lowden 2010:
Lowden says her positions opposite of Reid's to fix the country (RECORD COURIER/Jan. 15, 2010)
Reality:
LAS VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL/Oct. 1, 2009
" (Lowden) former Reid supporter "... In the 1980s she and her husband, casino owner Paul Lowden, donated $8,000 to Reid over several election cycles.
RECORD COURIER/Jan. 15, 2010
Describing Nevada as a "center right" state, Republican Senate front-runner Sue Lowden says she will replace Harry Reid in the U.S. Senate by appealing to a broad spectrum of Nevadans, not just a few groups on the right.
She said she supported Reid in the past when, "he was a blue dog Democrat."
NOTE: "Blue Dog Democrat" is a term referencing members of the Blue Dog Coalition. The coalition began in 1994 during the 104th Congress. The Blue Dog Coalition describes itself as a group of moderate-to-conservative Democrats committed to financial and national security, favoring compromise and bipartisanship over ideology and party discipline. There is no evidence or records showing that Harry Reid was ever a part of the Blue Dog Coalition.
LOWDEN ON ABORTION:
Lowden 2010:
In 2009, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate named Sue Lowden told a conservative publication, Human Events, that Roe v. Wade was a "bad decision." (Las Vegas Sun/Dec. 16, 2009)
Lowden insisted her evolution is personal and not political, providing me with a lengthy statement and declining to speak on the record beyond it. "I am pro-life and I will defend life as a U.S. senator," the statement began. (Las Vegas Sun/Dec. 16, 2009)
Reality:
LAS VEGAS SUN/May 18, 1996
Joining Ernaut in opposing an abortion ban: Las Vegas Assemblywoman Deanna Braunlin, state Sens. Kathy Augustine and Sue Lowden of Las Vegas,
Lowden and Hettrick said the national party ought to follow Nevada's lead and take abortion out of the platform.
LAS VEGAS SUN/Dec. 16, 2009
In 1993, a GOP state senator named Sue Lowden expressed to a reporter support for Roe v. Wade on the 20th anniversary of the decision.
If circumstantial evidence is to be believed, Lowden is easily convicted of not one, but perhaps two acts of political convenience, tacking left when it was advantageous and then shifting right when the race called for it.
But her comment about not standing on the Senate floor to salute Roe v. Wade is disingenuous because other senators in favor of abortion rights were caught off-guard by then-Minority Leader Dina Titus' call for everyone to stand.
RECORD COURIER/Jan. 15, 2010
"I voted for choice in 1990."
1992 Candidate Questionnaire /Nevada Roll Call/ Christian Coalition
When asked the question if she would "Prohibit abortion except when the mother's life is endangered" her response was "OPPOSED".
LOWDEN ON TAXES:
Lowden 2010:
As a U.S. Senate candidate, Sue Lowden signed a pledge to oppose "any and all tax" increases. As a Republican party official, she denounced mandatory fees as "a tax by another name." (LAS VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL/Jan. 23, 2010)
Reality:
LAS VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL/Jan. 23, 2010
But as a state senator 17 years ago, Lowden voted to impose taxes and fees on things from slot machines to water distribution. She also voted for changes to an employment tax that increased revenue an estimated $7.9 million, a vote her campaign now says wasn't a tax increase but a "matter of fairness."
And it was in a Jan. 14, 2009, letter to Republican legislators that Lowden, then chairwoman of the state Republican Party, characterized mandatory fees as "a tax by another name." Yet several times in 1993, during her first session in the Legislature, Lowden voted to impose higher taxes or fees on everything from limited liability corporations to water distribution to slot machines.
Lawrence, who reviewed descriptions of the bills in question from the Nevada Legislative Appropriations Report, said at least four of the bills Lowden voted for could be clearly classified as either a tax increase or imposition of a fee that's akin to a tax.
LOWDEN ON YUCCA MOUNTAIN:
Lowden 2010: For example, candidate Sue Lowden, the former state party leader, opposes Yucca as a storage site. But she is open to accepting nuclear waste into the state as part of a "state-of-the-art laboratory" on par with Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico or Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California to research energy alternatives. (LAS VEGAS SUN/Jan. 30, 2010)
Reality:
LAS VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL/Oct. 1, 2009
Lowden says while she was a state senator she voted in favor of a resolution against the project and testified in congress in opposition. "I am clearly on the record being against it," she said.
POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO DEMOCRATS -- SUE/PAUL LOWDEN
Paul to Reid, Harry (D), $1,000, 7/21/95
Paul to Reid, Harry (D), $1,000, 7/21/95
Paul to DNC, $2,000, 9/4/92
Paul to Bilibray, James H (D), $1,000, 6/1/92
Suzanne to Bilibray, James H (D), $1,000, 6/30/91
Paul to Bilibray, James H (D), $1,000, 6/30/91
Paul to Miller, George (D), $500, 6/26/91
Paul to Bilibray, James H (D), $1,000, 10/12/90
Suzanne to Bilibray, James H (D), $1,000,12/19/98
Paul to Bilibray, James H (D), $1,000, 12/19/98
Paul to Reid, Harry (D),$1,000, 7/13/89
Paul to Reid, Harry (D),$1,000, 7/13/89
Paul to Reid, Harry (D),$1,000, 7/13/89
Suzanne to Reid, Harry (D), $1,000, 7/13/89
Suzanne to Bilibray, James H (D), $500, 8/25/88
Paul to Bilibray, James H (D), $500, 8/25/88
Suzanne to Bilibray, James H (D), $1,000, 7/16/87
Paul to Bilibray, James H (D), $1,000, 7/16/87
Suzanne to Reid, Harry (D), $1,000, 9/14/86
Paul to Reid, Harry (D), $1,000, 9/2/86
Paul to Reid, Harry (D), $1,000, 9/2/86
Suzanne to Reid, Harry (D), $1,000, 8/31/84
Suzanne to Reid, Harry (D), $1,000, 8/31/84
Paul to Mondale, Walter (D), $500, 9/2/83
Paul to Reid, Harry (D), $1,000, 7/28/83
Paul to Democratic Congress. Campaign Comm., $1,000, 7/28/83
Paul to Cannon, Howard (D), $1,000, 6/19/82
Paul to Reid, Harry (D), $1,000, 1/19/82
Paul to Carter, Jimmy (D), $1,000, 1/8/80
Info from www.newsmeat.com
This woman is a great American success story who should not receive one vote from anyone with a conscience. Anyone who is anti union is anti American.
To those of you who have the day off, reasonable vacation pay, decent wages, and company provided health care this should be obvious.
But it isn't. Republicans eat whoever and whatever they can. They are on their way to making America into a carcass that no one will recognize.
I encourage all good Americans living in Nevada to not vote for any republicans in this years primaries or general elections.
Sue Lowdon seems like a real nice person, and genuine to boot. I am sure most republicans were too at one point. Now they are a disease.
Happy Easter.
Miner...
Thank you.
Boy, that is one ugly picture....
2 words; SELF SERVING.
I bet good money that ninergold works on one of the dozens of Reid's staff.
Reid does good stuff.
He supported Nevada's Ban on Gay marriage.
He voted for DOMA which means Nevada can ignore gay marriages from other states.
Good for Reid....he must be one of those bigoted anti-gays that libs talk about.
He suppose to be pro-life but he is a phony on that because he voted for pro-abortion bills.
Sgt. Rock - HELL NO!!! I just hate soundbites, fluff and dishonesty. (i.e. Sue Lowden).
www.tark2010.org
Typical Sun piece. Biased and liberal. They even manage to sneak in a picture of Harry Reid next to a story on Sue Lowden.
Basically, the Sun is a left-wing tabloid.
I agree with SgtRock, ninergold works for the Harry Reid sinking ship.
Hopefully Lowdon will not get the nomination. Frankly Nevada will surely go to last on the federal government help list if Lowdon becomes the next Senator. I think a lot of out of Staters would love to see that. There is a reason out of State money is pouring into the State against Reid, and I don't think its 100% ideology driven campaign against Reid.
"is ensconced in a leather captain's chair, feet up, Starbucks in hand, waiting on an aide to run an errand at a clothing boutique."
Says it all. Airhead.
Niner - looks like you've got some passionate feelings going on. Good for you. Cited research instead of just generalizations. The records should speak for themselves no mater the party. Thanks for taking the time.
I think tvegas proves my point that the Sun does hit pieces on Republicans and puff pieces on Democrats.
I'm sure Harry Reid has people running errands for him too - never saw the Sun report on that though. Thanks tvegas for proving our point of the Sun's liberal bias.
If Sue Lowden is elected there are going to be dark days in Nevada. Senator Reid has a track record of doing great things for this state.
Rocky says:
"I think tvegas proves my point that the Sun does hit pieces on Republicans and puff pieces on Democrats".
I say:
If by this you mean the Sun is closer to the truth, I am in agreement with you. Truth be told, republicans do not deserve the vote of the American people anymore.
If the Sun started praising republicans they would be guilty of shoddy journalism, like the RJ.
Then where would you post?
C'mon Sue Lowden? she's about as dingy as Sarah Palin,wait maybe more so. The GOP is in trouble if this woman is thier only hope against Dirty Harry. As a republican I am embarassed that she represents the GOP's hope in the senate race. This woman is dangerous to the state of Nevada and has no business even running.
LV Sun, seriously I would like to make up my own mind about who to vote for in the upcoming elections, thank you Ninergold for doing the reporters job and reporting facts instead of just bias. Michael Mishak you should be ashamed.
I know a lot of people are looking forward to casting their votes for you Sue! Personally, I want to be the vote that fires the worst senator this state has ever seen, "Dirty Harry". It's time we bring respect back to this state instead of shame.
For the posters above, EVERYONE knows that you will never ever get real news from the Las Vegas Sun. It's a leftest paper (can't call it news, sorry) that really should be called The Las Vegas DNC voice. You will never change them as they are so dug-in in supporting any Progressive that they have lost their way. Double check any thing you read here with a credibile source as I do.
Good information niner, the stock deal that was going to funnel money (stock) to the brother and the son, was that the son who tragically OD-ed? In other words were they funneling him money so he could maintain his drug lifestyle?? If so, I can see why Lowden does not want to talk about it. Guess their was no "tough" love there? if that was the case.
(Sounds like the sad case of Benny Binion?)
Also why won't the Lowdens' answer the question of whether David Duke of Louisiana was given big time comps at their casino in the 90's??
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Of tax-welcher extremism, Abe Lincoln would have said;
"You can fool some of the people, ALL of the time"... ;^)
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Rich and stupid
ninergold might be a Tark, Chachias, or Angle supporter, or might be one of the Ron Paulians, who Lowden treated like yesterday's garbage.
Apparently the David Duke question is something the Lowdens are not going to answer.
ABH...
Anybody but Harry...
Sgt Rock attacks the messenger but the pea brain intellect doesn't have the capacity to deal with niner's information.
That dark picture of her and her handler looks like something out of a Godfather movie.
Hires illegals at her casinos.
"Similar to, different from Sarah Palin" I say mostly similar to Palin.
Folks, if she's worth 50 million dollars, who's interests do you think she's going to look after? Yours? Hardly. She will look out for big business and big casino's interest while kicking your liberty and freedom to the curb. Did you know that she shut down the Ron Paul GOP convention singlehandedly?
Similar to Palin ... well take a look at what Palin is all about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpUNd3S4N...
And for the record, I'm not for Reid either !
Harry's as good as replaced already. He'll put up a great fight, but the majority of Nevadans are d-o-n-e with him. He will join the likes of Tom Daschle this November.
I'm an under-30, Nevada native woman not affiliated with either party, and I'm voting for Sue Lowden.
It does not matter who wins the Senate races at a very real level. While there may be emotional satisfaction depending on your alliance the physical effect will be zero. The problems of our society are well beyond the capabilities of elected officials and mere politicians. If you wish to see wisdom from true leaders of our society have a look at the Ted Talks on Ted.com. If you want to know the physical reason Yucca Mountain was stopped cold see Bill Gates talk at TED this past Feb.
It is sad that all you get in terms of reporting in Nevada is the constant political this and that. Too bad the editors,publishers and reporters in Nevada are not capable of integrating science into their material. Science is the key to solving our problems but is almost entirely missing in all Las Vegas reporting. The endless political game and giving politicians our constant attention will only lead to further disaster for our society.
LVS, Do you have a portrait of 70 year old lifetime politician lapdog loser Harry Reid centered in the lobby of LVS campaign/pep rally central. just curious
@ Bradgore,
If you're referring to Gate's talk on reducing CO2 emission to zero, yeah, I've seen this. First off, it's impossible and impractical. Second, how come China is not participating in any reductions? Think about this.
But do you know what that is going to mean to you and me? Carbon taxes on everything from chicken and beef to water to EVERYTHING. These taxes will be collected and sent to the IMF and used to beat us over the head with whatever agenda the IMF and BIS wish to force upon the population of the earth. Research this.
@Money_is_dept. Yes and no. I am talking about Terra Power. The usage of our national nuclear waste that was destined for Yucca Mtn. but now looks like the fuel for our next generation reactors.
Also carbon taxes will have zero physical effect on atmospheric CO2. How could they? This is the political solution and is a useless political game.
The scientific solution to modulating CO2 has been around for over 20 years: plant more trees.
As a scientist I believe that Bill Gates idea is both practical and realistic. Any opinion will not matter. The calculations for the physics look promising enough to build a pilot plant. Thats what matters, This is why it is going to occur. Like all human progress it will happen regardless of mere politically based opinion.
@Bradgore,
I'm hearing ya. Glad you're smart enough to figure out that the whole carbon taxes thing is pure nonsense. You're right, it won't have an effect on atmospheric C02 levels, but will be a huge transfer of wealth (via tax) to persons like Al Gore and the like.
But Bill Gates isn't in this because he want's to make the world a nicer place.
I think this documentary is RIGHT up your alley. Skip to 1:15:50
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=...
mres:
"...the stock deal that was going to funnel money (stock) to the brother and the son, was that the son who tragically OD-ed?"
The article says her late son was named Will, who died in 2004. The RJ quote said the stock options were granted in May 2005 to son Chris and his brother David.
Money_is_Dept:
Thanks that was interesting.
Sure Bill Gates wants to make money but only he knows his inner motivation. One would have to give him some credit though for the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I believe last year he put out about $670 million for disease work on a global scale. He is focusing on diseases that are not interesting to capitalistic thinking due to the lack of a profitable "market". That does show a least a hint of good will. I suspect he is as rich as he is and able to do as much as he does because he listens to what the scientists have to say and not the politicians. One thing I am sure the founder of Microsoft knows very well is that there is more to wealth than money.
mred said
"That dark picture of her and her handler looks like something out of a Godfather movie."
Thanks! I thought I recognized the scene.
Anyone except Sue Lowdown.
Someone needs to tell the under 30 blonde that if she truly is "not affiliated with either party" she can't vote for Sue Lowden unless or until she wins the republican primary.
Nevada has closed primaries, only republicans vote in the republican primary. So she may never get her chance to vote for Sue.
If She is against Illegal Immigration, abortion, and gay- so called gay rights' she got my vote.
oh great another so called politician thats not in it for money, greed, or power. At least I can relate to Harry Reid. He knows how to do his own shopping, and knows what its like to have to work for what he has he didn't marry some rich guy thats a casino rep.
Yeah, if you think Reid does his own shopping then I got a bridge to sell you.
Reid has not held a private sector job for decades.
He has been living off the taxpayers.
His net worth is over six million dollars.
Sounds like he has done well while earning money in those "low-paying" jobs.
Reid got donations from the Lowdens, who were moderates until they had to be "conservatives" they will do what ever they have to do to get power.
@RSN -
Really? You mean to tell me I can't vote in the primary? Wow, you are just a fountain of kindergarten knowledge!
Of course I will only be able to vote for Lowden if she wins the primary. It's pretty much her contest to lose, especially in light of her deep pockets. Every poll has her as the biggest threat to Reid, and whoever has the best chance of defeating Harry will win the primary.
Yes Harry does his own shopping. When I was at a grocery store doing my shopping Reid passed me pushing a shopping cart just like I was buying groceries. He wasn't doing anything political just shopping like everyone else. He might be rich but he doesn't act like it. No I did not talk to him, I figured he needs his space just like anyone else does. Sad how he is pictured by the press and the conservatives.
Woo wee she no look like my aunt Jaunita at 58, i vote for her !
The reason this woman can't win the Republican nomination is simple, she has a record of flip-flops and cheating which the Reid campaign is already covering like white on rice. There is only one Republican candidate that is as clean as a whistle and that is Sharron Angle. Angle's problem is that she is an anti-establishment, true conservative who simply "wont play ball" with the Republican Party bosses. She's a free spirit who molds her votes by the Constitution not by the pressure of the big boys. She can run to the right of Harry on EVERY issue. Harry, on the other hand, can run to the right of Lowden on abortion and to the right of Tarkanian on 2nd Amendment issues. So, Republicans, your best shot is with Angle because Reid will make toast out of Lowden and Tarkanian.
Has she proposed one idea not already proposed by the NRSC? Nevada deserves better.
I've been politically active since before I could vote but I didn't actually learn the difference between a primary and general election in kindergarden.
What I learned in kindergarden was.......
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life - learn some and think some
and draw and paint and sing and dance and play
and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic,
hold hands, and stick together.
Be aware of wonder.
Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup:
The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody
really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even
the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die.
So do we.
And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books
and the first word you learned - the biggest
word of all - LOOK.
Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.
The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation.
Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.
(plagiarized from Robert Fulghum)
conservatives play to you nuts that have issues on immigration, abortion, welfare, unions, health care-guess what you've been hoodwinked, all they care about is more money for the same rich people. what the heck did bush do for you on your agenda- NOTHING
The Tea Partiers are just mad at the Republican party because they don't get invited to leather and bondage clubs. They're mad at Democrats because Democrats actually feel some obligation to do something to make the world a better place ... like making possible the Social Security checks that so many of the Tea Partiers live off of.
Hey MichaelHippie -
Just a reminder that many of those Tea Partiers who - according to you - ungratefully cash their Social Security checks every month paid dearly into that system. The money isn't just Magic Money plucked from the Federal Government Money Tree.
How dare they not think this is a "benefit!"
There is one other difference between Sarah and Sue. Sue has a brain. I believe losing Reid's clout would hurt Nevada but Sue Lowden is smart, hardworking, and fair. i may not subscribe to all her solutions or political beliefst Sue's character and integrity are what I wish we had in all our candidates for public office.
Unions will slam her because of her business history but Sue always believed the Unions did not protect the integrity of her employees, they merely had their hand in the pie. Without exception Sue has taken the high road. Let's debate her solutions for Nevada but Sue herself? Nope, she is leader for all of Nevada, just like Reid.
Blonde, Michael Green is mad cause he teachers in the minors; CSN. He would like to go teach at the big Leagues; UNLV. He posts on taxpayers dime.
are you kidding me--this is what the choices are---reid and lowden???? i hope that is not the final choice--two losers!
The social security system has always been based on more people paying in than taking out. Those taking their benefits are not simply with drawing what they paid in. At the beginning as well as now it takes multiples of workers and employers paying in to support someone receiving checks. The first person to ever receive a check received more than they paid in. The only ones that don't get back more than they pay in is the ones that die. Maybe that's what the death panels are for. You remember death panels don't you? If not just look under the heading nonsense from the right.
As ninergold points out, Sue has given thousands to Harry Reid's campaigns in the past.
What ninergold doesn't mention is that their favorite candidate, Danny Tarkanian, has donated to the campaigns of liberal congresswoman Shelley Berkley.
I'll be voting for the conservatives' conservative, Chad Christensen, for the US Senate race. Chad has been an assemblyman since 2002, has always voted conservative, and has never given campaign contributions to our enemies.
I'm tired of all of the RINOS! It's time for us to support a true conservative and pull the lever for Chad Christensen on Primary Day!
Sue Lowden says ""Everyone makes mistakes" and expects people to accept this. We do but we have to wonder how many employees in their four casinos have lost their jobs for making a mistake! With the significantly negative record their casinos have with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration it would appear they have been making a lot of mistakes; is this part of her "I have a passion for right and wrong?" With the lack of jobs and the number of people working beyond retirement age I would think raising social security retirement to age 70 would create an even greater unemployment problem. Many senior citizens are no longer able to do the jobs they have been at for years and elect or are forced to retire. If they are unable to continue working at age 62 to 65 and they can not draw social security until age 70 what would they do? In reality what she supports would have negative impacts on the working people of Nevada while her casinos stand to gain from her political actions!