Pahrump solidly in Sharron Angle’s corner

By Steve Kanigher

Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2010 | 2 a.m.

In the tip of rural southern Nye County, where brothels are legal, tumbleweed rolls free and a hungry traveler can still get a full rack of baby back ribs for $9.99, the towns folk made it clear on Tuesday they don’t have much use for Democrats Harry Reid and Rory Reid.

Enter the well-stocked WR Sporting gun shop and manager Walt Rubio will give you an earful about why Harry, the Senate majority leader, should be retired. Rubio took aim at Reid’s opposition to the proposed high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas in Nye County. That opposition, Rubio and many of his neighbors say, has been a job-killer in Pahrump.

“He killed Nye County because of Yucca Mountain,” Rubio said. “That was our biggest asset.”

Customer William Aldrich agreed. Both men first met Reid’s Republican opponent, Sharron Angle, at a candidates’ forum last spring and came away impressed.

“I appreciate what Reid has done for the Second Amendment but he screwed that up by supporting President Obama,” Aldrich said. “Reid doesn’t reach across the aisle. It’s time for a change. Sharron Angle will be in her first term so she won’t do any damage. I’m impressed that she knows the immigration issue and that she’s not afraid to speak her mind.”

Speaking one’s mind is not a problem for Bud Romick, owner of the 7R Equine western wear and tack shop. He voted for Angle because “she has her feet on the ground.”

“We have to get rid of Reid,” Romick said. “He’s done nothing but put us deeper in debt. Reid and Obama want all this health care but it’s going to cost everyone money and it’ll cause socialism.”

The rare Reid support crew could be spotted in a tent outside the Bob Ruud Community Center, joining other tents calling for support of Nye County candidates. Former Nye County School Board member Dennis Keating said both Reids have made repeated trips to Pahrump and would do more for education than their Republican opponents, which in the case of gubernatorial candidate Rory Reid was Brian Sandoval.

But Keating conceded that Democrats registration-wise were easily outgunned by Republicans in Pahrump and that supporting the Reids represented an uphill battle.

“If Harry Reid loses, I would attribute it to the uneducated voter who listens to media ads but doesn’t dig deeper to get to the truth,” Keating said.

More often than not, though, it was easy to find someone who voted against Rory Reid because they saw him as “his father’s son.”

Voter Fred Holm sided against the younger Reid because he is in “the good old boys’ network, and we have to get away from that.”

Down Pahrump’s main drag, Phantom Fireworks manager Laurie Orman sat in a store with plenty of fireworks but no customers to light them.

She wasn’t sure who she was going to vote for, and was considering the ballot option of “none of these candidates.”

Not that she didn’t care. She just didn’t like either candidate.

“My business is down 35 percent over the past two years,” she said. “What we need to do is make it easier for businesses to come here.”