Nevada campaigns off to clean start

A sign of the new style was apparent when Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev., recently aired his first Senate campaign commercials on television in northern Nevada.

"Harry Reid and I have worked hard to keep nuclear waste out of Nevada and we've been successful," said Ensign in his pitch.

"Harry's a good guy, but we disagree on many issues," Ensign said of his seeming buddy - the 12-year incumbent he wants to defeat in this fall's U.S. Senate race.

Two-term incumbent Frankie Sue Del Papa had a similar reference to her attorney general opponent, Las Vegas lawyer Scott Scherer, calling him a "good guy" as she filed for re-election.

There's good reason for candidates to offer a little praise for their opponents. Both the state Legislature and the Supreme Court have adopted proposals designed to prevent negative campaigning.

Acting on Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio's request, the 1997 Legislature passed a law that sets up the Ethics Commission as a truth squad for election campaigns. Candidates who maliciously lie about opponents can be fined as much as $30,000.

Acknowledging they've been the worst offenders in recent campaigns, Supreme Court justices followed Raggio's lead and created the Committee on Judicial Ethics and Election Practices.

The panel will decide whether advertisements and statements made by judicial candidates are appropriate.

To file complaints about questionable campaigning, candidates must write either the Ethics Commission or the Commission on Judicial Discipline. Both commissions have offices in Carson City.

Raggio, R-Reno, is confident the changes will lead to less negative campaigning.

"It should have a chilling effect on people," he said. "I think they will be a little more careful about what they say about an opponent."

But Justice Cliff Young, the primary force behind the judicial election panels, isn't as sure.

"It's early," Young said. "Everybody is a nice guy. Wait until the polls come out."

"In judicial races you can't campaign on a platform, so you get all the negative things you can get on your opponent," he says. "Then the spin doctors come in. Ultimately it becomes a contest between the spin doctors."

Young also questions whether the judicial election panels constitutionally can stop negative speech. Courts traditionally have held that campaign statements are protected as free speech.

"The courts have come down against any restrictions," he said. "So I'm a little cynical. But we have to give it a try."

Ethics Commission attorney Louis Ling is expected to ask the District Court in Carson City to confirm the law is constitutional.

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