Groups asks candidates to sign buck-stopper pledges

CARSON CITY - Nevada candidates are being asked to sign "buck-stopper" pledges to limit their campaign spending to $3.50 per registered voter for legislative races and $4 per voter for the governor's race.

The request Monday came from the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, Common Cause and the League of Women Voters.

"The buck-stopper will free candidates from the burden of continuous fundraising which means they will have more time to discuss issues," said Common Cause president Jim Hulse.

"We must curtail the cost of running for office. Otherwise only the wealthy or those indebted to the wealthy willbe able to afford to run," added Paul Brown of PLAN.

Brown also said several lawmakers have agreed to sign the pledges, including Assembly members Dennis Nolan, Kathy Von Tobel, Ellen Koivisto, Mark Manendo and Don Gustavson, and state Sen. Bob Coffin.

"The bottom line is candidates should win on their political abilities, not on their ability to raise huge sums of money," said Mary Albers of the League of Women Voters.

The pledge proponents said they'll name both the candidates who agree to the limits and those who don't, and won't hold those who sign the pledges to their promise if their opponents refuse to do the same.

An analysis by PLAN shows that the average cost per registered voter for winners of 1996 state Assembly races was $3.50, although some candidates spent twice that amount.

For state Senate contests in 1996, the winners' average was $3, and in the governor's 1994 race, the cost per registered voter for Gov. Bob Miller was just over $5.

Based on a current statewide voter registration of 850,518, a $4 cap in the governor's race would still allow a candidate to spend up to $3.4 million this year.

In the legislative contests, a cap of $3.50 would allow for campaign expenditures ranging from $20,202 in Assembly District 28 to $156,237 in Assembly District 4; and from $86,919 in Clark County's Senate District 4 to $422,195 in Clark's Senate District 5.

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