Monday, Oct. 26, 1998 | 5:09 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- Nevadans have donated more than $5.7 million to federal political parties and candidates in the past two years, with the bulk of it earmarked for Republicans, according to data released by the Federal Election Commission.
Republicans have received $3.4 million from Silver State donors, distancing themselves from their Democratic rivals by more than $1 million, an analysis of the FEC data by the Center For Responsive Politics (CRP) shows. CRP is a non-partisan campaign finance reform organization.
The data -- compiled through Oct. 1 -- includes donations made by individuals to candidates and political parties. The data also tracks money donated by political action committees (PACs).
Not surprisingly, Las Vegas was the top metro area in the state, accounting for $4.8 million of the state's total donations. Reno donors chipped in more than $938,000.
Contributions from individuals to candidates account for more than $2.9 million, and donations to political parties equaled about $2.3 million. PACs gave both parties and their candidates an additional $452,000.
Paul Hendrie, a spokesman for CRP, said the gaming industry is mainly responsible for Nevada's rise in political giving.
"I think it is a relatively large amount of money coming from a state of that size," said Hendrie. "I think it reflects the wealth and the political importance of the gambling industry."
An article in the Oct. 12 edition of Business Week discusses the emergence of money the gaming industry gives to candidates and the rift it has caused within the Republican Party.
It highlights a Las Vegas fund-raiser in November 1997, where GOP lawmakers received $700,000 from gaming interests. CRP estimates that gaming interests throughout the country have given both parties $3.6 million this election cycle, up from about $1.2 million in 1992. More than half of the $3.6 million was donated to Republicans, according to the CRP.
The Business Week article also discusses how some GOP lawmakers, notably Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., and Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Mo., have been outspoken about their disdain for gaming.
The gaming industry, the Business Week article said, is concerned it might be targeted by Republican social conservatives, including Gary Bauer, president of the Family Research Council.
Bauer told Business Week, "Look what (gambling) does to families, the role of organized crime ... I think the American people would respect a party that said, 'We're not going to take that money."'
But despite the pressures the gaming industry faces, hotel-casinos are still handing out the money.
Mirage Resorts has been Nevada's most generous contributor over the past two years, giving $ 442,500. Circus Circus Enterprises donated $312,500 and International Gaming Technology contributed $166,500.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and his rival in this year's Senate race, Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev., both received $10,000 from Mirage. Also, Don Chairez, who is running as the Republican nominee to replace Ensign in the House this year, has received $10,000. One of Chairez's opponents in the GOP primary, Esther Quisenberry, received $2,000 from the resort.
Other notable politicians from across the country who have benefited from Mirage money include Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo.; House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo.; and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss.
Members of the Greenspun family, who own the Las Vegas Sun, also made the top 10 list of political contributors in the state by donating about $98,000.
Sen. Reid's leadership PAC, the Searchlight Leadership Fund, was the 13th biggest contributor to congressional candidates, donating $52,250 during this cycle. Political leaders in their respective parties routinely open up leadership PACs to help raise money for other candidates throughout the country.
Reid gave almost exclusively to Democratic Senate and House candidates, but he also made a $500 contribution to Rep. Bud Shuster, R-Pa., the powerful chairman of the House Transportation Committee.
Jenny Backus, a spokeswoman for Reid's campaign, said the senator and Shuster have been personal friends for a number of years and the Pennsylvania representative also has been a good friend to Nevada.
"Sen. Reid and Congressman Shuster served together in the House and have been friends for more than 15 years," Backus said. "Sen. Reid uses his Searchlight Leadership PAC to help those who have helped Nevada."
The debate over campaign finance reform continues to be a topic of conversation in Washington this year, although an effort to overhaul the system was shelved by Congress this summer. Opponents charge that lawmakers might be swayed to vote favorably on legislation affecting a certain industry or group if the lawmaker receives money from supporters of the industry.
But Jerry Simich, a University of Nevada Las Vegas political science professor, disagrees that money always influences lawmakers decisions.
"It doesn't encourage favors, but it does gives you a hearing," Simich said.
Simich said money has become a necessary evil for candidates who want to run a successful campaign, mainly because of the skyrocketing costs associated with broadcasting campaign commercials on television.
"You have got to have it to mount a credible race," Simich said. Simich also predicts that reform is not in the foreseeable future, because it is perceived as trampling upon people's First Amendment rights.
"I think reform will be long in coming, if it comes," Simich said. "I think the Supreme Court would look negatively on any attempts to trim the amount of money people can give."
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