Tarkanian tries to remind voters that he’s relevant in race

Anjeanette Damon

Sunday, May 2, 2010 | 2 a.m.

For weeks, media attention has focused on the back and forth between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and one of his likely GOP foes, former state Sen. Sue Lowden.

She attacks. He responds. He attacks. She responds.

It’s almost as if the general election matchup has been decided, which only cements Lowden’s emergence as the front-runner in the crowded primary.

Perhaps seeking to remind voters that the race isn’t Lowden vs. Reid, Republican Danny Tarkanian went on television last week with his own ad attacking Reid.

In the ad, Tarkanian accuses Reid of growing the national debt to “bail out corporate America” and launch a “government takeover of our health care system.”

The Reid campaign swiftly responded with a fact-check news release. And the Reid campaign is referring to the three leading GOP candidates in the race — Tarkanian, Lowden and former Assemblywoman Sharron Angle — in its defense of the health care legislation.

Further establishing himself as not out of the race yet, Tarkanian succeeded in drawing the Lowden campaign into a fight over whether she sponsored a 1995 bill requiring parental notifications for abortions.

Tarkanian forced Lowden to change her claim that she “sponsored and passed” the legislation to she “voted for and worked to pass” the bill that eventually failed on the Senate floor.

Raggio picking sides?

Dr. Pat Colletti, a Reno pediatrician and political newcomer running against Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., e-mailed supporters last week claiming an unlikely endorsement — that of state Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno.

“I have been endorsed and encouraged by a man who I consider to be the most important Republican in the State, Sen. William Raggio,” Colletti, a Republican, wrote.

But wait, Heller has Raggio listed as a co-host for an upcoming fundraiser.

So, which is it?

Raggio said he will be supporting both candidates.

“Dean Heller and Dr. Pat Colletti are good candidates,” he said. “I have not endorsed one over the other. My wife and I intend to contribute to both campaigns.”

Busy signals

When the Nevada Republican Party discovered two top Democrats had used their state office phone numbers on their official candidate declarations, they were quick to declare it a violation of state ethics laws.

Likening them to the late state Controller Kathy Augustine, who was impeached for basically running her re-election campaign from her state office, the Republicans filed ethics complaints against Secretary of State Ross Miller and Treasurer Kate Marshall.

But the GOP did the opposite when it was discovered last week that Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons did the same thing. He listed the main number to the governor’s office on his “declaration of candidacy.”

Instead of an ethics complaint, the Nevada Republican Party defended the governor.

GOP Executive Director Cory Adair said Miller and Marshall listed their office numbers on the secretary of state’s online candidate list, which is more egregious.

“In our view, the real issue is that Mr. Miller and Ms. Marshall improperly used state resources for campaign purposes,” Adair said. “There is no evidence that Gov. Gibbons did anything of the sort.”

Except that Gibbons’ state office number also is listed in online candidate directories, including the Washoe County website.

When the ethics complaint was filed, Miller declared it “silly.”

The phone number, it could be argued, is a means of contact for election officials to reach candidates, and not a tool to promote a campaign.

That’s the argument Gibbons’ Chief of Staff Robin Reedy made.

“For me, in practicality, you put a number where you can be reached because you are the governor,” she said.

Anjeanette Damon is the Reno Gazette-Journal’s political reporter and writes the “Inside Nevada Politics” blog. Her column appears in the Sunday edition, and her blog is at rgj.com/inp.