Nevada sizes up Cheney choice

Presumptive GOP presidential nominee George W. Bush introduced Dick Cheney as his running mate Tuesday

By Jane Ann Morrison

July 26, 2000 Web posted at: 2:48 PM EDT (1848 GMT)

In this story: Democrat slams Cheney, GOP Nevada Republicans give thumbs up "Good news for Gore" RELATED STORIES

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (Las Vegas Review Journal) -- Texas Gov. George W. Bush's choice of Dick Cheney as his running mate sent Nevada Democrats rushing to check Cheney's voting record on nuclear waste.

And, yes, as a congressman, Cheney voted in 1987 to send nuclear waste to Nevada. Nevada Republicans insisted that that vote won't be an issue to Nevadans.

"Much ado about nothing," said Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev. If Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore chooses a vice president who voted the same way, Gibbons likely will be right.

Gibbons cautioned that some of the Democrats on Gore's short list voted the same way as Cheney, who as a Wyoming congressman in 1987 voted for a bill that designated Yucca Mountain as the only site to be studied for a nuclear waste repository.

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"That vote may be an issue if Cheney were going to be the person signing legislation or proposing legislation, but he's not," Gibbons said. "It's going to be George W. Bush, who's already told us he's going to have an open-door policy and he'll listen to us. He has said he wants sound science not politics."

While Republicans such as Gibbons, Gov. Kenny Guinn and former Rep. Barbara Vucanovich were praising Cheney's integrity, experience, style and credentials, U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, the second highest-ranking Democrat in the Senate, took a strong offense.

"If the Republican Party thinks this guy is going to improve the ticket, they'd better be psychoanalyzed," Reid said. Women, environmentalists and senior citizens will be opposing Cheney once his "bizarre" voting record becomes public, said Reid, citing Cheney's votes against the creation of Head Start and in favor of capping cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security recipients. Bush's selection of Cheney "further underlines and underscores why if George W. Bush is elected president, Nevada will have nuclear waste within six months," he said.

Reid said Bush was pandering to the right-wing element of the party, which he described as "crazies," by not selecting Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania, an abortion-rights advocate.

"He was blackballed because he couldn't live up to the standards of the right wing," Reid said. Reid called Cheney a safe choice by Bush, saying, "I'm sure his dad (former President Bush) gave him a pat on the back, but it's a back pat he's going to regret."

Guinn and Gibbons called Cheney an excellent choice, pointing to his record as chief of staff under President Ford, his time in Congress and his four years as President Bush's secretary of defense, which included the Gulf War. What might help Cheney in the estimation of Nevadans is his understanding of Western issues, they said.

Guinn, who heads the state delegation to the GOP national convention in Philadelphia next week, said that the Western tie "is important to all of us in terms of water, and open land and growth."

Said Gibbons, "He's not as dynamic or as flashy or as glamorous as some of the other potential candidates are, but Bush is not looking for a rock star, he's looking for a rock-solid person to do a serious job."

Sig Rogich, who sees President Bush once a month and talks to him on the phone about once every week or 10 days, called Cheney someone who can deliver one of the five key battleground states -- Michigan -- using connections developed from his days as President Ford's chief of staff.

"He's an exceptional choice because he brings a lot of integrity to the ticket; he brings a lot of maturity to the ticket. He's recognized around the world as a leader, and we've had an absence of foreign policy for the last eight years."

Rogich said that as former secretary of defense, Cheney understands the issues surrounding nuclear waste. As a six-term Wyoming congressman, he might be more sensitive to transportation issues involving nuclear waste.

U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., was more positive about Cheney's appointment than was Reid, calling it "a very competent appointment; it gives heft to the ticket, and in my opinion, addresses the stature gap. ... You may disagree with his voting record, but nobody would suggest he's not a man of substance."

Bryan described Cheney as highly experienced, yet said Bush's selection "makes it harder for Bush to present the image of a compassionate conservative. Bush has done an extraordinarily good job of moving toward the center, and Cheney, in that sense, would not be helpful."

Cheney was one of a few congressmen in 1986 to oppose a resolution urging the South African government to release Nelson Mandela, Bryan noted. He voted twice against creating the Department of Education.

Cheney's selection, he continued, "is good news for Al Gore because Cheney, although solid, is not an electrifying performer on the stump, he's not a dynamic candidate, nor does he bring anything to the ticket in terms of electoral votes. Wyoming's three electoral votes, Bush already had."

If Gore selects someone such as Bryan's personal favorite -- Florida Sen. Bob Graham -- or former Maine Sen. George Mitchell , the nuclear waste issue is a wash, Bryan said. Both of them also voted to send nuclear waste to Nevada.

Vucanovich's eight terms in office overlapped with those of Cheney, who served from 1978 to 1989. She said Reid's comment that Bush was pandering to the party's "crazies" is "just absurd."

"He's a class act, a solid guy, a wonderful family man, low key, one of the finest men I've ever know in Congress. He was our whip when I was first elected and managed to get along with everybody."

About his nuclear waste votes, she said, "I don't think it's a plus, but he has so many other credentials, I wouldn't even think about it."

Nearly 900 Las Vegans heard Cheney in March 1994, when he was considering a run for the presidency and spoke at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas as part of a lecture series sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. At that time, he cautioned against bombing North Korea, saying it could start a war, and criticized military cuts under the Clinton administration.

Bush-Cheney ticket opens campaign in Wyoming; Gore ponders running mates

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