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Friday, May 12, 2000
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Ensign files for Senate seat, pledges nuclear dump fight
The state needs a Republican in office to stop radioactive waste, a candidate contends.
By Sean Whaley
Donrey Capital Bureau
CARSON CITY -- Former Rep. John Ensign filed for the U.S. Senate on Thursday, less than two years after the Republican lost one of the closest races in Nevada history in his challenge of incumbent Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Ensign's second bid for the Senate will be for an open seat because of the decision of Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., to retire at the end of this term.
Keeping nuclear waste out of Nevada, reducing the level of federal government involvement in public education, making health care accessible to all, and protecting Social Security and Medicare will be some of his top priorities, he said.
Many of the issues that are important to Nevada voters have a similar theme, that of reducing federal involvement in the state's business, from public lands management to public education to keeping nuclear waste out of Yucca Mountain, he said.
"Local people care more about their kids than Washington bureaucrats," Ensign said. "We can do it. Just leave us alone."
Congress will never eliminate the federal Department of Education, but its influence can be minimized, he said.
Ensign faces Las Vegas lawyer and Democrat Ed Bernstein in his quest to be the first Republican senator from Nevada since Chic Hecht, who lost his re-election bid to Bryan in 1988.
Ensign faces at least one GOP opponent in the September primary. Douglas County resident Richard Hamzik filed May 1. Hamzik has said that he has little money to mount a serious challenge.
Ensign said he has raised about $2.7 million of a planned budget of $5 million for the campaign, much of it from Nevadans who are sending small amounts of money.
Ensign lost his 1998 race to Reid by either 428 votes or 401 votes, depending on who is counting. The certified result from the 1998 general election is a 401-vote difference, but a recount showed a 428-vote victory for Reid.
Ensign said that he would work well with Reid in the Senate and that he and Reid "buried the hatchet" shortly after the 1998 election.
Nevada needs a Republican senator to help fight the efforts to bring nuclear waste to Nevada, he said. Ensign said he was pleased with GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush's recent statement that he would support a nuclear waste site only if sound science showed that it was safe.
Based on that statement, Bush as president would have vetoed the measure that President Clinton recently vetoed to begin disposing of thousands of tons of nuclear waste in Nevada as early as 2007, Ensign said.
"This is a Nevada issue that is incredibly important to the citizens of our state," he said. "We have to take away the partisanship."
Ensign said he will be happy to debate the issues with Bernstein after the September primary.
Ensign said his campaign is much different this time because he is running for an open seat. He said he has established credibility with the voters, especially in Northern Nevada.
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Former Nevada Congressman John Ensign, center left, stands with supporters on the steps of the Capitol in Carson City before filing Thursday for the U.S. Senate. Ensign was defeated in his first run for Senate two years ago in his race against incumbent Harry Reid.
Photo by Associated Press
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