Friday, July 09, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Nevada Democrats rally with anti-Yucca theme
By ERIN NEFF
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Supporters of the Democratic presidential ticket cheer during a Thursday rally at the International Association of Fire Fighters hall.
Photo by John Gurzinski.
|
Democrats celebrated the Kerry-Edwards presidential ticket Thursday by emphasizing opposition to the Yucca Mountain Project despite Sen. John Edwards' vote to approve the planned high-level nuclear waste repository.
Ross Miller, who supported Edwards' bid for president earlier this year, told a crowd of about 150 at the International Association of Fire Fighters hall that "a vote for President Bush is a vote for Yucca Mountain."
"Stopping Yucca Mountain is as easy as going to the voting booth and voting for Kerry-Edwards this November," added Miller, a local attorney and the son of former Nevada Gov. Bob Miller.
None of the speakers told the crowd that Edwards supported the Yucca Mountain Project planned 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. And Democrats are scurrying to get a statement from Edwards explaining his votes on Yucca and his current position in opposition to the dump.
Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Shelley Berkley, Nevada's Democrats in Congress, said Edwards has told them he will defer to Kerry's position on Yucca Mountain. Kerry consistently has voted against the dump and said that if he is elected, "Yucca Mountain will not be a nuclear waste repository."
Democrats are angry at Bush because of a 2000 campaign pledge to base any Yucca decision on "sound science, not politics." The administration later recommended the project over the objections of Nevada's congressional delegation. Congress overrode Gov. Kenny Guinn's veto of the plan in 2002.
Republicans have criticized Edwards, saying the North Carolina senator lacks experience and that his work as a trial lawyer is "out of step" with Nevada on the issue of medical malpractice reform.
"Our country needs strong and steady leadership, which the Bush administration has continuously shown, not a candidate that chose his running mate based on polls," state Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, said on behalf of the Bush-Cheney campaign.
Democrats cheered the selection of Edwards; Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates called him "the best choice John Kerry could make."
