Monday, July 26, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Station involved in voter outreach

Company holding drives at individual properties with goal of registering 200 at each

Station team member and certified registrar Susan Pearlman-Cregger, right, helps Station dealer Thong Hanh register to vote. Photo by Ralph Fountain.

After the 2003 Legislature went so awry for the state's biggest industry, gamers vowed to seek retribution on Election Day.

But so far it seems Station Casinos is the only industry giant that has more than just an eye open this election year.

Station Votes 2004 is the largest outreach by a gaming company, involving aggressive voter registration drives among the company's 11,000 employees and a concerted effort to get them to the polls during early voting and election days, even while an employee is on the clock.

The company trained 50 registrars through the Clark County election department and is holding weekly drives at its individual properties with the goal of registering 200 at each, from biggies like Texas Station to the small properties like the Wildfire, on Rancho Drive down the block from Texas.

The company hopes employees will play an important role in voter recruitment. "It's better if a team member approaches another team member," said Melissa Nelson, Station's manager of corporate and government relations who spearheaded the voting drive.

The hallways employees use at what's known as the "back of the house" at Palace Station are lined with posters urging employees to register, complete with quotes from Lorenzo Fertitta discussing why voting is important. Nelson has also hung fun facts, in English and Spanish, about the history of voting and some close races.

Employees get a government guide with a civics lesson on the branches of power, stressing whom to contact for a variety of issues like barking dogs, potholes and how to become a U.S. citizen.

Each employee will also get the Station voter guide in the mail just prior to early voting before the primary and general election, stressing which candidates the company is backing.

Already 50 candidates have received some type of financial support from the company, from President Bush down to Justin Jones, a Democratic challenger in Assembly District 13.

"Needless to say, there's none to the 15 Assembly Republicans," said Station's Lesley Pittman, referring to the 15 lawmakers who opposed a variety of tax proposals and largely forced the two special sessions of the Legislature last year.

Gamers were smarting after the last session when they failed to get passed a plan for a broad-based business tax.

Station will put most of its efforts in legislative and county commission races, and is already hedging its bets in one key race.

Donations have gone to Clark County Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald, a former Station board member, and to her opponent, Democrat David Goldwater, a high school friend of Fertitta's.

National MTV finalist

While all eyes are on the Democrats in Boston today, a Reno woman has been selected as a national finalist in a contest related to the Republican National Convention.

Amanda Klein, a University of Nevada, Reno international business senior and state GOP volunteer up north, was selected as one of 10 finalists out of about 1,000 entrants nationwide in the essay contest "Stand up and Holla," a part of MTV's "Choose or Lose" campaign aimed at encouraging youths to participate in the election process.

"I stressed finding something that you enjoy doing and volunteering to do that," said Klein, who works on political campaigns. "I do volunteer because I found something that I enjoy."

It'll be up to the public to decide if Klein gets to go to New York City during the Republican convention Aug. 30 to Sept. 2. And she faces an uphill battle against candidates from more populous states like New York, California, Florida and New Jersey.

"I've e-mailed everyone I know telling them I wrote a good essay," said Klein, national committeewoman for Nevada Young Republicans and co-chair of UNR's Students for Bush.

You can vote for her at the link: www.gopconvention.com/ amanda.

Voting takes place until Aug. 9 and the winner will be announced on MTV's "TRL" show on Aug. 16.

Alphabet soup

Confused by the alphabet soup of names on election signs dotting the valley?

The League of Women Voters' Web site can help get through some of the muddle, provided candidates have completed the questionnaire.

The site: www.dnet.org provides a link to Nevada specific information.

Contact political reporter Erin Neff at 387-2906 or ENeff@reviewjournal.com.