Ads from both parties target Latinos

Hispanics are the Holy Grail of politics these days, especially in Nevada.

Local and national Republicans are wooing them, including in new TV ads and Spanish-language radio spots airing in Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico.

Democrats are battling back with answering ads in Las Vegas, Reno and elsewhere to shore up President Barack Obama, who won 76 percent of the Latino vote in Nevada in 2008.

And Nevada's big Hispanic population -- now 26 percent of the state's 2.7 million people -- are at the heart of a debate about how to draw Nevada's new congressional and legislative districts for 2012.

Artie Blanco, the Nevada director of Mi Familia Vota, said Latinos are finally using their power.

"We were the sleeping giant. And then for many years we were the ignored giant," Blanco said. "And now we are participating in politics. We're here to stay. We just want to be respected."

Blanco, like many Hispanic advocates in Nevada, also has deep ties to the Democratic Party. Although Mi Familia Vota is nonpartisan to educate voters, Blanco separately has worked for the Democrats and backed Obama and U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., re-elected in 2010.

But there's no guarantee most Latinos will line up again for Democrats in 2012, Blanco said.

"I think Hispanic voters are more sophisticated than people give them credit for," Blanco said. "They want to look more at the person than the party. Hispanic voters are open to anyone who wants to talk with them, who can advance the community and understand the daily issues they have to deal with."

And that open yearning is one of the reasons the Latino community is in play in 2012. Democrats have not come through on promises of immigration reform. On the same issue, Republicans have angered Hispanics for harsh rhetoric and moves to crack down on illegal immigrants.

As a result, both parties are appealing to Hispanics on other issues, especially the economy.

"We can't afford four more years of Barack Obama," proclaims a new 30-second TV ad by the Republican National Committee that just began airing in Nevada.

The television ad is in English, but the RNC also launched similar Spanish-language radio ads in Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado, three states that went for Obama in 2008 and the GOP wants back.

American Crossroads, a GOP-aligned group, also slams Obama in ads aimed at Latinos.

In response, the Democratic National Committee on Friday launched its first TV ad of 2012: a Spanish-language spot that defends Obama's record. The ads are running in Reno, Las Vegas, Denver, Albuquerque and the Florida cities of Tampa, Orlando and Miami, as well as Washington, D.C.

The ads accuse Republicans of wanting to end Medicare and give tax cuts to the rich, while Obama wants tax cuts for the middle class and is promoting financial aid for students.

"We know who to trust, and who we can't," the ad says, according to an English translation.

Alex Garza, vice chairman of the Las Vegas Latin Chamber of Commerce, is a Republican. He is a political minority in the Hispanic community that is about 3-to-1 Democratic in Nevada.

He believes most Latinos are fiscally conservative and socially moderate, and "not one-trick ponies" who care only about immigration, an issue Democrats have successfully used to attack the GOP.

"We've got a tough economy right now and we've got low taxes," he said. "If we can maintain Republican principles, we can overcome a lot of the economic and education challenges."

As for redistricting, Garza like most Republicans believes Hispanics deserve their own congressional district in Southern Nevada, where the population is centered. Democrats want to spread the Latino population among several U.S. House districts, including a new fourth one Nevada gets in 2012.

The matter is before a state District Court judge, who plans to appoint a special panel to draw the new districts since the Legislature failed to agree on a set of maps that GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval would sign. He vetoed two sets that had no GOP support and no Hispanic majority congressional district.

Last week, attorneys for both the Republican and Democratic parties asked the judge to decide the Hispanic district question first, putting Latinos front and center in Nevada politics again.

-- Laura Myers

heck's union views changed

As Democrats and Republicans on the House Education and Workforce Committee were conducting one of their periodic debates last week over the roles of business and labor, Rep. Joe Heck sided with GOP colleagues in challenging unions.

But Heck said he did not always feel that way. When he was a boy, he had a markedly different view of unions after one helped rescue his family.

During the meeting, and expanding in a subsequent interview, Heck said when he was 9 years old, his father, who was a supermarket manager in Long Island, N.Y., was injured unloading a heavy box from a delivery trailer.

The mishap "wrenched his back, screwed up his knee," Heck said. His father needed multiple surgeries and extensive rehab and was out of work for four years, Heck said.

"My mom and dad had to battle the company he worked for," Heck said. "They didn't want to pay his medical bills. They didn't want to pay his disability. My mom was a stay-at-home mom, and there was absolutely no money coming in."

Heck's mother, Mary, stood in food lines for cheese and powdered milk.

"To this day my mom won't eat hot dogs because we lived on hot dogs for four years," Heck said. "The only way we kept going was because of the help from the union my dad belonged to."

"It was the union that stood up and helped us," he said during the committee debate.

The Grocery and Retail Clerks Union supplied a lawyer for the family and money for them to live on, Heck said.

His parents eventually sold their Long Island home and moved the family to Pennsylvania.

During his election campaign last year, Heck talked about his family's struggles after his father's injuries, which included surgeries after he was shot during a robbery attempt.

Heck was not exposed to unions while building a career in medicine. But when he entered politics in 2004, he said he perceived labor groups differently. "It seemed they were not so concerned about the individual as they were about having numbers to influence a political agenda."

Heck said he did not know how his father would be treated if he was injured today.

"Knowing what I know now I would question their motive," he said. "Back then it seemed it was altruistic, like it was their mission."

-- Steve Tetreault

costly mayoral race

The final tally is in for the most expensive mayoral race in Las Vegas' history, and the six main candidates in the race spent an eye-popping $5.4 million.

Carolyn Goodman, the winner of the race, raised $1.6 million overall and spent all but about $46,000 of it.

Her runoff opponent, Chris Giunchigliani, took in a total of $1.2 million and ended up spending about $16,000 more than she raised.

The difference between them is even larger than it appears, though, because Giunchigliani's largest contributor was her own war chest from her County Commission race last year. She transferred $425,000 to her mayoral bid.

Of all the candidates, businessman Victor Chaltiel spent the most. Almost all of his $1.7 million campaign bill was self-funded.

Larry Brown ($548,977), Steve Ross ($268,198) and George Harris ($44,795) rounded out the top six.

So how much is $5.4 million? Let's put it in perspective.

About 2,000 city of Las Vegas employees have taken a 5 percent pay cut and now work 38 hours a week instead of 40. Savings: $5 million.

The city is building a new fire station in Summerlin. With 7,800 square feet and room for a 100-foot ladder/pumper truck, the price tag is $4.5 million.

Alternatively, the candidates raised enough money to make a decent offer on the mansion at 8 Morning Sky Lane near the Arroyo Golf Club, currently listed at $5.48 million. It has eight bedrooms, 10 bathrooms and 11,223 square feet, enough room for them all to live together comfortably.

---- Alan Choate

Contact Laura Myers at 702-387-2919 or lmyers@reviewjournal.com. Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760. Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@review journal.com or 702-229-6435.