District 5 challenger wants incumbent to return campaign contribution

CARSON CITY -- The Republican challenging incumbent state Sen. Joyce Woodhouse for the District 5 seat in Clark County wants her to return $7,500 given to her campaign by an organization led by Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford.

Senate candidate Michael Roberson said Wednesday that Woodhouse, D-Henderson, needs to demonstrate that she and her office "are not for sale to special interests and lobbyists" by returning the money given her in May by the Nevada Senate Democrats' Political Action Committee.

Roberson said that Horsford, D-Las Vegas, rescinded a letter last week he sent in July to prospective donors offering a dinner with himself and the chairmen of Senate committees for $25,000 or more in donations to the Victory 2010 PAC.

"Senator Horsford has implicated you in this scheme since you serve as a committee chair in the Nevada Senate," Roberson wrote in a letter to Woodhouse.

Roberson's request for Woodhouse to return the funds is the first negative fallout that senators other than Horsford have received from his letter.

Woodhouse, chairwoman of the Legislative Operations and Elections Committee, said Friday she was not aware of the letter sent by Horsford. She did not return a call for comment Wednesday.

Alisa Nave, executive director of the Senate Democrat caucus, said Woodhouse was campaigning in her district Wednesday and had not received the letter sent to her by Roberson.

The $7,500 Woodhouse received came from donations made last spring and winter, not from the solicitation letter Horsford sent in July and for which he later apologized, Nave said.

She said that Roberson received $10,000 from the Senate Republicans PAC.

"This is just dirty partisan politics," Nave said. "Joyce Woodhouse has been a fighter for education, a fighter for children."

While "pay for play" proposals are legal, ethicists said last week they are not ethical and give the impression that votes might be for sale. Horsford said Friday he would return any solicitations gathered from the letter.

But the contributions Woodhouse received came two months before Horsford's letter offering dinners in exchange for donations to the Victory 2010 PAC, and the funds Woodhouse received in May came from a different Democrat political action committee.

A check of the latest contribution report from the Nevada Senate Democrats PAC showed it had received $178,000 in donations in 2010, including $50,000 from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees national office.

The union's local in Nevada represents state workers who have objected to cuts in their health care policies and Gov. Jim Gibbons' move to close the Nevada State Prison.

Victory 2010 had received $10,100 by the May reporting deadline. Both PACs do not have to report donations again until just before the November election.

The Democrats hold a 12-9 advantage in the Senate but need to pick up two senators to have a veto-proof majority.

The budget shortfall that will face legislators when they convene in February has been estimated at $3 billion. Horsford has said some of the shortfall will be covered by tax increases and the rest by budget cuts.

Roberson said he has pledged not to increase taxes. He said Woodhouse is the "most vulnerable Democrat incumbent" running for re-election. Because of that, he expects Horsford will pump as much money as he can into her campaign.

In July, there were 45,652 Democrats in District 5, compared with 44,136 Republicans

Woodhouse reported in May that she had received $102,300 in contributions this year. In January, she reported she had received $115,725 in 2009.

Roberson reported in May that he had received $38,100 in contributions this year and $48,100 previously.

"If Horsford is using unethical tactics for one PAC, it stands to reason he is using similar tactics for the other PACs he controls," Roberson said. "Either she (Woodhouse) condones this, or she doesn't. It is up for her to say."

Roberson said he promises only "good representation for the people of District 5" when donors give him money. None has asked for anything else, he said.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900.