GOP’s top three speak

Nuclear energy research at Yucca Mountain and pay cuts for state employees are key to reversing Nevada's fading fortunes, according to the top Republican candidates for governor.

Gov. Jim Gibbons, former federal judge Brian Sandoval and former North Las Vegas mayor Mike Montandon on Thursday were on stage for their first major appearance together in the 2010 campaign, with each attempting to lay out his own vision for the state's future.

Democrat Rory Reid was on the program but organizers said he backed out of the event early in the week.

Sandoval is the leading candidate among likely Republican voters, followed by Gibbons, then Montandon. The winner of the June 8 Republican primary will probably face Reid, who is the only widely recognized Democrat in the race.

The forum in front of about 300 people at a luncheon for the Associated General Contractors of Las Vegas was tightly controlled but did give candidates some room to articulate policy stances in advance of a debate scheduled for tonight in Reno.

Montandon went furthest out on a political limb by stating that he would support storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain on the Nevada Test Site, at least temporarily, if it was part of an effort to study ways to safely convert the material to produce energy.

It's a controversial position because polls show most Nevadans opposed efforts by the U.S. Department of Energy to store reactor waste underground at Yucca Mountain because of the perceived danger of transporting hazardous material by rail through communities and potentially exposing it to the groundwater under the test site.

Because of widespread political opposition the storage plan is considered all but dead, with U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., leading the opposition with support from President Barack Obama.

Montandon, who is behind Sandoval and Gibbons in statewide polls, says Nevada should welcome the material as an opportunity to increase the number of jobs available researching potential sources for clean energy.

"We are not going to get what we want with just peaking power, with just renewable wind and solar," Montandon said, referencing the inconsistent nature of energy from the sun and wind versus the consistent output available with nuclear power. "We have got to have good clean base power."

Sandoval, who was Nevada attorney general from 2003-05, said he fought against nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain and would oppose a revival of such a plan.

"If there is another alternative that can be done safely, that is protective of the health, safety and welfare of the people of the state of Nevada, I'm all for it," he said.

"But with regard to storage at Yucca Mountain, right now as it stands, I would oppose it."

Gibbons said so far proposals from the federal government have called for simply burying the waste and sealing it off and that Nevada should press for something more creative.

"The state of Nevada just needs to tell them if they want to do reprocessing, if they want to do a center for nuclear excellence then maybe the state of Nevada would be more on board with what they are proposing," Gibbons said.

Sandoval staked out his clearest position on the state budget. In 2011 the governor and Legislature are projected to face a budget scenario in which expected revenue is as much as $3 billion less than projected spending.

He told the audience the state should consider pay and benefit cuts for state employees as a means to reduce the projected shortfall.

"You've had to reduce your work force. You've had to reduce your benefits. You've had to make all these difficult decisions because the income is not there," Sandoval said. "I firmly believe that state government needs to do the same."

He also proposed changing the state's retirement plan from a system of defined benefits to one of defined contributions.

Montandon, too, said he would seek to reduce the state's payroll costs, describing what he tells people who ask him whether the state's budget should be balanced on the backs of its employees.

"The answer is, well we've been balancing it on the backs of the taxpayers of everybody in here who has had to lay off people for a long time, and yes, for a short period of time there is going to be another back," he said.

Gibbons talked about his own efforts to make state government smaller.

"I have instituted a budget committee that is working to prioritize all government functions," he said. "We will propose to fund those functions that state government must provide, and shrink or eliminate those functions that are not priorities."

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861.