Raggio challenge rejected

CARSON CITY -- A legal challenge aimed at keeping veteran state Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio off the ballot this year was rejected Thursday by the Nevada Supreme Court.

The high court tossed out the challenge filed by retired Reno labor union member George Bethurum, noting that its July ruling on term limits cleared the re-election path for the Reno Republican and many other longtime state lawmakers who are in at least their 12th year in current elective posts.

Under a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 1996, officials can't serve more than a dozen years in the same office. The voter mandate took effect a few weeks after the November 1996 elections, when a final vote canvass made the results official.

State legislators elected or re-elected that year took office the day after the election, and the Supreme Court said in July that the term limit mandate can't apply retroactively to them. That means the 12-year clock didn't start running until the lawmakers' next election.

Justices said the same legal analysis applies in their ruling Thursday favoring Raggio, 81, first elected to the Senate in 1972. That means Raggio can run this year for another four-year Senate term but can't run again four years from now.

In his lawsuit, Bethurum said he was challenging Raggio's candidacy only because of the term limits amendment.

"Lest there be any doubt on this score, the present challenge is not a reflection on the quality of Mr. Raggio's service, solely its duration," stated Henderson lawyer Charles Rainey, who represented Bethurum.

Raggio narrowly survived an August primary election challenge from anti-tax conservative Sharron Angle. He faces Democrat Jade Zahreddine and Independent American Gary Feero in the November general election.

While lawmakers weren't hurt by the July ruling, it meant no new terms for 21 other incumbents in current local or state government posts. They included Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, a 27-year fixture on the powerful commission who already had spent more than $200,000 in his bid for another term.