Senators set to unload Craig’s donations

As has become common when colleagues or political allies run into trouble with the law, members of Congress last week rushed to check their campaign bank accounts upon learning that Sen. Larry Craig had been arrested and pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge this summer.

Any funds received from Craig suddenly acquired the taint of the Idaho Republican's weird run-in with a police officer in a bathroom at the Minneapolis airport.

Sens. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, each gave to charity $2,500 in campaign donations they had received from Craig's political action committee, Alliance for the West.

But even though he is a conservative from a neighboring state, Craig had no financial ties to Republicans from Nevada, according to a check of campaign records.

One possible reason is that Craig, who announced Saturday that he would resign, has been one of the most vocal Senate supporters of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. That would have made his money radioactive no matter what happened in that airport restroom.

But Craig did make donations to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the campaign arm of the Senate GOP. That could pose a dilemma for Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., who is the committee's chairman for the 2008 elections.

Craig donated $15,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee in 2006, $5,000 in 2005 and $15,000 in 2004, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Does Ensign divest the money, which was made during previous election cycles? It is not as if the Nevada chairman has money to burn, since the Republican Senatorial Committee is lagging behind Democrats in fundraising this year.

At the end of last week, Rebecca Fisher, NRSC communications director, would only say, "We are looking into this."

PORTER'S IMPRESSIONS OF IRAQ

Rep. Jon Porter returned last week from his fourth trip to Iraq, saying the visit was helpful to assess U.S. progress and strategy.

Two other lawmakers on the same trip came back with a different view, that it was a dog-and-pony show.

"Spin city," is how Rep. James Moran, D-Va., described it to the Washington Post. "The Iraqis and the Americans were all singing from the same song sheet, and it was deliberately manipulated."

Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., called it "the Green Zone fog."

The group spent Aug. 25 and Aug. 26 in Baghdad. What particularly annoyed the two Democrats was that the military had prepared one-page biographies in advance of their visit, and distributed them to the Americans and Iraqis who attended their meetings.

The tip sheets included their latest votes on Iraq and quotes that made clear they have been critical of the Bush administration's war strategy.

The Democrats questioned why, on a fact-finding trip, it would be pertinent for the hosts to know, for instance, that Moran once said that "this policy has been a failure."

In an interview Friday, Porter said he saw nothing odd with the sheets. They are common in Congress and business.

"It is all in the public record. When someone comes to see me on an issue, I like to know where they stand."

Porter generally has been supportive of President Bush's war strategy.

While his colleagues complained the tour was scripted, Porter said he disagreed on its value.

"I asked some pretty pointed questions," Porter said. "If you just hang around with people who will tell you what they want you to hear, that is a problem; but I don't do that and most members of Congress don't do that.

"I try to compile information from the generals to the men and women in uniform," Porter said. "I will tell you, I look in the eyes of those folks who are serving our country, and to a person you know when they are telling you the straight story."

GOODMAN BACKS REID ON COAL

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has caught some flak for castigating companies that want to build coal-fired power plants in Nevada, but he's got a friend in Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman.

Goodman issued a statement last week supporting Reid's call for investment in renewable energy sources and finding alternatives to coal as an energy source.

Goodman noted Las Vegas' No. 1 ranking as an "adventure town" by National Geographic Adventure magazine.

"To sustain that kind of reputation, Nevada will need to show leadership in protecting its quality of life," the mayor said. "It only makes sense to support Senator Reid's call for a future where we maximize clean, renewable sources of energy."

GIBBONS VS. TAXICAB AUTHORITY

Gov. Jim Gibbons is facing a challenge from the Taxicab Authority over his candidate to run the agency.

A source familiar with the Taxicab Authority said there is lingering resentment over how the previous administrator, the popular Richard Land, was removed by Gibbons and Mendy Elliott, his director of the Department of Business and Industry, earlier this year. Land was an appointee of former Gov. Kenny Guinn.

Gibbons' choice for the position was Tom Czehowski, who was the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration's chief administrative officer before being named in May as interim administrator of the Taxicab Authority.

But during interviews by the board last week, Czehowski did not make the final cut of three applicants sent to Elliott for her consideration. State law requires three candidates be submitted to the director.

Board Chairwoman Kathryn Werner Collins said Czehowski was qualified and made the top five among the 10 candidates, but not the final three.

"There was no concern with him on any specific grounds," Werner Collins said. "He was qualified but others were equally strong. Some had more relevant experience in the transportation industry."

Board member Edward Goldman said the most qualified candidates were forwarded to the Department of Business and Industry, although he acknowledged there is some resentment lingering over the replacement of Land. "Especially in light of the idea that it was done to bring new direction to the board. Nobody has heard anything from the director or anyone else about a new direction."

Bill Shranko, who runs Yellow Checker Star, the valley's largest cab operation, said the Taxicab Board has performed exceptionally, nevertheless he supported Czehowski as a qualified candidate with the backing of Gibbons and Elliott.

The three names submitted to Elliott are April Woodard, who recently worked for the state Transportation Services Authority; Brock Croy, who works for the Taxicab Authority, and Gordon Walker, a government contractor.

Elliott said only that she has taken the appointment under advisement.

How this situation will play out remains to be seen.

Werner Collins said she hopes Elliott will interview the three candidates submitted by the board as required by statute.

But the source familiar with the agency said other avenues are being explored to see if there is a way Czehowski can be appointed to the position. The source said it is the first time in at least a quarter century that the governor's choice for the job has not been one of the three names submitted for consideration.

If not for the poorly orchestrated move to replace Land, there would be no controversy, the source said.

Land was a vocal advocate for taxicab surveillance cameras to protect drivers from violent crimes. During his tenure, camera use, once virtually nonexistent, became almost universal in the valley's cab fleet.

The authority oversees the 16 cab companies and roughly 1,600 cabs operating in the valley. It has final say on fares, and when and where cabs operate.

Review-Journal Capital Bureau writer Sean Whaley and Review-Journal writer Alan Choate contributed to this report.