Carpetbaggers need not apply

Over its almost 150-year history, Nevada's most important and admired U.S. senators have been those who paid their dues here, who put in the time, earning the chance to help lead the state and nation.

They have not been carpetbaggers.

This observation came to me as I pondered the U.S. Senate candidacy of John Chachas, a Wall Street banker who has decided to run for Harry Reid's seat. Chachas, 45, grew up on a cattle ranch in Ely but fled the pastures of White Pine County for the East Coast when he was 18.

And who could blame him? No doubt a fine student, he was invited to attend two of the nation's best universities, Columbia for his undergraduate degree and Harvard for his master's. All due respect to Nevada's institutions, but you just can't get that kind of university education in this state.

But Chachas didn't come back. As a result, name recognition is his biggest challenge right now. Nobody outside the greater Ely area knows who he is, because he really hasn't been involved in Nevada for more than 25 years. While the rest of us have been toiling away, contributing to our communities and state in the best ways we know how, Chachas has been working on Wall Street. When he's seeking campaign contributions, his Wall Street friends hold fundraising dinners in the Hamptons, not rural Nevada.

Although Chachas professes to have kept an eye on Nevada over the years -- Christmas vacations and such -- he is now considering moving back to the state. But only if he wins, of course. If he doesn't win, you gotta figure he'll stick it out in Manhattan.

But back to Nevada's senators. Here are the prime examples:

• Pat McCarran. Born in Reno, he attended the University of Nevada there but had to withdraw to work on his family's sheep ranch. He passed the state bar exam based on independent study. He served as a state legislator, district attorney and Supreme Court justice before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1932. He served until he died in 1954.

• Alan Bible. Born in Lovelock, he earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Nevada, Reno and his law degree from Georgetown. He returned to Nevada and served as a district attorney and attorney general before his election to the U.S. Senate in 1954. He served until 1974.

• Paul Laxalt. Born in Reno and raised in Carson City, he was the son of a Basque sheepherder. He went out of state for college and law school, but returned to serve as a district attorney, lieutenant governor and governor before he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1974. He served until 1987.

• Howard Cannon. Born in St. George, Utah, and educated in Arizona, Cannon came to Nevada after serving as a bomber pilot in World War II. He served as Las Vegas city attorney for nine years before he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1958, serving until 1983.

• Chic Hecht. Born in Missouri, Hecht moved to Nevada after serving in the Korean War. He owned several businesses and served in the state Senate before he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1982, beating Cannon. He served one term.

• Richard Bryan. Although born in Washington, D.C., Bryan was raised in Las Vegas and earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Nevada, Reno. He sought his law degree out of state, but returned to serve as a state senator, attorney general and governor before he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1988. He served until 2001.

• Harry Reid. He has his share of detractors these days, including Republican challenger Chachas, but nobody could dispute Reid's Nevada credentials. Born in Searchlight, Reid attended Basic High School in Henderson. He received his higher education in Utah and Washington, D.C., but returned to Nevada to serve as Henderson city attorney, state assemblyman, lieutenant governor, Nevada Gaming Commission chairman and congressman before he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986.

The key word in many of these biographies is "returned." Those who left for college or military service returned to Nevada to build their careers and lives. They were tried-and-true Nevadans when they sought a U.S. Senate seat.

Unlike his main GOP primary opponents, Sue Lowden and Danny Tarkanian, Chachas can't say that. For him to shed the "carpetbagger" label, he would need to move back to Nevada, get a job here, get involved in community affairs for a while and perhaps serve on a school board. Or he could take the private-sector route, making money and working his way into a leadership position with a chamber of commerce or development authority.

The point is, getting the heck out of Nevada after high school, not really showing your face for 23 years, then suddenly announcing a U.S. Senate bid is about as opportunistic as it gets. Why, one wonders, is Chachas not running for one of the two available Senate seats in New York? Does he figure he has a better shot in Nevada? Big fish, small pond? Yep, carpetbagger.

Geoff Schumacher (gschumacher@reviewjournal.com) is the Review-Journal's director of community publications. His column appears Friday.