Tarkanian vs. Lowden on abortion – you decide

Well, the gloves are officially off six weeks before the June 8 primary.

Sue Lowden's U.S. Senate campaign went on the counter-attack Thursday, accusing her GOP primary opponent Danny Tarkanian of distorting her record on abortion in one of his radio ads.

But Tarkanian says it's Lowden who hasn't been telling the truth about her involvement in a 1995 effort to pass a parental notification law when she was in the Nevada Legislature.

In the Tarkanian ad, a woman narrator says, "Why can't former state Senator Sue Lowden just be honest about her abortion record. She told voters she authored a parental notification bill in the state Legislature. The problem is, she didn't. State records show clearly that Sue Lowden did not author a parental notification bill. Doesn't a state legislator know what bills they authored? Or maybe she's just another politician who will tell us anything to get elected."

On her website, Lowden says, "I authored and passed parental notification legislation."

But the record shows that it was state Sen. Maurice Washington, R-Sparks, who asked for the bill to be drafted, not Lowden.

Lowden's campaign put state Sen. Washington on the phone with reporters Thursday to "correct the record," as he put it.

Washington said it was his first session and so he went to Lowden to ask her advice. She told him it would be better on such a controversial bill if it were introduced by a committee. And so he said he agreed to have it introduced by the Senate Committee on Human Resources and Facilities, which Lowden vice chaired.

The measure made it out of committee, Washington said, and to the Senate floor, where he said it failed. He credited Lowden with moving the legislation forward.

"If it hadn't been for Sue Lowden's leadership and her advice and tenacity ... it probably would have died in committee," Washington said.

Perhaps, but it appears Lowden didn't "author" the bill, which would have allowed minors to seek a judge's approval to have abortions if they feared going to their parents. The judicial bypass was meant to get around a U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down straight parental notification laws, saying minors must have options if they couldn't tell their parents.

At any rate, the Senate bill didn't pass.

Legislative records show the measure, SB408, was voted out of committee with no recommendation. Then it died on the Senate secretary's desk, apparently because there wasn't enough support to debate it on the floor and because of the potential fiscal impact, an estimated cost of $250 to $500 for each girl who asked for a judge to look at her case.

Dan Burdish, political director for the Lowden campaign, defended her for saying she authored the bill, noting that was behind the effort with Washington to move it along.

Asked if the Lowden campaign was splitting hairs, Burdish said: "Maybe so. But if we are splitting hairs, then Tarkanian's campaign is splitting hairs with their ad."

Jamie Fisfis, a consultant to Tarkanian's campaign, had an answer to whether Lowden was exaggerating her role.

"She launched her website saying that she authored the bill and that it passed. Neither is true," Fisfis said. 

Here are links to a fact sheet the Tarkanian campaign put out and a link to the radio ad:     'Be Honest' fact sheet     'Be Honest' radio ad