Reports detail Nevada campaign cash

A review of Nevada state senators' campaign finance reports for 2002 show a Republican spent the most and a Democrat saved the most.

Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, spent $305,587 in a race against a minor party candidate. Sen. Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, ended the election year with $86,644 in cash on hand.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal review showed Senate races costing more than $200,000 have become fairly commonplace as advertising costs have increased. In 2000, Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, set the bar by raising more than $390,000 for his victory.

Despite receiving minimal opposition from an Independent American Party challenger, Townsend spent more than $100,000 on television ads.

Operating on the assumption he would win, Townsend's ads addressed the challenges of the upcoming legislative session, said Jim Denton, his political consultant.

Townsend returned one contribution, from a tobacco company. Denton said tobacco-related issues will come before the panel chaired by the health-conscious Townsend.

Townsend also served as a benefactor for many of his fellow Republicans, doling out dollars donated to him to other candidates.

As chairman of the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee, Townsend is a fund-raising magnet within the business community. He donated to legislative, county and federal Republicans, even giving to Gov. Kenny Guinn, who didn't need the money.

On the Democratic side, Sen. Terry Care of Las Vegas, former state party chairman, did the same.

Care had no opponent, so good chunks of his nearly $113,000 in expenditures went to Democratic legislative candidates. The Las Vegas attorney also used his campaign funds to donate to judicial candidates.

Leaders of both parties have long funneled money to candidates.

"That's the way it's been done in Nevada for years. My hunch is it's probably not a good thing," said Paul Brown, southern Nevada director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, who analyzes campaign reports to track connections between money and influence.

The practice of giving donations to leaders or their caucuses and letting them decide which candidates should get the money gives "more clout to the people who are giving the money," Brown said.

"The more concentration of power in fewer people, the worse off we all are," he said.

In Las Vegas-based Senate District 9, a total of more than $1 million was spent by four Republicans and one Democrat, all vying for the open seat in the western part of Las Vegas.

The victor was Dennis Nolan, a Republican assemblyman, who spent $235,534.

He faced a series of primary challengers, starting with businessman Bill Brady, who spent $353,050 before dropping out. Of that, $250,000 was his own money.

Businessman Brian Scroggins was in the race briefly, spending $9,808, but he stepped aside for gaming lobbyist Richard Bunker, who spent $248,764. Democrat Terry Lamuraglia spent $219,611.

Nolan found it easier to raise money after he won the primary. Before the primary, Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio of Reno backed the wealthy Brady, then Bunker.

But after his primary victory, nearly $200,000 flowed into Nolan's coffers from the gaming and business interests that had shut him out when Bunker was thought to be the front-runner. Raggio helped raise that cash.

Nolan paid his wife Kim $4,500 for her help coordinating volunteers and running his campaign office.

Brown doesn't object to paying family members for campaign work "unless we're talking 25 percent of the contributions going to a family member. Then there'd be some questions."