Yucca Mountain News Clips
Monday, December 20, 2004
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Las Vegas SUN
December 20, 2004
Ensign: Bush's Nevada win holds him to Yucca rulings
State not backing off fight against dump
By Benjamin Grove
<grove@lasvegassun.com>
Sun Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said President Bush's victory in Nevada empowers the state to hold Bush to his promise that he will respect the rulings of the courts on Yucca Mountain.
Bush's 2-point Election Day victory in the state did not signal a waning support in Nevada for the state's fight against Yucca, Ensign said.
Ensign and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., have released a new poll they commissioned that shows 70 percent of the state opposes the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository and that 57 percent said Nevada officials should continue fighting it.
The Nevada senators wanted hard data to show lawmakers in Congress in the coming year that a Bush victory did not equal a softening on Nevada's anti-Yucca stance.
"We knew our opponents in Congress were going to use (the Bush win) in that regard," Ensign said today in a phone interview from Nevada. "We needed some ammunition. Proponents of Yucca will use anything they can back there. This election was not about Yucca Mountain for Nevada voters."
Bush's victory in Nevada gives the state leverage to hold Bush to his vow to allow court rulings to stand, Ensign said.
"Nevada was key to his victory," Ensign said. "We delivered Nevada."
A federal appeals court this year ruled that the 10,000-year radiation safety standard for the project is not in compliance with a much stricter standard advocated by the National Academy of Sciences, one that Yucca likely could not meet. Nevada officials are wary that lawmakers in Congress in the next session -- perhaps goaded by Bush -- may simply try to set a standard that Yucca could meet, effectively an end run around the court ruling.
Reid said Bush's victory in Nevada did not give the state's delegation in Congress a bargaining chip with Bush. "I don't think we need to bargain with them on anything" related to Yucca, Reid said.
Nevadans elected Bush even though he approved the project to construct a high-level nuclear waste repository 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Bush's victory would have been much larger if opponent John Kerry had not clearly stated he opposed Yucca, Reid said.
The survey commissioned by Reid and Ensign showed that voters made their vote for president based on these top four issues: Iraq, "moral issues," the economy, and the war on terror.
Fewer people than those surveyed for a January 2002 poll believe that Yucca is inevitable, according to the latest poll.
Thirty-eight percent said Yucca "is inevitable and nothing can be done about it" -- down 5 percentage points from the January 2002 poll. Fifty-eight percent believe "there are still political or legal ways to stop it" -- up 7 percentage points.
Still, 36 percent said nuclear waste would be stored at Yucca within two to five years and 24 percent expect waste at Yucca within six to 10 years. Eleven percent expect waste within the next year. Only 8 percent said waste would "never" be stored at Yucca. The Energy Department is striving to open Yucca by 2010.
The poll surveyed 600 registered voters between Nov. 30 and Dec. 2, It was conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, a Republican pollster. The survey cost about $20,000, paid for with money in a state-administered fund established to fight Yucca, Reid spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said.
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Reno Gazette-Journal
December 19, 2004
Most Nevadans oppose Yucca plan, poll says
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Most Nevadans remain opposed to plans to bury the nation´s nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain and want the state to continue fighting the project, a poll commissioned by the state´s two U.S. senators shows.
U.S. Sens. Harry Reid, a Democrat, and John Ensign, a Republican, said the poll results challenge a perception growing out of the election that Nevadans have become more accepting of the repository the federal government wants to build 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
President Bush defeated U.S. Sen. John Kerry by 21,000 votes, 50.5 percent to 48 percent, in Nevada. Bush supports the Yucca Mountain site, while Kerry had pledged to kill it if elected.
“The voters of Nevada, just because they voted for Bush, it does not mean it was an endorsement of Yucca Mountain by any stretch,’ Ensign said. “Nobody should misread this election.’
Seventy percent of Nevadans surveyed opposed the repository, while 57 percent wanted Nevada´s elected officials to continue fighting it, the poll shows.
Of Nevadans who voted for Bush, 85 percent said their choice was based on the war or economy, not Yucca Mountain, according to the survey. The survey of 600 registered voters was conducted between Nov. 30 and Dec. 2 by the Republican polling firm Public Opinion Strategies. It carried a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Even though Democrats tried to use Yucca Mountain against Bush during the campaign, Reid said the poll indicates the issue was not at the front of voters´ minds.
“In spite of the election where Yucca Mountain could have been terminated by voting for Kerry, the people of Nevada still don´t like it, and that feeling is very, very strong,’ Reid said.
Eric Herzik, a Republican and political science professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, said the senators are trying to reclaim control of Yucca Mountain as a political issue.
Yucca Mountain supporters touted Bush´s victory in Nevada and predicted it would spur Congress to pass bills next year to help the Energy Department move the project forward.
“It´s somewhat damage control in that the way the election results have been spun is that this was a referendum on Yucca Mountain and now the Democrats are back-pedaling,’ Herzik said. Herzik said the senators´ stance signals other Nevada elected officials that they are not to break ranks against Yucca Mountain based on the election.
David Damore, a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said it also sends a message to Bush and Energy Secretary-designate Samuel Bodman that state leaders do not intend to back down on Yucca Mountain.
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Reno Gazette-Journal
December 19, 2004
Letters to the editor for Dec. 20, 2004
Why should I care? Just gimme another tax cut
I´ve decided to change my political affiliation and become a Republican.
As a single man with no children, why should I care what kind of environment we leave for future generations? Global warming, schmobal warming. I´ll be long gone! Same for Yucca Mountain. Bring it on over boys!
And why should I care whether kids get an adequate education? If Johnny can´t read, it doesn't affect me any. Leave them all behind for all I care. I resent that my taxes fund the education of other people´s children. Let the people who have kids pay for their education!
And that huge government deficit? Hah! Give me another tax cut! That´s other people´s kids´ problem! And as long as Social Security is around long enough for me to collect, who cares about the next set? Certainly not I!
I´m tired of being liberal and caring about others and their future. It might take awhile for my bleeding heart to fully harden, but I can´t wait to lay claim on those superior Republican values I´ll get in exchange!
God bless America!
David Stewart
Sparks
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Indian Country Today
December 20, 2004
Nuclear and chemical warfare operations - Unwanted neighbors
Brenda Norrell
DUCKWATER, Nev. - Beyond genocide, the poisoning of ancestral lands of the Shoshone, Paiute and Goshute in Nevada and Utah constitutes ecocide, the death of all life forms, and punctuates the pivotal point in state-sanctioned environmental violence toward American Indians.
''The Western Shoshone are the most bombed nation in the world,'' said Ian Zabarte, secretary of state for the Western Shoshone Nation Council. Pointing out that the nuclear test site is on Western Shoshone ancestral land, Zabarte said nuclear testing and radiation has taken its toll on his people, but their land rights remain in tact, secured by the Treaty of Ruby Valley of 1863.
''The United States has violated the very essence of this treaty by testing its nuclear weapons on our lands and people.''
Nuclear testing above ground and underground has been centered in the heart of Shoshone and Paiute lands in Nevada. Goshute in Utah and Nevada straddle the Dugway chemical warfare testing site. Nowhere in America has the damage to the environment and potential for human disease surpassed this U.S. warfare corridor.
The publication of new research in the American Sociological Review and a related review of Department of Defense data by Indian Country Today exposes the silent nuclear ecocide on Aboriginal lands and the systematic leasing and seizure of tribal lands for nuclear and explosives operations of the U.S. military.
''The Treadmill of Destruction: National Sacrifice Areas and Native Americans'', by Gregory Hooks and Chad L. Smith, reviews the legacy of the military operations on Indian nations and borderlands to Indian country. A review of DOD public data reveals a concealed and misleading history of environmental impacts in Indian country.
Nellis Range, the single largest gunnery range in the world, encompassing 3.5 million acres, was absorbed after World War II into the nuclear weapons complex in Nevada. Nellis and the nuclear test site, the largest militarized zone on earth, are the unwanted neighbors of Western Shoshone and Southern Paiute.
''The impact of these facilities upon Native Americans is not inconsequential because the Western Shoshone and Southern Paiute claim these lands both as a traditional homeland and as religious grounds,'' wrote Hooks and Smith in the article.
Although the U.S. military said this region of Nevada desert could be bombed into oblivion and no one would notice, Shoshone and Paiute did notice and continue to protest the ravaging of their homeland and poisoning of their land, water and air.
Writing of the legacy of war and racism, Hooks and Smith said World War II brought the maturation of chemical warfare and the birth of nuclear weapons. The result was a lasting environmental scar on Indian tribes.
When military sites in New Jersey and Maryland proved too small and the areas too populated to access large-scale toxicity, the military chose Dugway Proving Grounds in northwest Utah, located dead center between the Skull Valley Goshute in Utah and the Goshute Reservation in Nevada.
Dugway became the major installation for field-testing chemical agents. Airplanes sprayed mustard gas and carried out large scale bombing of phosgene, cyanogens chloride and hydrogen cyanide bombs to determine the lethal concentration of gas.
Nationwide, unexploded ordnances - mines, nerve gases, toxics and explosive shells - contaminate as much as 50 million acres and have claimed at least 65 lives.
Most of Hooks and Smith's research refers to closed military bases. However, they point out the staggering potential for health and environmental dangers for American Indians in the present age of nuclear, chemical and biological warfare. For Indian country and the remainder of the nation, the present dangers are concealed for reasons of national security.
During the 20th century, the expansion of military bases on and adjacent to Indian lands was part of a ''deliberate and systematic assault on Indian peoples,'' and part of the intellectual warfare of boarding schools, relocation and assimilation designed to turn Indians into ''Americans,'' Hooks and Smith said.
Describing it as the ''callous expansion of the Pentagon,'' noxious military contaminants were placed in close proximity to American Indians, primarily in remote areas of the arid West.
The Department of Defense's own data, public at the DOD Native American Environmental Tracking Service online, is outdated and shows a mere fragment of the impacts on Indian tribes in Nevada and Utah.
For instance, the report for Death Valley Timbasha Shoshone shows possible contaminated soil and groundwater and destruction of cultural artifacts from the China Lake Weapons Center, an active site, and the Army's Fort Irwin National Training Center.
However, there is no DOD report for a large number of Indian tribes in Nevada and Utah. The DOD states there are no environmental impact reports for: Ely Shoshone; Las Vegas Tribe of Paiute; Moapa Band of Paiute; Yerington Paiute; Washoe Tribe; Te-Moak Bands of Western Shoshone: Battle Mountain, Elko, South Fork and Wells, all in Nevada, or the Northwestern Band of Shoshoni (Washakie) Indian Colony in Utah.
Even though the Moapa Band of Paiute were close enough for school children to watch the mushroom cloud of atomic bombs with unprotected eyes, the DOD has no report of impacts on Moapa Paiute in the NAETS report.
As a child, Phil Swain, Moapa Paiute, watched atomic bombs explode in the desert, 40 to 50 miles from homes of Moapa Paiute.
''They would tell us in school when there was going to be a blast, we would go outside and watch it. It looked like a big mushroom cloud,'' Swain said. There were also underground nuclear blasts.
''The ground would settle like a big saucer. They said it never leaked out, but it did. A lot of our people died from cancer.''
On the DOD NAETS site, the environmental hazards include Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone with possible soil and groundwater contamination from the U.S. Corps of Engineers. Fort McDermitt, established in 1865 along the Quinn River, is the longest active Army fort in Nevada.
In this region of atomic bombs and chemical and biological warfare testing, the DOD's reports of undetonated bombs and plane debris presents a mere fragment of the holocaust for Shoshone, Paiute and Goshute.
Still, there is more to come. A nuclear waste storage site is under construction on Yucca Mountain, which was secured by the Western Shoshone in the Treaty of Ruby Valley of 1863. The nuclear waste would be transported though the backyards of America, including Indian country, with the potential of deadly truck or rail accidents for 30 years.
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
December 19, 2004
Poll: Nevadans remain opposed to Yucca Mountain
Survey commissioned in wake of Bush win
By Steve Tetreault
Stephens Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- The presidential election still is being fought in Nevada, at least when it comes to Yucca Mountain.
Both sides in the dispute over the proposed nuclear waste repository continue to debate President Bush's victory on Nov. 2, and what it means in terms of public opinion and for upcoming fights in Congress.
A new poll commissioned by Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., indicates most Nevadans remain opposed to Yucca Mountain and a majority want the state to continue fighting the nuclear waste project even though voters chose to re-elect Bush.
The senators said the poll reported the true feelings of Nevadans as they cast their votes in November. Analysts said the senators also were acting to control Election Day damage on the Yucca issue.
Of Nevadans who voted for Bush in November, 85 percent polled said their choice was based on the war, the economy -- issues other than Yucca Mountain, which the president designated for a nuclear spent fuel repository in 2002, according to the survey.
Seven out of 10 respondents said they opposed the repository, consistent with an earlier state poll, while 57 percent said Nevada's elected officials "need to continue fighting against Yucca Mountain," the poll showed.
"The voters of Nevada, just because they voted for Bush, it does not mean it was an endorsement of Yucca Mountain by any stretch," Ensign said. "Nobody should misread this election."
The survey, taken of 600 registered voters Nov. 30 through Dec. 2 by the Republican polling firm Public Opinion Strategies, carried an error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Ensign said he and Reid commissioned the poll for ammunition in Congress and to fight a perception growing out of the election that Nevadans have become more accepting of the repository that the Energy Department proposes to build 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Senate aides said the poll cost about $20,000. They said it was paid out of unspent funds from the state's 2002 fight against legislation that designated Yucca Mountain for nuclear waste disposal.
Reid and Ensign ordered the poll a few weeks after Bush defeated John Kerry by 50.5 percent to 48 percent in Nevada. The president's victory followed a campaign in which Democrats played up Yucca Mountain and Kerry's promise to kill the project if elected.
Stumping for Kerry in Henderson on Oct. 30, President Clinton said if Bush wins Nevada, "the inescapable conclusion will be the majority of the people of Nevada have voted to put (nuclear waste) here."
Consequently, Bush's victory in the state was touted by supporters of the Yucca Mountain Project. They predicted the Nevada election results would become part of an aggressive effort in Congress next year to pass bills that would help the Energy Department move the repository program forward.
But even though Democrats built up the Yucca issue during the campaign, Reid said the new poll indicates it was not at the front of voters' minds.
"In spite of the election where Yucca Mountain could have been terminated by voting for Kerry, the people of Nevada still don't like it, and that feeling is very, very strong," Reid said.
Political science professor Eric Herzik said that, in taking the poll, the senators are attempting to reclaim control of Yucca Mountain as a political issue.
"It's somewhat damage control in that the way the election results have been spun is that this was a referendum on Yucca Mountain and now the Democrats are back-pedaling," said Herzik, who teaches at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Democrats "tried to use it as an issue and it blew up on them," Herzik said.
Herzik said the senators' involvement also signals Nevada legislators and other elected officials they are not to break ranks against Yucca based on the election.
David Damore, a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said the results send a message to the White House and to Energy Secretary-designee Samuel Bodman that state leaders do not intend to back down on Yucca Mountain.
Robert List, a former Nevada governor who is a consultant to the Nuclear Energy Institute, said the poll may re-energize environmental activists who were discouraged by the election results.
Other than that, List said, the survey is unlikely to be persuasive.
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Reno Gazette-Journal
December 18, 2004
AG won on Yucca, defends impeachment decision
During his two-year tenure as attorney general, Brian Sandoval has orchestrated more than half a dozen high-profile cases, resulting in both widely recognized victories and defeats.
His proudest moment as attorney general came last summer when his legal team won a key federal court decision that appears to have crippled the planned nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.
“If I had one objective that I could accomplish during my term (as attorney general) it was to have a significant victory in the Yucca Mountain litigation,’ he said. “And we did that. I think Nevadans can really appreciate the significance of that legal victory.’
U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has recommended Sandoval for the federal bench. If he is nominated by President Bush and confirmed by Congress, he could start as Nevada´s newest federal judge in April.
Sandoval inherited the Yucca Mountain legal fight from previous attorneys general but helped craft the ultimate argument when the case made it to the courtroom.
Although Nevada lost five of its six cases, the single victory eliminated a safety standard for the project. Without the standard, the government can´t get a license for the repository.
“He´s very hands-on for somebody as high up as an attorney general,’ said Joe Egan, the Washington, D.C.-based lawyer hired to argue the case. “He was very deeply involved in strategic decision making.’
Egan also credited Sandoval with stopping a planned shipment of radioactive waste from Ohio to be stored at the Nevada Test Site.
“He wrote the federal government a letter saying we are going to sue you and we´re going to win and here´s why we´re going to win,’ Egan said. “And they blinked. They backed off and now that waste is not coming to Nevada.’
At the same time he was fighting Yucca Mountain in court, however, Sandoval, as Bush´s campaign co-chairman, worked to re-elect the man who approved the site for 77,000 tons of America´s most radioactive waste.
His explanation — that he and Bush agreed to let the courts settle the issue — won him blistering criticism from Democrats.
Sandoval´s legal endeavors as attorney general haven´t always been as successful as the Yucca Mountain fight.
In May, Sandoval decided to jump into a brewing controversy over whether state employees could serve as legislators. Allegations of “double-dipping’ — when a lawmaker would collect both a government paycheck and legislative salary — had stirred an ethics outcry in Clark Country.
After writing an opinion saying state employees who act as lawmakers violate the constitution´s separation of powers doctrine, Sandoval sued the Legislature and made his first appearance before the Nevada Supreme Court.
But fewer than five minutes into the argument that he had researched and prepared himself, the justices began picking apart his premise. The court unanimously rejected Sandoval´s argument, clearing the way for public employees to keep their seats in the Legislature.
Sandoval also played a starring role in the controversial Nevada Supreme Court decision that temporarily overrode the constitutional requirement for a two-thirds majority to pass new taxes.
In an attempt to end a legislative standoff over new taxes last year, Gov. Kenny Guinn sued the Legislature, asking the Nevada Supreme Court to force it to pass an education budget and spending bill. Sandoval´s office made the argument that the Legislature wasn´t fulfilling its constitutional requirement to fund education and pass a balanced budget.
The result was a politically explosive decision overriding the voter-mandated super-majority requirement. The decision was excoriated by voters and criticized by the legal community.
But Sandoval said the court went beyond what his office had asked it to do.
“The decision the court reached was not even remotely related to any of the relief we asked for in the petition,’ Sandoval said.
Arguing those two cases, gave Sandoval a “keen appreciation’ for a judge´s role as legal-interpreter, not judicial activist, he said.
“In terms of separation of powers, nobody, I think, knows that better than I do,’ he said.
Sandoval also can take credit for initiating the ethics case that resulted in the first impeachment of a state office holder in Nevada´s 140-year history.
After a yearlong investigation into allegations Controller Kathy Augustine forced her state employees to work on her 2002 re-election bid on state time and equipment, Sandoval´s office brought a complaint to the Nevada Commission on Ethics.
Augustine admitted violating ethics laws and was fined $15,000.
But after the Assembly unanimously impeached her on three charges, the Senate dropped two of the most serious charges. The Senate then narrowly convicted her of using state facilities and equipment for her own benefit and returned her to office with a censure.
Despite criticism of his decision to take Augustine to the ethics commission instead of criminal court, Sandoval said he wouldn´t have changed how he handled the case.
“It was something we handled with the ultimate amount of respect and discretion,’ he said. “I felt that was the wise way to go. The criminal case would´ve taken much longer to get to trial.’
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Reno Gazette-Journal
December 18, 2004
Nevada's Rising Star Changes Course
Attorney General Brian Sandoval had a prime spot at the Republican National Convention. Now he´s hoping to leave politics for a federal judgeship. But some Northern Nevada attorneys wonder if he has the experience for the job.
Anjeanette Damon and Susan Voyles
Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval, who is on track to become the state´s next federal judge, admits he has never tried a case in federal court and has never tried a criminal case in any court.
Sandoval said the breadth of his 15-year legal career — which includes oversight of some of Nevada´s most complex legal issues and a stint as the state´s chief gaming regulator — makes up for his limited experience in criminal law.
And many members of the legal community share in his confidence, saying he would be a quick study if appointed to the U.S. District Court of Nevada.
Sandoval, 41, of Reno, hasn´t escaped criticism about his youth during his rapid rise as one of the state´s leading Republican figures. And his limited courtroom experience, including jury trials, concerns some local defense lawyers.
“I understand and respect folks that have these concerns,’ he said. “As an attorney, you can´t be all things to all people.
“I feel that I am ready for this. I think that I bring a skill set that is very unique, in terms of having experience in all three branches of government.’
Sandoval´s political adeptness and popularity with voters appeared to be propelling him toward the governor´s mansion or the U.S. Senate. He is the first Hispanic in Nevada elected to statewide office.
As a politician, Sandoval gave more than 75 public speeches this year. His position as co-chairman of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Nevada earned him more than one ride with President Bush in the presidential limousine.
And he landed a prime-time speaking slot at the televised Republican National Convention.
U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and U.S. Sen. John Ensign have recommended him for the federal bench — a move that has Sandoval preparing himself for what he called a “cloistered existence’ as a judge.
Sandoval interviewed with Alberto Gonzales, Bush´s chief counsel, at the White House earlier this month. President Bush would have to formally nominate him for federal court position and the Senate would have to confirm.
It´s a lifetime appointment, including lifetime pay even after retirement. The seat will open April 1 when Judge Howard McKibben goes to senior status. The pay ranges from $95,000 to $172,000, depending on experience.
If he becomes a federal judge, Sandoval said his political career would come to end and his new career path could lead to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
“If somebody presented me with the ability to be a U.S. senator, to be a governor or to be an appellate judge, to me the appellate judge is the place where you can really make the most impact,’ he said.
“But I´m certainly not going to sit here and be presumptuous and say that I´m using this as a stepping stone. If I am a federal judge for the next 24 years or 30 years or until I am 90 years old, I am content.
“I should say more than content. I would have fulfilled a lifetime dream.’
Turned down first appointment
Reid first asked Sandoval four years ago if he´d like to be appointed to the federal bench. At that time, Sandoval was chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission and on the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency board. He had been a lawyer for 11 years.
Sandoval turned down the offer.
“There was never a doubt I could do the job. I felt I could serve the public better if I had a little more experience,’ he said.
Sandoval´s political career has been marked by short stints in various positions. He has spent two terms as an assemblyman, two years as gaming commission chairman and two years as attorney general.
In all, Sandoval has practiced law for 15 years since he graduated from law school at Ohio State University in 1989.
Of the 10 federal judges in Nevada, including three senior judges, only Judge Philip Martin Pro in Las Vegas had fewer years practicing law when he was named to the bench. He had 14 years, including seven years as a federal magistrate.
The average experience for the 10 judges is 26.6 years. Seven judges had about 30 years each.
When advising the Senate Judiciary Committee on federal judge nominees, the American Bar Association believes candidates should have at least 12 years experience as a practicing lawyer.
Sandoval said his private practice involved mostly business cases. During his time as an associate lawyer with the Robison-Belaustegui law firm in Reno, Sandoval routinely sat as second chair for civil trials involving personal injury, wrongful death, contract disputes and complex environmental issues, according to Sandoval´s former boss Kent Robison.
He also did extensive courtroom work on cases that never made it to trial.
“His skills with litigation were excellent,’ Robison said. “He hadn´t reached his potential, that´s for sure. But had he stayed in this firm, he would´ve been one of the leading litigators in this community.’
While in private practice, Sandoval said he was involved in about 10 criminal cases, including driving under the influence, a robbery in California and a rancher charged with animal cruelty case.
But he said he has never defended or prosecuted anyone in a criminal trial. He oversaw a number of criminal cases while attorney general.
Trial experience questioned
That worries some local defense lawyers.
Several defense lawyers would say for the record only that Sandoval is a “nice guy’ while questioning his qualifications off the record.
“Our paths rarely cross,’ said Washoe County Public Defender Mike Specchio, who said he believes it´s important for a judge to have criminal experience. “He´s going to be handling an awful lot of criminal cases even though not as many as five to 10 years ago.
“Every judge has a learning curve situation. There´s no better teacher than experience. But I know he is very bright and will have no trouble handling the job.’
Terri Keyser-Cooper, a Reno civil rights lawyer, said Sandoval´s office routinely fights hundreds of complaints by state prisoners rather than investigating the merits.
She recently won two cases, one of which involved a man who spent a year blind in prison because he was refused cataract surgery. Another man´s treatment for bleeding ulcers was delayed for 12 hours, prompting a court to provide $12,000 in punitive damages and $12,000 in pain and suffering, she said.
“I would be horrified,’ Cooper said, if Sandoval were put on the federal bench because of his perceived bias for law enforcement.
“I hate to say that because I would be in front of him. But he if he comes to the bench with that mindset, I´m worried about bias, fairness and judicial temperament.’
Sandoval said he wasn´t aware of the two cases. But a deputy said Keyser-Cooper´s “outlandish demand’ of $432,000 to settle the bleeding ulcer case forced it to trial.
Overall, Sandoval said the Nevada Department of Corrections - and not his office - manages inmates and their health care.
In private practice, Sandoval´s highest-profile case involved working with Robison for a $18 million court settlement for the city of Sparks over pollution from the gasoline tank farm. He also represented Utility Shareholders of Nevada, stockholders for power companies in the state.
Varied background
On the gaming commission, he led the opposition for a federal ban on college sports betting. On the TRPA, he voted to ban the most polluting jet skis and boats on Lake Tahoe.
“The men and women who become federal judges come from a real variety of backgrounds,’ said William F. Dressel, president of the National Judicial College in Reno. “That has been true for the last 15 years.’
And he expects Sandoval to do fine if appointed. “He has been a hard-working attorney general. He´s a very intelligent lawyer,’ he said. “He´s a person of the highest integrity, one of the most important qualifications of all.’
After talking with several judges, Sandoval said he expects about a third of his caseload as a federal judge would involve criminal cases.
“Although I have not stood there and prosecuted a case, I´m very familiar with criminal procedures because of my work with the deputies in this office,’ he said.
Sandoval said he has grown accustomed to questions about his experience. Accusations that he was too young surrounded his bid for the Legislature, his nomination to the gaming commission and his campaign for attorney general.
“I have been accused of that my entire life,’ he said. “I guess if you look at it chronologically, that may be accurate. But if you look at the experience I´ve had since I got out of law school, folks don´t get that in a lifetime.’
Of Nevada´s federal judges, McKibben was 44 when he was appointed and Judge Philip Martin Pro was 41. The average age at appointment is 54.
Sandoval points to his time as chairman of the Assembly judiciary committee, which overhauled much of the state´s criminal code during his tenure. He helped write the truth-in-sentencing laws and sat on the sentencing commission.
“I´ve been exposed to and handled legal issues . . . that some lawyers won´t get in 20 years,’ he said.
As chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission, he acted in a “quasi-judicial’ capacity, presiding over intense battles among some of the state´s top lawyers.
“That will be one of my strengths,’ he said. “I have sat in a chair and have had to weigh evidence and have had to look at those who appear before me in the eye and tell them I´m ruling for or against them.’
As attorney general, Sandoval stepped up criminal prosecution of Nevada´s prison inmates, supervised two executions and created a unit to prosecute state employees who break the law on the job. He oversees 160 lawyers, making his office the largest law firm in the state, and he manages a $42 million budget.
Sandoval has won accolades for his intelligence, patience and integrity from many in the legal community.
“He´s a deep-thinker,’ Washoe District Judge Janet Berry said. “He has the right temperament for the bench. He´s intellectually very capable. He´s a kind and genuine person that works very hard. And he has a well-rounded life experience he could bring to the bench.’
The measure of a good judge is not necessarily reflected in the amount of time spent in court as a lawyer, several sitting judges said. The skills needed to successfully advocate for a client are the same needed to preside over a trial and make an impartial decision.
“History is rife with great courtroom advocates who made poor judges and lawyers with little courtroom experience who made great judges,’ said Washoe District Court Judge Brent Adams. “Brian will make a superb judge. He has perfect integrity, good insight, common sense and human understanding.’
Federal judgements limited
Reno lawyer Patrick Flanagan said Sandoval´s limited courtroom time on criminal issues may not be an issue. “Congress has emasculated federal judges since I left in 1989,’ said Flanagan, a former federal public defender.
Congress has taken away much of the discretion a judge has through the bail reform act and sentencing guidelines, he said.
Flanagan also said fewer civil trials are heard because it takes so long to get a case to trial. And, he said, all federal courts are encouraging arbitration or mediation instead of trials.
“As such, a federal judge appointed to the district bench need not have as much jury trial experience as a state court because of the changes.’
For federal court in Nevada, the number of trials overseen by each judge has dropped from average of 46 in 1994 to 17 in 2003, while overall filings have increased.
New federal judges go through a week-long training program at the Federal Judicial Center in Washington, D.C. They get another week of study eight or nine months later, said Judge Barbara Rothstein, the director. “It´s a very intensive week,’ she said.
In addition, she many district courts assign mentors to new judges.
Nevada Supreme Court Justice Deborah Agosti said Sandoval, as a young lawyer, routinely appeared in her courtroom when she was a Washoe district court judge.
“He is someone that very quickly proved to me that he was going to be honest and very forthright and very careful in his approach to the courtroom,’ Agosti said.
Washoe District Attorney Dick Gammick also vouched for him.
“There are some people who could have 30 years of experience and still not be able to add two and two,’ he said. “I have no problem recommending him. There are people with 10 times the trial experience that I would never recommend.’
Gammick said he would be sorry to see Sandoval leave the political scene. “We´ve lost a potentially very strong leader in the political arena in this state.’
In fact, Reid´s recommendation has prompted speculation that the senator was trying to remove a potentially strong Republican foe for the Democrats in Nevada.
“If I want to be cynical, Sandoval is a rising star in the Republican Party and you´ve taken him out of the mix,’ said Eric Herzik, political analyst and professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. “That´s one less person the Democrats have to worry about.’
He called speculation about Reid´s motivation a “conspiracy theory.’
“I only take it at face value,’ Sandoval said. “I appreciate that Sen. Reid considers me to be a competent candidate to be a federal judge.’
Sandoval said he decided to change career paths after much soul-searching. If he had not been tapped for the bench, he said he would have run for a second term as attorney general. His name was also mentioned frequently for governor.
But Herzik said the timing was against Sandoval for a run for governor. U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Reno, has $400,000 in campaign funds that a recent ruling will allow him to use in a probable run for governor in 2006, he said.
And as a Congressman, Herzik said Gibbons is in a position to raise much more. And if elected in 2006, Gibbons would probably run for a second term. And he said that would leave Sandoval “sitting on his hands for eight years.’
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Washington Post
December 19, 2004
Reid Vows to Stand Up to GOP
A Moderate, Party's New Senate Leader Says He Won't Yield
By Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writer
The new leader of Senate Democrats sent a shiver down liberals' backs this month when he seemed to endorse conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia as a possible chief justice of the United States.
Sen. Harry M. Reid's opposition to abortion was well known and generally accepted, liberal activists said, but this was something else. Some wondered if Senate Democrats had replaced Thomas A. Daschle (S.D.) with a considerably more conservative lawmaker who might yield to Republicans, especially in light of the party's four-seat net loss in November's elections.
The answer is no, according to a review of the Nevada senator's voting record, assessments by his colleagues, and his comments in a recent interview. By most measures Reid is a mainstream Democrat, landing slightly to the right of his party's average score on congressional ratings issued by a wide range of interest groups. And by his own accounts, Reid, a former boxer, is ready to go toe-to-toe with President Bush and the Senate's GOP majority on the biggest issues facing the 109th Congress.
"As far as I'm concerned, there will be no privatization" of even a small portion of workers' Social Security contributions, he said, rejecting what the president trumpeted as a priority at a White House conference last week. And Senate Republicans, he said, "will rue the day" they try to carry out a threat to end a senator's right to filibuster judicial nominees.
Those are the words of a battler, not an appeaser, say those who know Reid, who turns 65 Thursday.
Moreover, Reid's recent hiring decisions signal that he is comfortable with his party's liberal wing. To help run a rapid-response communications center, which some call the "war room," Reid has hired James P. Manley and Phil Singer, former aides to Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), respectively.
"No one is talking about abandoning our core values," said Sen. Richard J. Durbin (Ill.), recently elected to the party's second-ranking post, Democratic whip. When Senate Democratic leader Daschle lost his reelection race last month, Durbin said, Reid's "election as leader was so quick and overwhelming that it is an indication of how he has unified this caucus. . . . We're in good shape and in good spirits."
Reid has sided with his party's majority on nearly all the major issues of the past several years, except for abortion. He voted against Bush's tax cuts, John D. Ashcroft's confirmation as attorney general and a proposal to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He voted to authorize military force in Iraq and for the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law revisions.
A friend of organized labor, Reid often has opposed major trade agreements, including the granting of permanent normal trade status to China in 2000. While not as overtly partisan as some colleagues, he co-sponsored a resolution condemning Bob Jones University in South Carolina for alleged racist policies after presidential candidate George W. Bush campaigned there in 2000.
The American Conservative Union gave Reid a 21 voting score in its latest rankings, slightly higher than the Senate Democratic mean of 18. In a similar vein, the liberal Americans for Democratic Action gave Reid a lifetime score of 76, a bit lower than his Senate caucus's average in the mid-80s.
The National Taxpayers Union scored him at 17, not the lowest among Democrats but a "failing" grade nonetheless.
The environmentally oriented League of Conservation Voters gave Reid a comparatively high score of 84 in its most recent rating, even though Reid -- who grew up in the mining town of Searchlight, Nev. -- "is not always with us on mining issues," LCV president Deb Callahan said. "The environmental community understands that," she said, adding that in general "Reid has been a consistent friend and champion."
Abortion is the main issue on which Reid, a Mormon, differs from his party's orthodoxy. In 1999, he was one of two Senate Democrats to oppose an amendment expressing support for the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion. He has voted to ban a procedure that opponents call "partial birth" abortion. But activists on both sides say he has never tried to persuade the Democratic caucus to join him in such stands.
"We have absolute faith" that he will oppose judicial nominees unless they "will protect individual liberties and not roll them back," said Elizabeth Cavendish, interim president of the abortion-rights group NARAL. Her counterpart, Douglas Johnson, head of National Right to Life, said: "I would expect, as the [Democratic] leader, Reid would continue to work to obstruct or gut major pro-life legislation."
Reid has been a reliable defender of issues important to Nevada. In 2000, he supported giving permanent resident status to immigrants who have been in this country illegally since 1986, a popular stand in Nevada's large Latino community. In a nod to the state's powerful gambling industry, he has worked to block efforts to ban betting on amateur sports, which is legal only in Nevada.
His biggest local issue by far is Yucca Mountain, the government's proposed site for the permanent burial of highly radioactive waste from the nation's nuclear power plants. Reid has fiercely fought the project for years, but in 2002 Congress endorsed Bush's decision to move forward with the plan.
Perhaps Reid's biggest challenge is to adjust to a leadership job in which his every word will be scrutinized by scores of interest groups and news organizations. He stumbled, friends and aides say, on Dec. 5 when Tim Russert of NBC's "Meet the Press" asked whether Reid could support Scalia to succeed the ailing William H. Rehnquist as chief justice.
"If he can overcome the ethics problems that have arisen," Reid began, referring to allegations of a conflict of interest involving a case Scalia heard. Reid went on to say that Scalia "is one smart guy. And I disagree with many of the results that he arrives at, but his reasons for arriving at those results are very hard to dispute."
Accounts of the interview alarmed many liberal and abortion-rights activists who consider the staunchly conservative Scalia unacceptable. Several colleagues urged Reid to clarify his remarks. "I talked to Harry about it," Durbin said, recalling that Reid urged people to "listen to what he said." Transcripts of the NBC interview show that Reid never clearly endorsed Scalia for chief justice, and he mixed praise for the justice's intellect with questions about his ethical behavior.
In the recent interview in his Capitol office, beneath a towering portrait of Mark Twain, Reid urged Bush to consult with Democrats and then pick Supreme Court nominees who will not trigger partisan war in the Senate.
"If he just wants to poke his finger in our eye, then he can do away with the advise and consent part of the Constitution," Reid said. "But if he wants to really move forward and have as little acrimony as possible," the president could quietly show top Democrats a list of possible nominees and say, "I know you don't like any of them, but tell me who you like better than the rest."
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State of Nevada
Agency for Nuclear Projects
www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/
nwpo@nuc.state.nv.us
775-687-3744
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