Unusual Candidates Are Business as Usual in Nevada’s Elections

Among the political candidates running in Nevada this year are a mother-and-daughter team, the son of a prominent United States senator, a self-proclaimed former prostitute who wants to be sheriff and a U.S. Senate candidate whose chief political ally is a large stuffed gorilla.

For some reason, Nevada election campaigns attract the unusual, not to say bizarre.

Political veterans still recall Tom Mechling, a young unknown who moved into the state shortly before the 1952 U.S. Senate primary election, ran a low-budget campaign from his motor home and defeated Nevada Atty. Gen. Alan Bible for the Democratic nomination. (Mechling narrowly lost to Republican George (Molly) Malone in the fall general election).

Assorted Backgrounds

In 1982, when Nevada’s rapidly increasing population qualified the state for a second congressional seat, 14 candidates from assorted backgrounds ran.

Among them were a cupcake salesman who said he believed that his victory was “the will of God” (he was wrong), a Libertarian who had achieved prominence by shooting up the Reno offices of the Internal Revenue Service, a state employee whose campaign consisted of handing out business cards that read, “Send no money--I just need your vote” and a former casino owner whose campaign manager was a snarling Australian cattle dog.

By those standards, this year’s pool of candidates may seem tame, but it is not without its zesty characters.

One of the most enterprising is Laurie Lane Hansen, 38, who described herself as a model, actress, real estate saleswoman and retired prostitute when she recently announced her candidacy for sheriff of Clark County (Las Vegas).

Hansen is running because, she said, the present sheriff, John Moran, has been overzealous in prosecuting prostitutes.

She accused Moran’s officers of “Gestapo tactics” in making arrests and said any “pretty lady” is at risk of police harassment if she is alone in Las Vegas.

Hansen said she was a “born-again” Christian and announced, “It’s time to legalize prostitution in Clark County. Everybody thinks it is anyway.”

(Nevada has no state law against prostitution, but it is not allowed in Clark County).

Unhappily, a few days after Hansen’s entry into politics, a bench warrant was issued for her arrest, on charges that she had failed to appear in court to pay a $100 fine for “trespassing” at a Las Vegas Strip hotel.

Another candidate with a serious quarrel against incumbent officials is Manford E. (Cove Rock Manny) Beals, the 51-year-old proprietor of a bar, hamburger stand, gasoline station and fur store in Zephyr Cove, on the south shore of Lake Tahoe.

Some local residents consider this string of somewhat dilapidated commercial structures, strung out along scenic U.S. 50, to be an eyesore but to Beals they represent all that has made America great.

Early Entrepreneur

He is especially proud of the three figures standing in front of his stores--Rufus, a life-size stuffed gorilla that Beals won in a poker game; Harry, a somewhat smaller and hairier mechanical gorilla, and “Mee,” a large revolving mechanical clown.

Beals claims that he “came over the mountains on snowshoes” 29 years ago to establish one of the first bars and restaurants in what has become a booming tourist area.

In those days the hamburgers cost 19 cents and the beer was free. Today the hamburgers cost 98 cents but the beer is still free.

Eight or nine years ago, Beals began to feud with local county officials and with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

The gist of Beals’ complaints seems to be that lake side property is being developed for the benefit of large casino and hotel operators like Harrah’s and Harvey’s, at the expense of “little people” like himself.

In 1984, the dispute escalated when Beals placed signs on Rufus, Harry and Mee, urging local voters to turn the rascal county commissioners out of office.

This summer, county officials retaliated by threatening to imprison Beals if he does not get rid of the gorillas and the clown, which are said to be in violation of a county sign ordinance.

Beals has refused to do that. Instead, he has launched a campaign for the U.S. Senate, promising that, if elected, he will return control of Lake Tahoe planning to the “little people,” eliminate legalized prostitution and change the Nevada Gaming Commission from an appointed to an elected body, “to get rid of the mob.”

Today, Rufus, Harry and Mee still stand along U.S. 50, holding high American flags and signs that read, “Give me liberty or give me death” and “Honk if you want Manny for U.S. Senator.”

Beals’ campaign seems to consist largely of sitting at a table next to the highway, waving at the many people who honk their horns and explaining his problems to anyone who will listen. But he is confident of victory.

‘Going to Do Real Good’

“I think I’m going to do real good in northern Nevada because I’ve taken care of these people over the years,” he said recently. “But I need to raise the money for a mobile home, so I can put Rufus up on the roof and drive down to Las Vegas and talk to people at the shopping centers.”

Party switching is popular this year.

James D. Santini, who represented the state as a Democratic congressman from 1974 to 1982, is running for the U.S. Senate this time around as a Republican.

Nevada Lt. Gov. Bob Cashell, a former Democrat, is now chairman of the state Republican Party.

Several state legislators have changed parties recently--from Republican to Democrat or vice versa.

Family Dynasties

Then there are family dynasties.

John Paul Laxalt, the 34-year-old son of retiring U.S. Sen. Paul Laxalt (R-Nev.), is running for the 40th State Assembly District, which includes most of the state capital of Carson City.

Young Laxalt has been raising money for the Republican National Committee in the Western states in recent years but never has been a candidate.

He decided to run this year, he explained in a recent interview, because “I have a deep interest in politics--I’ve been around it all my life and I wanted to try it as a candidate.”

He is one of the senator’s six children by his first wife, from whom Laxalt is divorced. Michelle, a younger sister, runs a political consulting firm in Washington with many Republican clients; another sister, Kathleen, works in Nevada for the state’s other Republican senator, Chic Hecht.

Heard Little Criticism

But John Paul Laxalt said he has heard little criticism of a family political dynasty.

“The name is obviously an asset,” he said. “My dad is pretty well liked around here. But I’m not running on my name. I’m really proud of my dad and what he’s done for Nevada and for the country. I get some advice from him but he’s not running my campaign.”

Laxalt’s Republican opponent in the Sept. 2 primary election, Carson City optometrist William G. Van Patten, said running against a Laxalt in Nevada is not easy.

“There are die-hard Republicans out there who tell me they know I’m the better qualified candidate but they’ve just got to vote for John out of loyalty to the senator,” he said.

“There isn’t much I can say to those folks, but I think most people in the district are intelligent enough to go beyond the name and vote for the best candidate.”

Active for Many Years

Van Patten, 57, has been active in the Republican Party for many years. In 1966, he was county co-chairman for Paul Laxalt in his successful campaign for governor.

“I think Paul Laxalt has done an excellent job and I would support him for whatever he might want to do, to this day,” Van Patten said, “but, on the other hand, I know Paul well enough to know he would be one of the last people on earth to feel there should be a ‘familial legacy’, so to speak, in public office.”

The Republicans are also fielding an unusual mother-daughter team this year.

Barbara F. Vucanovich, 65, is running for a third term in the U.S. House of Representatives, while her 45-year-old daughter, Patty Cafferata, now the Nevada state treasurer, is hoping to win the Republican nomination to oppose Gov. Richard H. Bryan, the Democratic incumbent.

“I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t around politics,” Cafferata said at a recent Republican barbecue and fund-raiser near Reno, where she and her mother both wore “cowgirl” clothes and worked the crowd. “I’ve often said my earliest memories of my mother are of working on political campaigns.”

Claims $92-Million Saving

Cafferata served one term in the state Assembly and then was elected state treasurer in 1982. She claims to have saved the state $92 million since taking office.

Cafferata had planned to seek a second term as treasurer but decided, at the last minute, to run for governor instead.

“I expected the Republican Party to put up a substantial candidate against Bryan,” she said, “but when it became apparent they weren’t going to, I decided to run.”

She is expected to win the Republican primary election but faces an uphill battle against Bryan, who appears to be riding a wave of popularity at the end of his first term as governor.

Many political observers believe that Cafferata is running only to gain name recognition for a future race--perhaps for her mother’s congressional seat in two years.

Thinks She Can Win

But Cafferata insisted, “I would not be doing this if I did not think I could win.”

One difference between mother and daughter is that Barbara Vucanovich’s husband, George, a retired business executive, appears loyally at her side at political functions, although he sometimes looks uncomfortable.

But Cafferata’s husband, Treat, a successful Reno surgeon, seldom shows up for fund-raisers and similar events.

Said a knowledgeable northern Nevada Republican, who asked not to be identified, “He told her, ‘Look, if you want to do this, go ahead, but it’s not my thing.’ Also, he’s a very busy surgeon.”

While Cafferata faces a tough campaign, her mother has no primary election opposition and is a heavy favorite to defeat Reno Mayor Pete Sferrazza, her expected Democratic opponent, in the fall general election.

Plans Hot Bike Ride

Seeking a bit of publicity as well as votes, Sferrazza announced that he will ride a bicycle 339 miles, through the August desert heat, from Reno to Wells, Nev., near the Utah state line.

But most political experts in the state believe all that Sferrazza might derive from that is a sunstroke. They give him little chance to unseat Vucanovich.

Maybe he should get a stuffed gorilla.