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Democracy in Peril

By Steve Sebelius

BUSH TO COME TO NEVADA SOMEDAY: The campaign manager for President Bush's re-election effort, Ken Melman, said Monday that the president would come to Nevada "relatively soon," but had no specifics as to when or where. Bush avoided Las Vegas during the 2000 race, although he did make a brief appearance at Lake Tahoe during that campaign. This time, Melman said Bush will come to Nevada during the campaign. Will it be by year's end? "Perhaps," Melman responded.

As far as other issues, Melman says the Yucca Mountain debacle will be less important to voters than Bush's overall leadership in the face of a recession and two wars. "They [voters] look at everything. They look at the totality of the issues," Melman said. "This is a president who has taken on tough challenges."

But Melman said he wasn't aware of the Bush administration stance on key Nevada issues, such as Indian or Internet gambling. He was confident in rebutting Sen. Harry Reid's contention that Bush lied about approving Yucca Mountain, although he was unsure about efforts to unseat Reid.

HARRY'S YUCCA HIJINKS: Speaking of Reid, the senator isn't just going to filibuster right-wing judges; Reid's chief aide now says he won't approve one of President Bush's nominees to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission unless the White House in turn nominates one of Reid's staffers for the panel as well. In a story published Monday in Energy Daily, Reid chief of staff Susan McCue says Reid wants Gregory Jaczko, a key aide to the senator on nuclear issues, on the NRC.

Reid is "intent" on getting Jaczko onto the commission, McCue told Energy Daily, a trade publication, noting that there was one Republican opening and one Democratic opening. (President Bush has nominated retired Navy Vice Adm. John Grossenbacher for the Republican slot.) Reid has received support from Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., who wrote a letter to Bush in April on the matter, but the White House has asked for another Democratic nominee, Energy Daily reports.

"McCue said Reid planned to 'slow down, if not stop' hearings on Grossenbacher's nomination if the White House does not reconsider Jaczko," the Energy Daily story says. "McCue said Jaczko was being opposed by the nuclear industry, but officials at the Nuclear Energy Institute said the group has taken no formal position on Jaczko." But the industry's spokesman, Mitch Singer, says Jaczko's work in opposing Yucca Mountain means he "would not be an appropriate choice" for the position because he'd be biased against licensing Yucca.

Which, we think, is precisely the point of his nomination, right?

Steve Sebelius writes a daily e-mail newsletter, the E-Briefing, from which "Democracy in Peril" is excerpted. Reach him at 383-0283 or by e-mail at ssebelius@reviewjournal.com. To subscribe to the E-Briefing at a Mercury reader special price of $20 per year, go to www.reviewjournal.com/ebriefing.