CONVENTION NOTEBOOK: FROM PREACHER TO POSSE MEMBER
TO EX-PROSECUTOR

PHILADELPHIA - The 17 Republicans representing
Nevada at the GOP convention include a black Pentecostal preacher, a
brain surgeon and a former prosecutor who battled a notorious brothel
kingpin.

Not to mention the ex-state GOP chairman who played in the '60s band
that recorded the hit ``Wipe Out'' or the national committeewoman who
once modeled and taught charm classes but is now a member of the
Douglas County sheriff's mounted posse.

Sure, there are the typical politicians in the group, including Gov.
Kenny Guinn, Rep. Jim Gibbons and former Rep. John Ensign. But there
also are amateurs excited about being a part of history.

``When you consider how small Nevada is, when you compare it to Texas,
or Florida or California, the odds of just-regular folks like myself
being elected as a delegate are slim,'' said Mike Weber, a
conservative activist who works as a technical coordinator in Reno.

State Sen. Maurice Washington from Sparks is an ordained minister and
one of the delegation's two black members. Former Lt. Gov. Lonnie
Hammargren is a brain surgeon in Las Vegas.

State Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio once did battle as Washoe
County district attorney with Joe Conforte, the former Mustang Ranch
bordello owner now on the lam in South America.

Past Nevada GOP chairman John Mason, an entertainment lawyer who lives
in Lake Tahoe, was a member of the Surfaris, which had that hit with
the famous drum solo, ``Wipe Out.''

National Committeewoman Beverly Willard of Jacks Valley was named
Model of the Year by the World Modeling Association in 1975 and went
to New York to teach runway techniques to professional models. She
later taught charm and etiquette classes to children and adults and
worked as a fashion editor.

``Life gets boring if you stick to the same old things,'' Willard
said.

Mrs. Willard and her husband are part of the mounted posse. It does
not actually chase down bank robbers like the old days, but it does
help with crowd control at big events and searches for missing people
in the rugged terrain around Tahoe.

--- Drew Wrigley is back for a week on the streets he once walked
daily, when he went to work with a badge and a pistol.

Wrigley, director of North Dakota's Republican Party, spent five years
in Philadelphia as an assistant district attorney. The Fargo, N.D.,
native prosecuted people accused of robbery, rape, drug dealing and
assorted other crimes.

His familiarity with the city has made him an unofficial guide for
North Dakota delegates to the Republican National Convention.

``It's a great advantage to have someone along who has lived (in
Philadelphia) as long as he did,'' said Carter Wood, an alternate delegate.

In North Dakota's GOP headquarters in Bismarck, Wrigley keeps a
plaque, with his badge affixed, engraved with praise from his former
co-workers: ``Our loss is North Dakota's gain.''

--- Maryland lawmaker Don Murphy has an idea for how his fellow
Republicans can put a kinder, gentler face on the GOP: Join his
crusade to legalize medical marijuana.

``This is compassionate. This is conservative. It's everything George
Bush talks about,'' said Murphy, a convention delegate.

Murphy has become the Maryland Legislature's leading advocate for a
medical marijuana law that would allow doctors to recommend pot as a
palliative to patients with cancer, AIDS and other conditions.

As he makes the rounds of parties, rallies and receptions at the
convention, Murphy plans to drop medical marijuana into the
conversations. He expects to get a few strange looks. Many Republicans
say medical marijuana is a backdoor to legalization and feel it erodes
the war on drugs.

Ellen Sauerbrey, who chairs Maryland's delegation, believes medical
marijuana is not a convention issue.

``That is a very contentious issue,'' said Sauerbrey. ``Frankly, I
think that we have a great desire to focus our attention on issues
that unite us, not the ones that divide us.''