RURAL COUNTIES CRUCIAL TO INITIATIVE PETITIONS

CARSON CITY -- Rural counties hold the key to whether Nevadans will vote
this November on such controversial issues as union dues for political
purposes and marijuana for medical treatment.

Initiative petitions are being circulated to gather 46,764 signatures of
registered voters to put the proposed constitutional amendments on the
election ballot. The deadline for turning in the petitions is June 16.

But the major issue worrying supporters of these various petitions is
whether they will be able to comply with the law that requires 10 percent
of the voters in each of 13 of the state's 17 counties to sign the petition
for it to qualify for the ballot.

Dan Hart, spokesman for the medical marijuana petition, said the number of
signatures is not the problem. However, the geographical requirement may
present a roadblock.

Rural Nevada's population is widely dispersed. Even if the qualified number
of signatures is obtained, it might take only a few disqualifications to
knock the petition off the ballot.

"(But) we're close and we're optimistic," Hart added.

Rival petitions are being circulated by the Republican Party and organized
labor over the issue of restricting the use of union dues for political
purposes. Both sides say they have 60,000 signatures. They are now working
the rural counties and also to gain a cushion in case some of the names are
found to be ineligible.

Claude "Blackie" Evans, executive secretary of the Nevada State AFL-CIO,
said its goal is 75,000 signatures. The AFL-CIO hired the San Francisco
firm of Kimball and Associates to help circulate the petition.

"We want to qualify in all 17 counties," Evans said, but conceded there may
be problems in gathering the 10 percent of the signatures needed from each
county. "I know we will succeed."

Chuck Muth, spokesman for the GOP effort, said, "we're not concerned about
the raw numbers. But it's making sure it's qualified in 13 of the 17
counties."

He said the party's goal is to obtain 30 percent more of the signatures
than is required in each county to make sure the petition qualifies.

"I'm not saying this is a slam dunk (in qualifying), but we're hopeful,"
Muth said.

The GOP has hired National Voter Outreach of Carson City, which has been
successful in other Nevada voter drives, to circulate the petition.

Republicans leadership wants a constitutional amendment to require that
workers sign a yearly consent form to allow their union dues to be used for
political purposes. Organized labor's proposal would stop any interference
in the collection of union dues. The amendment also would require full
disclosure of every campaign contribution; prohibit campaign contributions
from foreign interests; and prohibit laundering of campaign contributions.

A group called Nevadans for Medical Rights is backing the marijuana
petition which allows its use, upon the advice of a physician, for
"treatment or alleviation of cancer, glaucoma, AIDS, persistent nausea,
epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and other medical problems."

There were four initiative petitions filed by a group called The Justice
Foundation of Nevada in Las Vegas to make changes in the court system. Jack
Ferm, who headed the foundation, said, however, the group gave up its
efforts to qualify the four for the ballot.

He said there was a lot of interest but nobody wanted to donate the time to
gather the signatures. "We're trying again next year," he said.