PETITION SIGNATURES: WAGE INITIATIVE GIVEN NEW LIFE

Proponents of Higher Minimum Pay Win Restraining Order

CARSON CITY -- The AFL-CIO obtained a temporary restraining order from
a judge here Monday in an attempt to keep alive its initiative
petition to raise the minimum wage by $1 an hour.

District Judge William Maddox ordered Secretary of State Dean Heller
to take no further actions to nullify the petition. Heller ruled
Friday that the AFL-CIO fell 2,618 signatures short of the 51,337
needed to put the petition before voters in the November election.

The petition fell short because 13,994 signatures were not counted on
the advice of Attorney General Brian Sandoval. He cited a legal
problem with affidavits signed by some of the people who circulated
the petition.

Maddox ordered all sides in the case to submit written arguments by
the end of business Friday. He scheduled oral arguments in his
courtroom for 1:30 p.m. July 20.

In issuing the order sought by AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Danny
Thompson, Maddox wrote the union and its supporters "are likely to
prevail on the merits, or at least have raised very serious questions."

Gail Tuzzolo, a consultant to the AFL-CIO, said the move to have
thousands of signatures thrown out was engineered by a "powerful
Republican law firm" representing the insurance industry.

Las Vegas lawyer Joe W. Brown sent letters to county clerks and
registrars and pointed out problems with some affidavits that
accompanied petition signatures.

Tuzzolo said "thousands of Nevadans" would be disenfranchised if their
signatures are rejected because of a "trivial and antiquated
requirement" on affidavits. Brown, the Republican national
committeeman for Nevada, could not be reached for a response.

Maddox himself was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for attorney
general in 1994. Tuzzolo said he has a reputation for being impartial,
and she expects he will give the union a fair shake.

Rhonda Moore, deputy secretary of state for elections, expects other
litigation will be filed in coming days. There are similar problems
with affidavits on petitions to legalize an ounce or less of
marijuana, prohibit frivolous lawsuits and roll back insurance rates
by 20 percent.

The latter petition also contains clauses that would lift the $350,000
limit on damages in medical malpractice cases.

"The secretary of state's office does not object to others intervening
or the consolidation of cases," Moore said. "We are not fighting this."

Moore said her office welcomed an opportunity for a judge to decide
whether the affidavits that accompany petition documents were proper.
She said the secretary of state's instructions to petition circulators
were clear.

In addition, she said the final signature counts for three other
petitions may not be completed before today.

The Review-Journal reported Saturday, based on a source, that only the
petition to roll back insurance rates has sufficient signatures to
qualify for the November ballot. The others will fail because many
signatures were thrown out

Under the state constitution, some registered voters who sign a
petition also must sign an affidavit on other petition documents
attesting they believe all signatures are genuine and are from
registered voters. They're known as "document signers."

Petition circulators also may serve as "document signers" if they are
registered voters and signed the petition.

In the case of the minimum wage and other petitions, some circulators
served as the document signers on many petition documents, not just
one. Maddox must determine whether that is permitted by law and the
constitution.

In a Jan. 24, 2000 order, Heller ruled there was "no limit" on the
number of times circulators could perform that duty.

There also are questions on whether circulators were registered voters
at the time they signed the affidavits and the petitions. Some
registered just before starting to collect signatures on the
petitions. Their registrations might not have shown up initially on
voter registration records.