Pubdate: Thu, 21 Nov 2002
Source: Las Vegas City Life (NV)
Copyright: 2002sLas Vegas City Life
Contact:  http://www.lasvegascitylife.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1653
Author: Jimmy Boegle. CityLife's news editor
Cited: Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement ( http://www.nrle.org )
Cited: Marijuana Policy Project ( http://www.mpp.org )
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?162 (Nevadans for Responsible Law 
Enforcement)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?163 (Question 9 (NV))

LOSING INITIATIVE GROUPS PONDER THE FUTURE

Two weeks removed from a crushing Election Day, Billy Rogers sounds 
surprisingly upbeat as he talks about the failure of Question 9.

"I think we got ahead of a tidal wave," says the leader of Nevadans for 
Responsible Law Enforcement, the group behind the question that would have 
legalized adult possession of up to three ounces of marijuana.

He says he's been studying the election statistics, and he's stunned at 
what was an amazing Republican turnout. He says some Republican-leaning 
precincts in Jon Porter's congressional district saw 80 percent turnout, 
while many of Shelley Berkley's Democratic-leaning precincts saw only 45 
percent turnout.

He points out that Berkley was fortunate in a sense; while she won by 11 
percentage points, Dario Herrera - who lost by 19 percentage points - got 
2,000 more votes than Berkley, illustrating how well Porter's campaign did 
at getting his conservative supporters to the polls.

Rogers also points out that the top vote-earning statewide Democratic 
candidate, Erin Kenny, got 41.5 percent of the vote, which is 5 percentage 
points less than what the best Democrat got in his home state of Texas.

"If you'd have told me that Nevada would be 5 percent more Republican than 
Texas, I'd have told you that you were crazy," says Rogers.

In other words: 39 percent of the vote, considering the conservative tidal 
wave that hit Nevada (and much of the rest of the country) this year, isn't 
too bad.

And that begs the question: Is this the end of NRLE, or will the folks 
behind Question 9 stick around for a while?

Rogers says he isn't sure, but he does relate this story: On Election Day, 
after Question 9's defeat was secured, someone from Nevadans Against 
Legalizing Marijuana - the group formed to fight Rogers and his group's 
efforts - made a joke about giving Rogers a one-way plane ticket back to 
Austin.

"I am certainly tempted to say, 'Take that plane ticket and shove it up 
your ass,'" Rogers says.

In other words: This may not be the end of NRLE. As a matter of fact, 
Rogers says he hopes it is not.

"Ultimately, you have to be able to fund an organization," Rogers says. 
"Hopefully, we'll continue to maintain an organization here in Nevada."

Where would that funding come from? Considering that the vast majority of 
NRLE's money came from the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, 
the decision probably lies with that organization.

The way Rogers speaks - while he makes it clear that things are still up in 
the air - it sounds like this: If NRLE doesn't remain, some form of it may 
return in the future.

"There are issues around the edges where we clearly had public support," he 
says. "Most people just don't think that people should be arrested for 
having small amounts of marijuana."

He also said that even NRLE's strongest opponents conceded there are flaws 
in Nevada's medical marijuana distribution system.

And therefore, what Rogers, the MPP and NRLE have to decide is: Was this 
Republican storm a fluke? Will the atypical Republican turnout (Rogers says 
the GOP voted in numbers like it was a presidential election, while 
Democrats voted in numbers typical for a midterm election) reoccur without 
Question 2 on the ballot in two years?

He says a lot of it depends on the presidential race. If George W. Bush is 
headed for a 1984-type Republican romp, then conservatives will rule the 
day. But if it's a repeat of 1992, then who knows?

"Nobody knows what the election is going to look like in 2004."

In other words: Stay tuned.

Equal Rights Nevada

NRLE has an unsure future, even in terms of its existence. In contrast, 
Equal Rights Nevada - the group that formed in 2000 to fight Question 2 - 
is almost guaranteed to stay around in some form.

But that's all that's certain. According to Executive Director Richard 
Schlegel, much is to be decided at ERN's December meeting, when a new board 
will be elected - and the fate of the group's three employees, Schlegel 
included, will be decided.

"This is an opportunity to talk with our membership about the organization 
and find out what they want," says Schlegel. "Since we've been focused on 
Question 2 [since the beginning], this will let us redefine why Equal 
Rights Nevada exists."

Schlegel said it's clear that the group will lobby at the 2003 Legislature 
to get more legal privileges for gay and lesbian couples. He says that even 
though Question 2 passed so overwhelmingly, and even though Nevada's 
legislators are more conservative than before, he has high hopes for 
legislative efforts.

"Regardless of party, we can at least be confident that Republicans can 
make a distinction between the two issues [of defining marriage and legal 
rights for couples]," he says

He adds that the group needs to build its membership and its fund-raising 
efforts. After all, the folks behind the Coalition for the Protection of 
Marriage aren't going away - and they remain a force to be reckoned with.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D