SEN. NEAL AND TEACHERS' UNION PRESENT PETITIONS THURSDAY MORNING

LAS VEGAS (Sept. 15) — Sen. Joe. Neal, D-North Las Vegas, addresses the Nevada Taxpayers Association this Thursday morning, 9-16-99, at the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas. He will present the case for his initiative petition to add a higher tier to the gross gaming tax for casinos grossing more than $1 million per month. It would be the first increase in the tax since 1987. Nevada casinos pay the lowest gaming levies in the world. Neal's new tier would affect just over 100 major clubs by adding a five percentage point increase. It would still leave Nevada's taxation among the lowest.

The Nevada teachers union will present its business income tax petition. Executive Director Ken Lange is scheduled to speak for the Nevada State Education Association. The representative of a northern Nevada group desiring a new version of California's 1976 property tax-slashing Prop. 13 has canceled.

The Nevada Taxpayers Association and Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, R, are currently trial-ballooning a sales tax on services. (See this week's Las Vegas Business Press, "Expansion of sales tax floated," by Larry Wills, 9-13-99.

Breakfast begins at 7:30 a.m. in the Stardust convention area, with speakers scheduled to start at 8:15.

Material from Sen. Neal's remarks will be posted at this website. Petition circulation cannot begin until January, Y2K. To volunteer or contribute, please e-mail Sen. Neal.

DETAILS ON ATTENDING THE SEPT. 16 TAX PETITION TRIPLEHEADER

Carole Vilardo at the Nevada Taxpayers Association has been the prime mover in putting the breakfast forum together and NTA is the lead organization. I inadvertently omitted them from the list of sponsoring organizations in the previous item and regret the oversight.

The NTA office in Las Vegas may be reached at (702) 457-8442; fax (702) 457-6361. The NTA Carson City office may be reached at (775) 882-2697. Admission to the Stardust Hotel event is $25 per person at the door, $20 in advance. We have been advised that space at the breakfast is limited, so those interested should make reservations without delay. (More details in the next item, below.) AB

SEN. NEAL TO PRESENT GAMING TAX PETITION BEFORE MAJOR BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS

All three of Nevada's major newspapers run Neal guest editorials in August

LAS VEGAS — The three (so far) proposed Nevada initiative petitions on tax matters will get their first side-by-side scrutiny on Thursday, Sept. 16, at the Stardust Hotel-Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

State Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, will present his arguments for raising the gross gaming tax on the state's largest, most profitable casinos. Neal recently revealed details of his petition (see links, below), for which signature gathering will begin in January, 2000, the earliest time allowed under state law.

Randi Thompson, Executive Director of Nevadans for Fair Taxation, will present her Incline Village-based organization's proposal for a latter day Proposition 13 (aka the 1976 California Jarvis-Gann Initiative). While their petition to slash property taxes has not been published, it will probably closely follow the language of Assembly Joint Resolution 17, introduced by Assemblyman Don Gustavson, R-Reno/Sparks North Valleys, during the 1999 Nevada legislative session.

When their texts become available, the Neal and Thompson group petitions may be viewed as two symptoms of the same ailment. As Sen. Neal stated in his August 26, 1999, Reno-Gazette Journal guest editorial, casino-caused "financial misdirection has squeezed municipalities which have had nowhere to turn but property taxes for necessities such as parks. This explains why such levies have consistently outpaced inflation in many parts of Nevada."

Finally, an as yet unnamed representative of the Nevada State Education Association will present the teachers union proposal for a 5% corporate profits tax on all businesses save gambling casinos and mining. (Taxation on mining was fixed to net proceeds by a 1989 state constitutional amendment.)

The Sept. 16 event in the Stardust Hotel convention area begins with breakfast at 7:30 a.m. with the program beginning at 8:15. Sponsoring organizations include the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, the (southern) Nevada Development Authority, the Nevada Manufacturers Association, the Nevada Mining Association, the Nevada Retail Association and the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association.

Read more about it:

Sen. Neal's commentary in the 8-26-99 Reno Gazette-Journal is not available at the newspaper's homepage, but will soon post at the front page of this website. If you are not currently included on our list-serve and would like a copy by e-mail, you may request it and/or future upload inclusion by contacting Andrew Barbano.

See also:

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL -- Senator argues for higher Nevada gaming tax

LAS VEGAS SUN -- Experts: Gaming, transiency make LV tough for child-raising

LAS VEGAS SUN -- Neal reveals details of gaming tax initiative

LAS VEGAS REVIEW- JOURNAL letter writer supports Neal

The 1999 legislative fight to get casinos to pay a fair share

BARBWIRE -- Fold democracy and let casinos rule by memo; teachers tax petition questioned

LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS -- Proposed teachers' tax petition same as earlier gambling industry proposal

Carson City newspaper endorses Neal's gaming tax hike

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL -- Issues settled on Bellagio art tax break

RENO (Aug. 26) -- Sen. Neal's guest editorial entitled "Gaming must pay fair share of tax burden" appeared on page 9A of today's Reno Gazette-Journal. Therein, Sen. Neal uses the gambling industry's own conduct to prove the need for an increase in the gross gaming tax on the state's largest, most profitable casinos.

The Reno paper has not posted the story at its web site, but we've found that sometimes they will add guest editorials when they move the paper to their archive. You can find details of Sen. Neal's initiative petition proposal at the front page of this site. We will be uploading today's installment soon.

Expect the evil empire to strike back shortly.

CORRECTION ON THE PREVIOUS ITEM —

Sen. Neal attended the National Conference of State Legislatures, July 24-28, in Indianapolis, Ind., not the NAACP national convention which was held earlier in the summer.

WELCOME BACK TO THE ARENA.

Sorry to have been away from this bulletin board for so long. If you haven't had a chance to keep up with Nevada newspapers on the web, you'll find legislative updates and a wide range of other public affairs commentary at Barbwire by Barbano, the weekly column from the Daily Sparks Tribune.

The Nevada Legislature, alas, went pretty much according to the most cynical script.

As master songwriter Leonard Cohen put it a few years back, "Everybody knows the dice are loaded. Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed. Everybody knows the war is over. Everybody knows the good guys lost. Everybody knows the fight was fixed.The poor stay poor, the rich get rich. That's how it goes. Everybody knows."

The poor and the weak suffered the worst in this legislature, as usual.

"Ask a lawmaker what the Nevada Legislature did for the middle class and it's like asking an actor about his reviews," veteran legislative reporter Dennis Myers wrote in the June 11 Daily Sparks Tribune.

"Ask lawmakers what they did for he state's businesses and rich folks and they'll get awfully quiet, though that gleam in their eyes will reveal they have a full array of goodies in mind, ranging from the $15 million (Steve) Wynn art tax dodge to the $200,000 subsidy supplied to a Minnesota company which owns a Clark County golf course," Myers continued.

"But ask them what they did for the state's low income residents and you get a lot of blank stares. Literally. I pointed a television camera (on which silence shows up real fast) and asked the question and I got a lot of blank stares...

"Sen. Joe Neal (says) that not only did the lawmakers do nothing for the poor, but actually damaged them by diverting federal money for dental care for the poor statewide to creation of a dental school in Las Vegas," Myers wrote.

"Neal (adds) that the lawmakers will never do anything for the poor as long as they are spending all their time on their bellies, 'not wanting to, you know, tap the big boys and make them pay their fair share. And as a result, you know, the little folks -- the little folks lose.'"

On August 19, Sen. Neal opened up the next front in his lifelong battle for equity and equality. In a guest editorial in the Las Vegas Sun, Sen. Neal revealed the first details of his initiative petition to raise the gross gaming tax on the state's largest, most profitable casinos.

Please read "Gambling must ante up," and tell your friends about it. By law, petition circulation cannot begin until January Y2K, but the next six months will be crucial for organization. Keep an eye on this website for announcements and instructions on how to get involved. He will need support from every county in Nevada.

There have been a few positive developments of late. The new Joseph M. Neal Elementary School opens this month, already over capacity like several other new ones in the fastest-growing city in the United States.

Designed for 650 students, Neal Elementary will open with 685.

The Steve Wynn art tax break takes millions of dollars annually away from school children. Sen. Neal's gaming tax increase proposal earmarks half its proceeds for school operations.

Sen. Neal attended the NAACP national convention a few weeks ago in his capacity as First Vice-President of the Las Vegas Chapter, a post to which he was elected earlier this year. He has long been active in NAACP affairs.

Sen. Neal's 1997 legislation to expand the Las Vegas City Council from four to six seats resulted in voter approval at the June municipal election. The redistricting plan is now being worked out with all the expected jockeying and gerrymandering.

Please stay tuned and be sure to stay in touch.

HIGH NOON IN CARSON CITY --- NEAL V. WYNN THIS THURSDAY WITH $18 MILLION ON THE LINE

CARSON CITY (April 26) --- The Nevada State Assembly Committee on Taxation will hear Senate Bill 521 in Carson City this Thursday, April 29, at 1:30 p.m. in hearing room 3142. Please show up or contact your representative or both. The hearing will probably be teleconferenced to the Sawyer Building in Las Vegas.

The bill will liberalize a tax loophole for Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn which he pushed thru the 1997 legislative session. It expands a multi-million dollar annual tax break subsidizing Wynn's Bellagio casino art collection at the expense of Nevada school children.

The new version was approved by the Nevada Senate by a vote of 14-7 on April 16. Here are the MAGNIFICENT 7 who voted against penalizing Nevada students to enrich a billionaire --- Republican Sens. O'Connell of Las Vegas and Amodei, Carson-Lyon-Storey. Democrats: Las Vegas Sens. Care, Coffin, Titus and Wiener; Sen. Neal, North Las Vegas.

Here is the assembly committee lineup which will hear the bill Thursday, April 16. From Reno: Greg Brower (R), Vivian Freeman (D), Dawn Gibbons (R). Sparks: Bernie Anderson (D). So. Nevada: Committee Chair David Goldwater, Morse Arberry, John Lee, Mark Manendo, Harry Mortenson, Bob Price, all Democrats; Sandra Tiffany, R.

From rural Nevada: Committee Vice-Chair Roy Neighbors, D-Tonopah; John Marvel, R-Battle Mountain.

Assembly e-mail addresses consist of a lawmaker's first-name initial and full last name followed by @asm.state.nv.us. Here's an example for Bob Price: bprice@asm.state.nv.us

To leave a phone message, call (775) 687-4848 in northwestern Nevada, (702) 384-2225 in Las Vegas, or (800) 978-2878 toll-free. You can fax any assemblymember at (775) 684-8888 and any senator at (775) 687-5898. Please make sure to include the bill number, SB 521, on everything.

Many lawmakers still give greater weight to paper. Write them at Legislative Building, Capitol Complex, Carson City NV 89701-4747, but do it immediately.

AMMUNITION

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL BUREAU ANALYSIS: How the Wynn art loophole will turn into a budgetary hemorrhage --- A legal analysis of the pitfalls inherent in the passage of SB 521 is being distributed to media and lawmakers. It will also be uploaded to subscribers to Sen. Neal's list serve. If you have not yet received it, please send a request to Joe@Neal98.org. The text will also be available at the Nevada Legislature section of Casinos Out of Politics at www.nevadalabor.com/cop/cophome.html

READ MORE ABOUT IT --- A detailed analysis of SB 521's problems, combined with a few potshots at the beleaguered billionaire causing all this hassle, may be found in the April 18 edition of Barbwire by Barbano from the Daily Sparks, Nev., Tribune. Go to www.nevadalabor.com and click on the Barbwire icon.

NEAL MOVES FORWARD WITH PETITION --- "Neal seeks vote on gaming tax hike" reads the front page headline in the Sunday, April 25, 1999, Las Vegas Review-Journal.

"A lawmaker says the gaming tax rate hasn't risen for 10 years, but critics say that's no reason to raise it," writes longtime RJ writer Jane Ann Morrison. Read what Sen. Neal says he's going to do and be amused at the rather uncomfortable responses of gambling spokespersons both named and nameless. Go to http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/1999/Apr-25-Sun-1999/news/10968670.html

LEGISLATIVE MID-TERM BOX SCORE --- Much of Sen. Neal's gambling industry legislation has been killed by all-powerful casino interests. Such is often the fate of the Great Dissenters. However, some remains very much alive.

Although Senate Bill 88 to raise the gaming tax on the largest, most profitable casinos did not survive, it will rise again as a statewide initiative petition. SB 86 to reduce casino influence in politics was likewise killed but the movement toward reigning in Nevada's plantation overlords will go on with their wallets as primary targets.

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, another fundamental campaign reform proposal is still going. Sen. Neal's SB 91 authorizes candidates to include statements in a publication prepared by the secretary of state, namely the sample ballot mailed to each voter. This represents an inexpensive way for political hopefuls to present a message to voters without needing tons of corporate cash to pay for television. It is currently before the Senate Finance Committee, upon which Sen. Neal sits as the senior Democrat.

On the other hand, another money bill, SB 198, never even got a hearing. Sponsored by Sens. Neal and Titus, it would have closed another casino tax loophole passed by the 1997 session. The Lucky Bucks Tax Break basically allows casinos to print money. They are currently allowed to deduct from their Nevada taxes (already the lowest in the world), the full face value of complimentary gambling chips and lucky bucks coupons just as though they had handed their customers free cash. In this case, the cash comes from the treasury of the State of Nevada. It has already cost your state millions.

Senate Joint Resolution 16, Sen. Neal's proposal to give Nevada its own state bank like the one which has served North Dakota citizens so well for almost a century, also died under new legislative fast-track rules. That idea will live to fight another day.

Sen. Neal's SB 147, if passed, will make an appropriation to the Life Line Pregnancy Assistance and Vocational Training Center for continuation of its nonprofit pregnancy assistance, educational and vocational training programs. It remains active before the Senate Finance Committee.

SB 89 is Sen. Neal's proposal to create a fund to assist people of humble means with their utility bills. The program will be funded by money from the state abandoned property trust fund. It likewise remains active before the Senate Finance Committee.

SB 272 makes an appropriation to the Economic Opportunity Board of Clark County for replacement of its paratransit fleet. It, too, remains active before the Senate Finance Committee.

SB 274 is Sen. Neal's long-sought amendment to the charter of the City of Las Vegas to create six city council wards from the current four. The fastest growing community in the nation needs more councilmembers to properly serve the public. The bill passed the Senate 20-0 on April 2 and is currently before the Assembly Committee on Government Affairs.

Watch this space for more. If you want to follow play-by-play day-by-day, go to the legislative website which can be accessed from the Neal98 home page.

WYNN ART TAX LOOPHOLE IN DOUBT

SEN. WASHINGTON, R-SPARKS, HOLDS SWING VOTE

CARSON CITY (April 16) ‹ Tax day was Thursday for most people, but it's Friday for Las Vegas casino billionaire Steve Wynn.

Senate Bill 521 is in trouble in the Nevada State Senate. The measure would forgive about $15 million in taxes owed from the acquisition of Wynn's $300 million casino art collection. As of Thursday morning, Wynn's supporters did not have enough votes for passage.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, himself a casino licensee, moved that consideration of SB 521 be delayed until Friday. Gambling industry lawyer Harvey Whittemore and his dark-suited team have put a full court press on the senate.

Even Peter Ernaut, chief of staff to Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn, worked on the Wynn tax loophole and counted noses during the governor's visit to the legislative building Thursday.

Sen. Maurice Washington, R-Sparks, who supported the Wynn tax break in 1997, may hold the key swing vote on the controversial preferential legislation. Opponents of the billionaire's tax break have been urging Sparks residents to call the legislative hotline to urge Washington to vote against SB 521 on the floor on Friday.

The phone number is (775) 687-4848 or (800) 978-2878. Faxes may be sent to (775) 687-5898. Sen. Washington's e-mail address is mwashington@sen.state.nv.us

Wynn's backers were confident of passage after last week's action in the senate taxation committee. SB 90 proposed repeal of the 1997 loophole law. The measure sponsored by Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, failed by one vote.

The committee then turned to Wynn's bill. SB 521 would allow Mr. Wynn to have his cake and eat it, too. He could charge admission to the very students whose schools will lose millions annually because of the tax loophole.

The Nevada Tax Commission, in the rule making process to administer the tax break, last year held that the current law does not allow Wynn both his tax exemption and an entrance fee. The 1997 measure states that the recipient of the tax break must make the art available for educational purposes but does not provide for an admission charge.

Wynn insists on charging everyone, telling reporters last year that he did not want to "cheapen the experience" by letting anyone in free. "It won't bust anyone if I make it ten bucks," Wynn said. He has since increased the charge to $12. Wynn earned $3.75 million in salary and bonuses in 1998.

The San Francisco Chronicle last year called the Bellagio gallery "pro-rated on a per-painting basis...the most expensive museum in the world" to get into. (Go to http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/10/19/MN50464.DTL

All this comes as the fastest-growing state in the nation encounters trouble paying for that growth. Las Vegas needs to open a new school every 40 days for the next 10 years but the school district is currently fighting the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the gambling industry's tax-subsidized promotional arm, for school construction money. (See http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/1999/apr/12/508652325.html

Wynn's Bellagio sued the tax commission last November. The suit admits that Wynn seeks to avoid "personal property tax" and "local school support tax." (Bellagio v. Nevada Tax Commission, No. A396372, filed 24 Nov. 1998, page 2)

Wynn's attempt to short-circuit the court process through legislative pre-emption has become a common tactic with Nevada's monied interests.

NEWSPAPER EDITORIAL PAINTS WYNN A NEW ONE

SUBSIDIZED ARROGANCE

Steve Wynn has been remarkably generous in his offer to knock $6 off admission to his art collection. Here at the Tribune, we have so many remarks to make about his generosity that we don't know where to start.

This arrogant lout got a tax break under the pretext that the people of Nevada would be somehow improved by the opportunity to view very expensive art painted by long-dead men. The law said that in order for art to qualify for the discount it would have to be displayed to the public for a certain amount of time.

It's absurd that a financially strapped state like Nevada is giving Wynn this tax break. How can anyone stand by while the foster grandparent program and school funding are cut and Steve Wynn gets a tax break for a frivolous ego trip?

But what's most appalling about the whole mess is that Wynn practically wrote the law himself, and only two years later he's trying to change it. A man's gone about as low as he can go when he can't even play by the rules he's made up for himself.

The root of the problem is that the legislators in this state have let Wynn do whatever he wants for too long. He's come to think he is the czar of Nevada and that he cannot be held accountable to his fellow Nevada residents. Why else does he make and change state laws on a whim? Because he's been allowed to, that's why.

If Wynn wants to turn Nevada into a cultural Mecca, he will have to do a lot more than keep a few pieces of art locked up in his casino and charge $12 a head for people to see it. As it is now, the Wynn art collection is nothing more than bravado. It's Steve Wynn's shouting to the world that he's stinking rich.

The works of Monet and Renoir he's collected could just as well be fancy cars or baseball cards. They do nothing for Nevada and Nevadans shouldn't be paying $18 million to have them here.

EDITORIAL FROM THE APRIL 5, 1999, DAILY SPARKS TRIBUNE

WYNN WINS AGAIN

CARSON CITY (April 6) — Taxpayers took another beating Tuesday afternoon when Senate Bill 90 was killed by the Senate Committee on Taxation. Sponsored by Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, it would have repealed Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn's tax loophole for his high-priced casino art collections. The break is estimated to cost taxpayers about $18 million a year.

Sen. Neal testified before the Nevada Tax Commission last year that it would be against the law for Mr. Wynn to charge Nevada school children to see artwork already costing their schools millions in lost tax funds. The commission agreed and Wynn sued the commission. The case has not yet come to trial.

Supporting Neal's repeal were Las Vegas Sens. Bob Coffin (D) and Ann O'Connell (R). Voting to kill the repeal were Sens. Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, and Mike McGinness, R-Fallon.

The committee then turned to SB 521, Wynn's countermeasure. It would outright give Mr. Wynn his art tax break and throw a bone to Nevadans, half-price admission to what the San Francisco Chronicle noted as "pro-rated on a per-painting basis...the most expensive museum in the world" to get into. (Go to http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/10/19/MN50464.DTL

Only Sen. Neal opposed setting Wynn's loophole in cement. The most shocking revelation lies in that a majority of the committee (Coffin, O'Connell, McGinness, Neal), voted against the Wynn loophole when Wynn first pushed it through in 1997.

The current legislation says Wynn will donate any leftover admission fees, after costs are deducted, to charity. Any student of Hollywood accounting knows that a net gets awfully hard to find after creative accountants get done deducting all those pesky costs.

HEAR, HEAR

Sen. Neal salvaged one thing after being savaged by the taxation committee. He asked Chairman McGinness when he would hold a hearing on Neal's two bills to repeal the sales tax on hearing aids (SB 405 and SB 406). Sen. McGinness said he would schedule them for Thursday, April 8, so that they would have a chance of making Friday's deadline for senate passage of all surviving legislation.

Sen. Neal urges Nevadans to contact their representatives to support this long past due reform. Phone numbers and e-mail addresses may be obtained through the legislative website, accessible through the Neal site's front page.

CAPITAL CITY NEWSPAPER ENDORSES NEAL GAMING TAX HIKE BILL

CARSON CITY, March 11 — Nevada's capital city newspaper, the Carson City Nevada Appeal, today endorsed Sen. Joe Neal's proposal to hike the gross gaming tax on the state's largest, most profitable casinos. This comes on the heels of news of a record January for Reno-Sparks casinos and a 16.6 percent gain for Nevada gambling over January of 1998. The January win statewide totaled $807.2 million, according to the Nevad Gaming Control Board.

"January was the first time clubs went over $800 million in any month since the board started compiling the monthly win reports in 1983," according to the Associated Press.

Neal's jousts with the state's predominant industry continue this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. as the Nevada State Senate Committee on Taxation hears the North Las Vegas Democrat's bill to repeal casino mogul Steve Wynn's art collectors tax break. The 1997 "Show Me the Monet" law takes millions of dollars directly from school children to subsidize casino art collections. Last year, Sen. Neal prevailed before the Nevada Tax Commission which would not allow Wynn to charge school children admission to the Bellagio art gallery. Wynn has sued the commission and has a bill being drafted to modify the 1997 law to explictly allow him to charge admission to students who subsidize his collection.

For more details on Sen. Neal's positions on the fine arts of gaming and taxation, go to http://www.neal98.org/posit1.html/

----

http://www.tahoe.com/appeal/stories.3.11.99/opinion/edittax11Mar8628.html

Carson City Nevada Appeal Opinion, Thursday, March 11, 1999, 2:22 AM

Editorial: Casino tax

by staff

Sen. Joe Neal's idea for another tier on Nevada's casino tax deserves a full debate in the Nevada Legislature and, in the end, is worthy of compromise legislation this session.

Neal's proposal would raise the tax rate on the state's biggest casinos - the ones bringing in more than $1 million a month in gross revenue. They would be taxed at 8.25 percent, instead of the 6.25 percent now applied to casinos with gross revenues of $134,000 a month.

There is nothing particularly unfair or discriminatory about Neal's plan. Nevada already has a tier system distinguishing among different-sized operations; this would simply refine it to take into account the megaresorts now springing up like mushrooms in Las Vegas.

Certainly it targets a specific industry. Don't most taxes? Homeowners will tell you they see tax increases almost every year, so they find it rather absurd to hear casino lobbyists whine that they would be "burdened" by the first tax increase in many years.

And we didn't feel much sympathy for the complaint that a tax on gross revenues, rather than net revenues, actually means the percentage is much higher than 6.25 percent. Ask a retailer if he's collecting 7 percent sales tax on the gross sale or on the amount of profit he's making on the sale.

What does need to be considered, however, is the effect of a tax increase on the gaming industry. It may, indeed, slow growth and investment generally - a bad thing for Nevada's economy and tax revenues.

As a related issue, an increase in gaming taxes means Nevada's government would rely even more on he industry. Diversification of the tax base is not just a handy slogan, it's absolutely necessary to the future stability of the state.

Would Neal's plan start a downward spiral that could eventually leave the state with a more serious budget dilemma?

With such high stakes, we think the Senate Taxation Committee should recommend some version of Neal's bill and generate a wider debate on the issue. One good reason would be Neal's threat to take an even higher tax rate - 9.25 percent - to the people for a vote.

Setting another tier is the best idea in Neal's bill. Where the rate should be - 7 percent or 7.25 percent might be reasonable compromises - can be the focus of that debate.

(Copyright, 1999, Nevada Appeal)

TAXING PROPOSITIONS TEST TAXPAYER TOLERANCE

CARSON CITY, March 9 — Sen. Neal's SB 88, a bill to raise the gross gaming tax on Nevada's most grossly profitable big casinos, goes up for hearing this Tuesday. Everybody who's anybody in the gambling-industrial complex will show up to cry poor boy and bash Indian tribes. Call, write and show up to support the bill.

Gov. Guinn and the gambling industry are pushing toward property tax increases as the only alternative to pay for casino-spawned growth. Speak now or pay later.

Another, harsher response is in the offing. Assemblyman Don Gustavson, R-Sun Valley, is preparing to introduce a latter day Proposition 13, a state constitutional amendment to roll back property taxes on older homes. Taxpayers have seen the gambling industry facilitate tax increases on everyone else while keeping industry levies the lowest in the nation. The gambling industry also skims hundreds of millions a year from the Nevada tax base in corporate welfare subsidies.

Municipalities have thus had few options outside of raising property taxes to pay for the impacts of casino-spawned growth. Hence, the neo-Prop. 13 proposal. (For a detailed discussion of these issues, check out the last four months of columns from the Daily Sparks, Nev., Tribune at http://www.nevadalabor.com/barbwire/barbcontents.html

Taxpayer organizations have been echoing Sen. Neal's threat to take tax inequities to the voters via statewide petitions.

SB 88 proceedings begin at 2:00 p.m. Tuesday in room 2135 before the senate taxation committee. Same time, same place on Thursday, that same committee will hear SB 90, Sen. Neal's proposed repeal of the infamous Steve Wynn art collection tax break.

For more details on Sen. Neal's positions on gaming and taxation, go to http://www.neal98.org/posit1.html

Coming soon to www.NevadaLabor.com: Casinos Out of Politics (COP), a new statewide organization to attack all of the above issues.

Breaking news may be posted at any hour at the Neal "bulletins" site, right here. Stay tuned and tell your friends.

GOV. GUINN TRASHES NEAL'S NUCLEAR DUMP SOLUTION

CARSON CITY, March 3 — Sen. Neal and a distinguished scientist offered a viable solution to Nevada's and the nation's nuclear waste dilemma. Some people have been opposing for so long that they can do nothing else.

For veteran Las Vegas Review-Journal capital correspondent Ed Vogel's report on the state senate hearing, go to http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/1999/Mar-04-Thu-1999/news/10728013.html

For otherwise unreported details and commentary, read the March 7, 1999, installment of Barbwire by Barbano from the Daily Sparks, Nev., Tribune at http://www.nevadalabor.com/barbwire/barbcontents.html

You will find additional details on Sen. Neal's nuclear waste positions elsewhere on this site.

PROBLEM SOLVED? NEAL RESOLUTION SUPPORTS SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGH ON HIGH-LEVEL NUCLEAR WASTE

*Sen. Neal explains misconceptions about nuclear waste resolution, SJR 6

*Hearing before state senate committee on March 3, 1999

*Neal confirms dates for casino tax bill hearings

Republican support

CARSON CITY — State Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, today issued a statement to clear up misconceptions regarding Senate Joint Resolution 6, his measure which supports a potential new scientific solution to the controversial issue of high-level nuclear waste. A senate committee hears the proposal Wednesday.

"The now-obsolete summary placed on the first draft last year has caused some confusion," Neal said.

"The modified resolution actually introduced is quite different from the working title," he added. (http://www.leg.state.nv.us/70th/bills/SJR/SJR6.html)

The final SJR6 text concludes "that the members of the Nevada Legislature do hereby support and desire to cooperate with the Department of Energy while it researches the safety requirements for the transmutation and storage of high-level nuclear waste in a repository located in the state of Nevada."

"Transmutation is an exciting new technology which appears to offer very real potential of resolving this divisive issue once and for all," Neal said.

"The process is called accelerator-driven transmutation technology," the Las Vegas Sun reported on Dec. 7, 1998. (http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/1998/dec/07/508108924.html)

"It can reduce the waste at the reactor sites and also can produce enough heat to generate steam to turn a turbine and produce electricity...

"The idea of shrinking 70,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste down to a couple hundred pounds sounds too good to be true," longtime nuclear energy reporter Mary Manning wrote. "For a handful of physicists at UNLV, however, reducing thousands of tons of radioactive materials to 230 pounds makes sense. It would put an end to the federal government's need for a nuclear repository at Yucca Mountain or anywhere else," the Sun reported.

The process works by bombarding radioactive material with neutrons which shrink it and render it harmless. Manning's article was reprinted by other Nevada newspapers.

Scientists at the Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies at UNLV are seeking support to develop transmutation as "a contingency plan if Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, fails to meet scientific tests that would qualify it as the nation's repository for high-level nuclear waste," the Sun noted.

"I think they deserve legislative support" Neal said.

"Installation of a full transmutation facility needs to be reviewed for location at the Nevada Nuclear Test Site which is already home to untold amounts of high-level waste. Last month, Ms. Manning reported that test site management has lost the location of an unknown number of buried nuclear fuel rods from old tests," the senate's senior Democrat added.

"Congress cut a $15 million research request down to $4 million in the 1999 budget. Our bipartisan congressional delegation needs to work at restoring that money. Backing this project means doing well by doing good — highly paid, high-tech new jobs for Nevada workers focused on solving one of the nation's most vexing problems," Neal said.

"Transmutation at the minimum seems to drastically reduce, if not eliminate, the need to transport waste across the country to a central location. Once the technology is developed, processing can be done within the geographical region producing the waste," the 26-year lawmaker noted.

SJR6 will receive a hearing before the State Senate Committee on Human Resources and Facilities at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 3, in legislative hearing room 2135. Anyone with an Internet capable computer may listen to the proceedings at the legislature's website, www.leg.state.nv.us/

"Contrary to some typifications, my position on this issue has been consistent," Neal said.

"I have neither endorsed nor worked to bring to Nevada nuclear waste created elsewhere. I have always shared the transportation concerns expressed by so many others. However, I have been among the few to say that should Nevada run out of legal options, the state should be well paid for the imposition of any storage," Neal said. SJR6 calls for legislative consideration of compensation.

"The Nevada Legislature in the past has encouraged just such use of the test site," Neal noted.

In 1985, then-Gov. Richard Bryan signed into law Senate Bill 67, "authorizing the governor to negotiate for an agreement with the United States concerning disposal of (high level radioactive) waste."

It unanimously passed the assembly with one member absent (the late Dr. Marvin Sedway, D-Las Vegas). It passed the senate unanimously. At that time, the upper house included Sue Wagner, Bill Raggio and Randolph Townsend, all R-Reno; Thomas R.C. "Spike" Wilson, D-Reno; Alan Glover, D-Carson City; Lawrence Jacobsen, R-Minden; Ann O'Connell and Ray Rawson, both R-Las Vegas; Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora; and Ray Shaffer, D-Las Vegas.

In 1975, Assembly Joint Resolution No. 15 passed both houses and was signed by then-Gov. Mike O'Callaghan. It urged the federal government "to choose the Nevada Test Site for the storage and processing of nuclear material." Among the "yes" votes were senators Richard Bryan, D-Las Vegas, Carl Dodge, R-Fallon, Warren "Snowy" Monroe, D-Elko, and Gary Sheerin, D-Carson City. In the assembly, Speaker Keith Ashworth, D-Las Vegas, supported the measure, as did assemblymembers Joe Dini, D-Yerington, Lawrence Jacobsen, R-Minden, Bob Price, D-North Las Vegas and Alan Glover, D-Carson City.

CASINO TAX HEARING SCHEDULE CONFIRMED--Separately, Sen. Neal confirmed that hearings on two of his major casino taxation bills have been set for next week. On Tuesday, March 9, at 2:00 p.m., the State Senate Committee on Taxation will review SB 88, a measure to increase the gross gaming tax on the largest casinos. The hearing will begin at 2:00 p.m. in legislative hearing room 2135. On Thursday, March 11, at 2:00 p.m., the same committee will hear SB 90, Neal's proposal to repeal casino mogul Steve Wynn's tax break for art collectors at the expense of school children. Some press reports erroneously listed the taxation committee hearings as scheduled for this week.

ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE, COURTESY OF NEVADA GOP NEWS & VIEWS, 3-1-99

GOP Caucus Ponders Yucca Benefits

"At a meeting in Carson City two weeks ago, members of the Nevada Republican Rural Caucus voted to draft a position paper supporting the need to get substantial benefits in return for storing the nation's nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. The group contends the nuclear *suppository* is destined for Nevada anyway, so the state ought to begin negotiating appropriate compensation. At the annual Churchill County Lincoln Day dinner this weekend, keynote speaker Bruce James suggested three possible items the state might consider demanding if the repository is sited here: (1) $1 billion a year for 50 years to the state's university system to develop the technology necessary to *transmutate* the waste back to its harmless origins. Nevada's university system would quickly become one of the top research institutions in the world; (2) Require the feds to give back substantial amounts of land it currently owns in the state (the feds own about 87% of Nevada land) which could be sold by individual counties for private investment; and (3) Pay half of the combined property taxes owed by Nevadans each year, thus dramatically reducing the tax burden of residents." (No emphasis added. From "GOP News & Views," the Internet newsletter of the Nevada Republican Liberty Caucus; Chuck Muth, Chairman; charmuth@aol.com)

NEAL CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM ASSASSINATED, BUT NEVER SAY DIE.

Petitions mean never having to say you're sorry

CARSON CITY, Feb. 23 --- Sen. Neal's bill to take casinos out of politics was killed in the Senate Government Affairs Committee last week. Read all about it by going to www.nevadalabor.com and clicking on the Barbwire icon. Go to the Feb. 21 installment entitled "Darth beetles, chopped liver and Casinos Out of Politics."

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS. At the Feb. 17 hearing, heavyweight representatives of the gambling-industrial complex were joined by the entire hierarchy of the Las Vegas Culinary Union and the incoming head of the Nevada AFL-CIO acting in concert to kill the bill.

Apparently intimidated by the strange bedfellows, none of the groups which have for years clamored for campaign finance reform showed up to testify in support of the most sweeping measure ever introduced on the subject. The only organization to speak for Senate Bill 86 was Casinos Out of Politics (COP), headed by Neal98 campaign manager Andrew Barbano. Former Common Cause Nevada Chair Patricia Fladager also testified in favor of the proposal which would emulate New Jersey gambling control law and Illinois liquor control law. Both prohibit campaign contributions by licensees. Courts long ago held such statutes constitutional.

THE AWFUL TRUTH. Gambling's control of Nevada politics was amply demonstrated last Friday. A joint meeting of the state senate and assembly judiciary committees heard a presentation by former State Sen. Mike Sloan, D-Las Vegas, now a Vice-president of Circus Circus. Mr. Sloan brought an accountant with him to show how unprofitable the casino industry has become. They presented such a dismal case that, to listen to them, Las Vegas now stands on the verge of closing. Tearful crocodiles and other expensively-suited reptiles were seen in the back of the room.

YOU'RE GONNA PAY. Sloan effectively put in place the second piece of the "tax reform" puzzle advanced by Gov. Kenny Guinn during his January state of the state address. (See "Gov. Guinn: Dudley Do-Right defrocked as Nowhere Man" at http://www.nevadalabor.com/barbwire/barbarchive/barb1-24-99.html)

The governor's handlers have hinted at increased property taxes since Guinn's gloomy speech. Sloan last Friday gave some serious hints as to where state policy may be moving. He said that if new property taxes are imposed, they should be spread among all types of business, not just gambling, with businesses paying higher rates than homeowners.

CONSTITUTIONAL CONTRADICTION. Apparently, no one remembered Article 10, Section 1, of the Nevada Constitution which provides for a "uniform and equal rate of assessment and taxation." Translation: without a constitutional amendment, a four year process in Nevada, residential property taxes must go up if business taxes rise.

HEADS, I WIN. TAILS, YOU LOSE. However, casinos may apply for property tax reductions based on their profitability, a luxury which homeowners don't enjoy. The Reno Hilton, John Ascuaga's Sparks Nugget and several other northwestern Nevada gambling enterprises won property tax reductions in the past several years after their profits failed to meet projections.

THE FIRE NEXT TIME. All of this will add fuel to a smoldering taxpayer revolt and assist Sen. Neal in making good his threat to take tax fairness to the voters with a statewide petition next year.

THE NEXT BATTLEGROUND: Senate Bill 88, Sen. Neal's measure to increase the gross gaming tax on the largest, most obscenely profitable casinos, will be heard on Tuesday, March 9, at 2:00 p.m. before the Senate Committee on Taxation in Room 2135 at the legislative building in Carson City. Look for information leading up to the hearing at a new Casinos Out of Politics section coming soon to www.NevadaLabor.com.

Breaking news may be posted at any hour at the Neal "bulletins" site, right here. Stay tuned and tell your friends.

NEAL TRIES TO TAKE CASINOS OUT OF POLITICS

CARSON CITY, Feb. 17 --- On Wednesday, the Nevada State Senate Committee on Government Affairs will hear Senate Bill 86 (http://www.leg.state.nv.us/70th/Reports/history.cfm?ID=1981), Sen. Neal's proposal to implement New Jersey's longtime ban on casino control of the political process. (2:00 p.m. PST, Room 2149, Nevada Legislative Building, Carson City)

On Friday, the same committee will hear SB 91, Sen. Neal's measure to allow candidates to pay a modest fee to place 400-word statements on sample ballots and cut the exorbitant cost of campaign advertising. (Same place, but flexible time. The committee convenes upon Friday adjournment of the senate floor session.)

If you can't attend, here's how to contact your assembly and senate members.

You may phone your lawmakers locally at (775) 687-5545 in northwestern Nevada or (702) 384-2225 in the Las Vegas area. Here are three statewide toll-free numbers: (800) 978-2878; 995-9080; 992-0973. Contact them as many times as you can. Please ask your friends and relatives to the same.

The Senate Government Affairs Committee is chaired by Ann O'Connell, R-Las Vegas (aoconnell@sen.state.nv.us). Vice-chair is Bill Raggio, R-Reno (wraggio@sen.state.nv.us). Other committee members are Jon Porter, R-Boulder City (jporter@sen.state.nv.us); Bill O'Donnell, R-Las Vegas (wodonnell@sen.state.nv.us); Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas (dtitus@sen.state.nv.us); Sen. Neal, D-North Las Vegas (jneal@sen.state.nv.us); and Terry Care, D-Las Vegas (tcare@sen.state.nv.us).

You may listen to the proceedings via RealPlayer on the web at http://www.leg.state.nv.us/audio/index.htm

If politics is your idea of bloodsport, and taking out Numero Uno is your idea of red meat, then this hearing is as serious as the game gets.

Tune in, turn online and tell a friend.

NEAL OPENS SIX-PACK ON SENATE FLOOR

CARSON CITY, Feb. 3 — Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, brings an explosive six-pack of major legislation onto the Nevada State Senate floor today.

Neal, senior Democrat in the upper house, will introduce his much-discussed gambling package which raises the industry's taxes while reducing its political influence.

One measure would hike the gross gaming tax on the state's largest, most profitable casinos. Nevada's gaming tax has not been increased since 1987. Neal says that the industry should pay a fair share for the growth it causes and from which it is the principal beneficiary. Nevada clubs pay the lowest levies in the nation.

The current three-tiered taxing system would have four levels under Neal's proposal. The 26-year lawmaker would protect smaller operations from any increase. Gambling operations grossing less than $50,000 per month would continue to pay three percent. Casinos generating between $50,000 and $134,000 per month would remain at four percent. The 12 year-old top rate of 6.25 percent would continue to apply to those grossing from $134,000 to $1 million per month. The highest volume enterprises grossing more than $1 million monthly would be subject to the new rate of 8.25 percent.

Casinos in other areas pay as much as 34 percent for the privilege of holding a gaming license. Atlantic City operations pay New Jersey eight percent on gross revenues with an additional 1.25 percent earmarked for a community reinvestment program.

Another Neal proposal would make it illegal for gambling interests to contribute money to candidates or to lobby governments. Neal's bill is patterned after New Jersey's prohibition enacted more than 20 years ago.

It withstood constitutional scrutiny when the U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal. (See "The Jersey Way" by Steve Sebelius which recently appeared in Las Vegas City Life and the Reno News & Review, http://lvcitylife.com/news/stories/99012103n.html/)

Two other Neal bills would close industry loopholes which became law over his opposition in 1997. One would eliminate the sales and use tax break on high-priced works of art passed at the behest of Las Vegas casino magnate Steve Wynn. Last year, Neal successfully blocked Wynn's attempt to take the tax break and still charge admission to children whose schools would lose millions to Wynn's corporate art collections. Wynn is suing the Nevada Tax Commission over the issue.

Neal also proposes to close another loophole whereby casinos deduct the face value of lucky bucks coupons and complimentary chips from their state gaming taxes, a de facto license to print money.

Another Neal bill is designed to wean candidates away from the need to chase big dollars for advertising. He proposes to allow candidates to provide 400-word statements for inclusion on sample ballots. Candidates would pay to cover printing cost.

Neal's sixth measure scheduled for introduction today would mandate that Nevada's Public Utilities Commission use unclaimed property to help pay the utility bills of indigent consumers. He has other legislation in the pipeline to expand the size of the Las Vegas City Council.

For more details on Sen. Neal's positions on gaming and taxation, go to http://www.neal98.org/posit1.html/

Testifying before the National Gambling Impact Study Commission in Las Vegas last Nov. 10, Neal called gaming a "parasitic business."

"If gaming does not have a host outside of its jurisdiction, it turns and devours its own community," Neal said.

"The people should control gaming, and gaming should not control the people," he added.

Neal considers his proposals as insurance against federal taxation. "The public pays for the costs of addiction and other gambling-related problems. The National Gambling Impact Study Commission will see this and propose appropriate taxation," Neal noted last year during his gubernatorial campaign.

"An increase in the gross gaming tax on the largest Nevada casinos is the best preventive medicine the industry can take. Otherwise, the federal government will come calling and take our fair share to Washington," he asserted.

Neal contends that gaming actually pays little or nothing in state and local taxes, as all such levies are fully deductible on federal income tax returns. Neal received no casino support in his campaign for governor.

The Silver State has led the nation in growth throughout the decade but currently faces a serious shortfall in revenues which Neal attributes to the gambling industry not carrying its weight.

In its February edition, the conservative Nevada Policy Research Institute's "Nevada Journal" will publish a summary of taxes and fees which have increased since 1981.

SEN. NEAL NAMED TO LAS VEGAS NEWSPAPER'S LIST OF 10 LOCAL HEROES

State senator wages lonely battles to level playing field

Joe Neal has been a state senator for 26 years, but 1998 may have been his busiest yet as a political leader. Neal, 63, took an unsuccessful shot at the Democratic nomination for governor, losing in the primary to Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones. But the main issue he raised during his campaign--that casinos should contribute more to the community--continues to reverberate.

Neal also battled Steve Wynn over an art tax break designed specifically to benefit the Mirage Resorts chairman and his Bellagio art gallery. Neal, who opposed the bill in the 1997 legislative session, was able to declare at least a temporary victory when the Nevada Tax Commission ruled that if Wynn wants the tax breaks, he must provide 20 hours a week of free public viewing. Wynn has since filed a lawsuit to get the commission's ruling overturned.

Neal also has been involved in the creation of a civilian review board for Metro Police, a process started with the passage of a Neal-sponsored bill in 1997.

Neal is that rare Nevada legislator who feels beholden to no one except his constituents. The legislation he supports is intended to "aid in the progress of people." In 1981, Neal was the prime sponsor of a bill requiring hotels to install sprinklers to prevent towering infernos like the tragic MGM and Las Vegas Hilton fires of 1980 and '81. "That was a big fight," he says.

In the 1999 Legislature, which convenes in February, Neal plans to push four bills to help level the playing field in Nevada:

*Increase the gross gaming tax, which is the lowest in the nation and hasn't changed since 1987.

*Repeal a casino chip tax break.

*Repeal Wynn's art tax break. "It doesn't do anything to aid and advance Nevada," Neal says. "It does a lot for Steve Wynn and the Bellagio, but as for the people themselves, I don't think it does anything."

*Make it illegal for casinos to contribute money to candidates (patterned after the law in New Jersey).

While the gaming industry has the most powerful lobby in Carson City, Neal is confident his bills will at least get a hearing. "The issues will be heard," he says. "I don't think any [committee] chairman would be willing to sit on something like this, considering we've had so much discussion on it within the past year."

Neal also will be a constant pain in the rear for gaming and other special interests on two key Senate committees, Finance and Taxation. Neal, the state's first black state senator, says substantial progress has been made on racial issues since he came to Nevada as a teenager in 1954 and got involved in civil rights causes in the '60s. But Neal isn't shy about raising his voice if he sees racial injustice.

"We in the black community don't go along just to get along," he says. "If need be, we will bring people to task."

From "Local Heroes" by Geoff Schumacher, Managing Editor, City Life, the Las Vegas alternative weekly newspaper, 10-17-98.

Sen. Neal stands in prestigious company. To learn who else made the top 10 and honorable mention lists, go to http://lvcitylife.com/news/stories/98121701n.html/ Also read the introduction entitled "Scorched Earth: the Crusaders," also by Mr. Schumacher at http://lvcitylife.com/views/stories/98121704v.html

KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS

LAS VEGAS hadn't had a snowfall in years until last Sunday. Amid the storm, an awestruck grandson of State Sen. Joe Neal rushed into the house and screeched "Grandpa! Grandpa! Rice is falling outside on the car!"

From Rollan Melton's column in the Reno Gazette-Journal, 12-10-98.

NEAL RESPONDS TO CONSERVATIVE THINK TANK GUEST EDITORIAL

Editors --- Carson City Nevada Appeal, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada Policy Research Institute Nevada Journal

I would appreciate your correcting Ralph Heller's recent analysis of the 1999 Nevada Legislature with respect to my background. I worked my entire professional career in the private sector. In my younger days, I was employed in hotels and as a steelworker. I retired in 1994 after 25 years with Reynolds Electrical & Engineering Company, Inc., where I served as assistant to the general legal counsel.

The Nevada Policy Research Institute-sponsored article (entitled "How Unrepresentative Can A Legislature Get?") termed me a retired public employee. On the contrary, although retired from the private sector, I remain an active public employee. I am now in my 27th year as a state senator and in the fall of 1999, I will return to the Community College of Southern Nevada to teach constitutional democracy for a fourth time.

Very truly yours,

Sen. Joseph M. Neal, Jr.

D-Clark County Dist. 4

NORTH LAS VEGAS, Dec. 8 — Sen. Neal's committee assignments for the legislative session beginning Feb. 1, 1999, have now been finalized. In addition to the most powerful committee in the legislature, Senate Finance, and the critical Senate Committee on Taxation, Sen. Neal will also sit on Government Affairs. The lineup represents probably the strongest committee array of his entire 26-year career. It also marks another milestone: Government Affairs was the sole standing committee upon which Sen. Neal had never sat. He now ascends into the rarified air of the very few to have served on each and every one.

NEAL BIG WINNER IN POWERFUL LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS

CARSON CITY, Nov. 27 — (By Ed Vogel, Las Vegas Review-Journal Capital Bureau) — Although Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, was a loser in the Democratic primary for governor, he is one of the bigger winners in committee assignments.

(Minority Leader Dina) Titus, D-Las Vegas, named Neal to serve on the Senate Finance and Taxation committees.

"He is our senior member," said Titus about Neal, a 26-year Senate veteran. "We needed someone with experience."

As a Taxation Committee member, Neal will have an opportunity to push for a gaming tax increase and for a repeal of the law that gives wealthy art collectors like Mirage Resorts, Inc., Chairman Steve Wynn an opportunity for a sales tax exemption, according to Titus.

He raised the tax issues during his gubernatorial campaign.

You may read the full article at http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/1998/Nov-28-Sat-1998/news/10124940.html

JOE NEAL AND BARRY GOLDWATER

SPARKS, Nov. 20 — Reno television reporter Dennis Myers is also a longtime writer for various Nevada print publications. In his Nov. 20 column in the Daily Sparks Tribune, Myers wrote:

"The Nevada Democratic Party is about as listless and detached from a dedication to issues as a lower form of plant life. Nothing would have done it more good than a polarizing, dedicated economic populist forcing new issues into the state's dialogue and widening the allowable circles of discourse, laying the groundwork for future Democratic growth — and victories. It would have also been incredibly beneficial to the state. Terrified by the prospect, state and party leaders lured (Las Vegas Mayor Jan) Jones into the (Democratic primary) race against (State Sen. Joe) Neal," Myers stated.

"Far from rejuvenating the race, Jones' entry drained it of dynamism. She quickly shifted the emphasis of the campaign from Neal's drive for tax equity to safer middle class issues like education and growth. The distinction between Republican and Democrat in the governor's race vanished...Harry Truman said it best when he told Democrats that if you give the public a choice between two conservatives, they'll always go for the real thing," Myers noted.

"Democrats constantly try to act like Republicans. It seldom happens the other way around. And when Democratic candidates get too interested in traditionally Democratic issues, party leaders get worried. This year, when Jones was insistent that she would not run for governor and Sen. Neal appeared to be the party nominee, the state appeared headed for a dramatic clash on issues between a populist Democrat and an establishment Republican.

"Neal, short of an act of God, would have lost. But losing races serve their purpose. Barry Goldwater in losing his presidential race injected more ideas into the nation's political life that most presidential candidates — or even some presidents. I suspect when people have forgotten Eisenhower or Carter, they'll still remember Goldwater. His loss also rescued the Republican Party from drift (due to) the avoidance of issues. — in those days, Republicans had been in the habit of trying to act like Democrats. To this day Goldwater's legacy is all around us," Myers concluded.

If there is a more suitable exclamation point to Campaign '98, we have not seen it.

NEAL IN NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT, BLASTS GAMING AS "PARASITIC"

LAS VEGAS (Nov. 10) — Testifying before the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, "State Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, called gaming a 'parasitic business' that needs a host.

"'If gaming does not have a host outside of its jurisdiction, it turns and devours its own community,' he said.

"Neal said gaming wields too much power over the people of Nevada and needs to be removed from the political process.

"'The people should control gaming, and gaming should not control the people,' he said."

In the 1999 legislative session, Sen. Neal will introduce a bill to remove gambling's ability to influence politics. It will be similar to what New Jersey has had in place since the industry was legalized there in the 1970s.

You may read the full story in the November 11 Las Vegas Sun at http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/1998/nov/11/507993257.html

NEAL ASKS LAS VEGAS SUN FOR CORRECTION

In another Nov. 11 article, the Sun misquoted Sen. Neal's testimony before the National Gambling Impact Study Commission.

"The Sun attributed to me a statement that I have 'never seen blacks working in hotels in the 44 years I've worked here,'" Neal says.

"I never said that. In my early days, I worked in Las Vegas hotels myself," the 26-year lawmaker added.

"I did remark that the impending visit of the commission has seemed to spur hiring of African-American casino workers, especially dealers," Neal said.

Neal has asked the newspaper to publish a correction.

NEAL WINS SEAT ON MOST POWERFUL COMMITTEE IN LEGISLATURE

CARSON CITY (Nov. 10) — Sen. Neal has won a seat on the Nevada State Senate Finance Committee for the new session beginning February 1, 1999. It marks the second time in his 26-year career that he will sit on the legislature's most powerful body.

Senate finance is the bottleneck through which all money bills must pass and has always been rated as the most difficult obstacle for any legislation. Its power geometrically increases next year, when a session will for the first time work under a 120-day limit because of a state constitutional amendment enacted by Nevada voters on Nov. 3.

Other Democrats on the committee will be Sens. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, and Bernice Mathews, D-Reno.

NEAL IN NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT BEFORE FEDERAL GAMBLING BODY

North Las Vegas Democrat testifies Tuesday afternoon

LAS VEGAS (Nov. 10) — State Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, will appear before the National Gambling Impact Study Commission Tuesday afternoon at the MGM Grand Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.

He will be part of a panel addressing gambling and employment issues. Other members of the panel are State Sen.-elect Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, Culinary union researcher Courtney Alexander and venture capitalist Otis Harris.

For the 1999 legislative session, he has requested a bill increasing by two percent the gross gaming tax on Nevada's largest casinos. He will also introduce legislation similar to New Jersey which prohibits the privileged gambling industry from politically influencing state government.

Neal has been a longtime critic of Nevada's predominant industry. He asserts that the time is long past for the state's largest, most successful gambling enterprises to pay a fair share toward mitigating the impacts of growth which they foster and from which they profit.

Neal's panel will start as close to 1:50 p.m. as possible in the MGM Grand Casino and Conference Center, 3799 Las Vegas Blvd. South.

READ MORE ABOUT IT:

Neal named to replace casino mogul Steve Wynn before gambling panel by Jeff German, Las Vegas Sun, 3 Nov. 1998 [ http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/1998/nov/03/507954735.html ]

For complete information on gaming tax issues and a review of tax loopholes and subsidies granted to the Nevada gambling industry, go to http://www.Neal98.org

OTHER RECENT ISSUES IN WHICH SEN. NEAL HAS BEEN INVOLVED :

Neal fights for fair redistricting of Las Vegas city council wards by Ed Koch, Las Vegas Sun, 8 Nov. 1998 [ http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/1998/nov/08/507977936.html ]

"No voters in the city of Las Vegas have been ping-ponged around more in the redistricting process than those living in old West Las Vegas, the predominantly black -- and economically disadvantaged -- part of town," Koch reported.

Police panel gives citizen review board vote of approval by Joe Schoenmann, Las Vegas Review-Journal, 3 Nov. 1998 [ http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/1998/Nov-03-Tue-1998/news/8524025.html ]

Watch this space for late-breaking news any hour of the day or night. Keep us posted from wherever your are.

RENO —

Sen. Neal sent this letter to the editor of the Reno Gazette-Journal several days ago. It has not been published.

Editor, Reno Gazette-Journal:

Your endorsement of Republican gubernatorial candidate Kenny Guinn demands correction.

You praised him for "his leadership role in committee after committee, including the study that changed the fire-safety laws after the disastrous MGM fire."

I have never heard of any such committee. I was primary sponsor of SB 214, the 1981 legislation which resulted in Nevada becoming the world model for high-rise building fire protection. My bill was opposed by the gambling industry, only moving when additional loss of life at the Las Vegas Hilton forced the issue.

You further endorsed Mr. Guinn because of his work on Gov. Miller's "committee to balance the state budget when the economy turned sour in 1991."

You termed him "willing to address" mental health issues, especially outpatient clinics.

When he headed that 1991 committee, he forced patient-damaging cuts to critically needed programs and wholesale closure of rural clinics, one of the crowning achievements of Gov. Mike O'Callaghan's administration.

Mr. Guinn finished his budget balancing act by drastically reducing medical care for injured workers.

Sen. Joe Neal (D-North Las Vegas)

NEAL BEATS STEVE WYNN ON ART TAX LOOPHOLE --- In case you haven't heard, go to "Joe vs. the Volcano" at http://www.nevadalabor.com/barbwire/barb10-11-98.html for the story of how Sen. Neal once again defeated the most powerful man in Nevada and saved Nevada school children millions in the process. Complete newslinks and editorial followup are posted at the site. ---> CAPITAL PUNISHMENT ---> ADLER V. AMODEI — Showing surprising forcefulness, the normally laid-back State Sen. Ernie Adler, D-Capital District, decisively defeated his opponent, Assemblyman Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, in their PBS TV confrontation last Friday, 10-30-98. ---> The district encompassing Carson City and surrounding counties is loaded with state employees, the only group of union workers in Nevada without the right to collective bargaining under law. Adler won the evening when he noted that even should Amodei be seated in a Republican majority, Sen. Bill Raggio, R-Reno, the GOP majority leader, would never let collective bargaining come to a vote. ---> Polls have shown Adler maintaining a lead over his freshman challenger. With former Las Vegas newsman Terry Care rated a shoo-in to win for the Democrats the seat of retiring Sen. Kathy Augustine, R-Las Vegas, control of the state senate hinges on the winner of the Sparks-east Reno senate race. First-term incumbent Republican Maurice Washington is facing a strong challenge from former Sparks mayor Jim Spoo. ---> SPARKS FLYING — Washington's district has a razor thin (about 130-votes) Republican registration edge. The powerful Sen. Raggio has pulled out all the stops to fund this race. As a result, Washington is substantially outspending Spoo. ---> Most observers consider the contest too close to call. See the Barbwire of 10-18-98 at http://www.nevadalabor.com/barbwire/barb10-25-98.html for perspective on this race which has gone unreported in the mainstream press. ---> SEN. JOE NEAL, MOST POWERFUL MAN IN NEVADA? — Should a Spoo victory give the Democrats control of the senate by an 11-10 margin, Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, may well make good on his Sept. 1 musing to switch his voter registration to non-partisan. He would thus garner the clout to broker power and control the makeup of the upper house. ---> As the world's greatest talk show host, Travus T. Hipp, once said, "if voting mattered, they wouldn't let us do it." ---> Or, as world class comedienne Lily Tomlin once opined, "no matter how cynical you become, it's hard to keep up." (Courtesy of Reno Gazette-Journal columnist Cory Farley.) ---> Press on regardless. ---> Be well. Raise hell. Sen. Neal continues to do so. You do the same. Watch this space for big news soon. --->

CARSON CITY (October 5) --- Sen. Neal today sent the following to the Nevada Tax Commission ---> Below, you will find brief excerpts from news articles which tax commissioners would do well to have in front of them at tomorrow morning's hearing on the proposed art tax exemption rule. ---> Longtime Las Vegas journalist Ken Ward reported in the 9-2-98 edition of the Reno News & Review, a weekly newspaper: "Steve Wynn...recently said 'Every museum in the world charges admission in order to survive.' "That statement," Ward wrote, "might have impressed the Nevada Tax Commission and a handful of readers in southern Nevada. But there's a problem: It's total balderdash. "Fact is, major art museums coast to coast are free to the public. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has never charged admission. Los Angeles' new Getty Museum doesn't, either. And, last time we checked, none of them had a money-making casino attached." ---> The following appeared in the 10-4-98 Reno Gazette-Journal, and was distributed by the Associated Press to the 10-5-98 Las Vegas Review-Journal: "Wynn, chairman of Mirage Resorts Inc., said he hoped to persuade commission members to reconsider when they meet Tuesday in Carson City. "'It (the earlier vote) nullified the whole idea,'" Wynn said. 'If museums couldn't charge, they couldn't survive...If I make it free,it's got no value. It won't bust anyone to make it 10 bucks.'" ---> City Life, the Las Vegas weekly newspaper, in its 24 Sept. 1998 edition, printed the following by reporter Mel Parkinson: "Wynn says he plans to charge an admission fee of $10 per person, arguing that 'every museum in the world charges admission in order to survive.' "According to Wynn's preliminary plan, the revenue would pay for security and other incidentals, and the surplus would be donated to charity. "Jerry Schefcik, manager of the Donna Beam Fine Arts Gallery at UNLV...says he has strong feelings about the proposed admission fee, regardless of Wynn's position on school group admittance. ---> "'From what I've heard, the gallery's only 2,000 square feet,' he says. "'If I went to a museum in New York, Washington or L.A., and spent $5-7 to get in, I'd be able to spend the whole day there and still not see everything. In my opinion, ten bucks for 2,000 square feet is ridiculous.' "Schefcik says he isn't so disturbed by the $12 entrance fee the Rio plans to charge visitors to its 'Treasures' exhibit. In order to house and display the collection, the Rio has constructed a 20,000-square-foot exhibition space on two floors. That's 5,000 square feet more than the Las Vegas Art Museum and 10 times the amount of floor space in the Bellagio gallery. "Schefcik says with an exhibit of that size, 'you can spend 12 bucks, spend some time there and get your money's worth.'" ---> Sen. Neal would appreciate the commission's consideration of the above facts and expert opinions. ---> The hearing begins at 9:00 a.m., Tuesday, Oct. 6, in the Nevada Legislative Building, Room 1214, in Carson City.

JOE VS. THE VOLCANO, THE NEVERENDING STORY --- Sen. Neal continues leading the fight against Las Vegas Strip mogul Steve Wynn's expensive casino art subsidy. This Tuesday, Oct. 6, the Nevada Tax Commission will continue its rulemaking regarding "adding a new regulation to Chapter 374 and Chapter 361 of NAC (Nevada Administrative Code) to establish the language for the exemption from sales/use taxes and ad valorem taxes on fine art." Wynn delivered an impassioned speech in favor of his corporate welfare last August, but only the tax commission chairwoman, a Circus-Circus Hotel-Casino executive, voted to allow Wynn to charge admission to his taxpayer-subsidized Bellagio Hotel-Casino art collection. Left unresolved was Wynn's attempt to expand the law to art owners, such as himself, who may lease art to casinos. Full details of the bill's history and its huge negative impact on school budgets remain available elsewhere on this site. The tax commission goes into session at 9:00 a.m., Tuesday, Oct. 6, in the Nevada State Legislative Building, Room 1214. ---> JONES TRAILS GUINN IN GOVERNOR'S RACE, according to a new Las Vegas Review-Journal poll, also accessible through the home page of this site. She might look at Guinn Watch, also accessible through the Neal98 front page, for heavy ammunition, compliments of Sen. Neal. More soon. Keep them cards and letters coming in.

LAS VEGAS (Sept. 19) --- Sen. Neal was honored Saturday evening with the NAACP's second Medgar Evers Civil Rights Award. The honor is conveyed annually to an individual found to have broken new ground as an African-American. The dinner ceremony at Bally's Hotel came as part of the Tri-State Conference Convention held in Las Vegas by the nation's oldest civil rights organization. ---> State Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas, accepted the award on Sen. Neal's behalf. Neal had duties as the featured speaker at the 20th pastoral anniversary for the Rev. Willie Davis of Second Baptist Missionary Church. ---> The award is named after Mississippi civil rights leader Medgar Evers who was gunned down in his own driveway in 1965. White supremacist Byron delaBeckwith was convicted of Evers' murder after two mistrials. The struggle to bring Evers' murderer to justice was the subject of the 1996 Rob Reiner film "Ghosts of Mississippi" starring Alec Baldwin, Whoopi Goldberg, James Woods and Bill Cobbs. Evers' widow, Myrlie Evers Williams, went on to chair the NAACP.

LAS VEGAS (Sept. 14) --- In a speech before the annual state convention of the Nevada AFL-CIO in Las Vegas this afternoon, Sen. Neal made a strong case for supporting the President Clinton. He emphasized the president's experience and ability to keep our economy strong in the face of what appears to be worldwide economic shrinkage and, perhaps, depression. Sen Neal led off the afternoon session of the state's umbrella labor body on the first day of its meeting at the once-again unionized Frontier Hotel-Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. ---> GOOD COMPANY --- When both Las Vegas papers bash you editorially on the same day, your know you're doing something right. The Las Vegas Review-Journal, largest paper in Nevada, criticized Sen. Neal's call for a ban on casino political influence peddling as New Jersey has done since the Garden State legalized gambling 22 years ago. THE LVRJ is generally recognized as second only to the Elko Daily Free Press for hyper-conservative editorial positions. Read its latest demonstration of moral obtuseness at http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/1998/Sep-14-Mon-1998/opinion/8205492.html ("Contribution ban won't work and it also happens to be unconstitutional") ---> VANITY UNFAIR --- The Review-Journal also ran a big spread about Steve Wynn's soon-to-open Bellagio Resort being featured in the October edition of Vanity Fair, a title certainly appropriate to the subject. It notes how Wynn's initial marketing campaign will feature a fictional Count and Countess Bellagio, a warmed-over version of the Reno Silver Legacy's mythical mining baron, Sam Fairchild. GREAT MIMES THINK ALIKE DEPT. ---> In his "Where I Stand" column today, Las Vegas Sun honcho Brian Greenspun praised Mr. Wynn's taxpayer-subsidized Bellagio art collection and supported Wynn's desire to force Nevadans, including school children, to pay to see the art they've already paid for. The tax break will take millions from school children for decades to come unless Sen. Neal can repeal the loophole next year. Mr. Greenspun does not note the school children's penalty in his piece. Read "In Las Vegas, pettiness has become an art form" at http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/1998/sep/14/507734381.html ---> At least the title seems appropriate. ---> COMING DISTRACTIONS --- Major hearings on utility deregulation and the Steve Wynn casino art tax break are coming up next month. Sen. Neal will be there as always, representing the interests of individuals against corporate power. Stay tuned and spread the word. Be well. Raise hell.

WE MAY BE TOAST, BUT WE'RE STILL JAM-UP, JELLY-TIGHT AND STICKING WITH IT WHILE STICKIN' IT TO 'EM --- Dear friends and detractors: For those of you who have not heard, Sen. Neal did not prevail in the Sept. 1 Nevada primary. He lost to the Democratic casino candidate. Alas, Nevadans will now have a choice between two of a kind in November. You will find all the grisly nitty-gritty details at either the Las Vegas Review-Journal or Las Vegas Sun sites back on the front page. ---> A DAMON RUNYON ELECTION --- It was really a very simple --- we were playing on their astroturf woven from greenbacks. We simply did not generate enough TV money and were thus smothered by more than $300,000 of fluff spots. Had we been able to raise just 15% of that amount, we would have been neck-and-neck on election day --- largely because our message was so sensational ---> Please view our commercials through the front page link and judge for yourself what effect they might have had if we'd been able to spend more than $1,400 airing them. ---> None of the above constitutes an excuse. It's the campaign's fault for failing to properly endow itself in a money-intensive enterprise. To paraphrase Damon Runyon, never play the other guy's game. If somebody walks up and wants to bet that you've got cider in your ear, only two things are certain --- You're going to be out some cash and you're gonna have an earful of cider ---> BACK IN THE SADDLE --- Joe Neal and his guerrillas are old warhorses who have won some and lost some. One battle was lost. The war continues. Sen. Neal has already ordered the most populist bill drafts of the 1999 Nevada legislative session. His measures propose to (1) raise the gross gaming tax on the state's 31 largest casinos; (2) eliminate casino mogul Steve Wynn's art tax loophole (which gives Wynn millions every year at the expense of school children, a giveaway endorsed by both Demo and GOP casino candidates); (3) prohibit gambling enterprises or their executives from influencing politics (as New Jersey always has). Read Sen. Neal's proposal at http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/1998/Sep-10-Thu-1998/news/8193345.html ---> FOR WHOM THE DEL POLLS --- Las Vegas Review-Journal pollster Del Ali foreshadowed the election result when his late August poll reflected no movement upward for Sen. Neal throughout the month. Fluff TV was flogging us flat. Now, it's payback time. ---> JOE NEAL, MOST POWERFUL MAN IN NEVADA --- Go to the Sept. 10 edition of City Life, the Las Vegas alternative weekly, and see for yourself. Read "Joe Neal has an ace up his sleeve" by Ken Ward at http://lvcitylife.com/notebook/stories/98091004nb.html ---> Sen. Neal may leave the Democratic Party and become an independent if such action would throw the Nevada State Senate into a 10-10 tie in January. At that point, Joe Neal brokers power up the organization chart and down a few stuffy throats. ---> KEEPING THE WEB WARM --- Not surprisingly, traffic at this site has been down 25% over the past week. WELL, WELCOME BACK AND COME ON DOWN! The Neal98 site WILL NOT GO AWAY. Professional silicon valley webwizards named it the best in Nevada and we're very proud of what it's accomplished. Check this bulletin board for regular updates on what's happening politically in the High Desert Outback of the American Dream. Furthermore, key in to the Nevada Labor Pages at www.NevadaLabor.com, home of the weekly Barbwire by Barbano column. E-mail me if you want anyone added to our list-serves. Keep working for a fair deal for Nevada. ---> Andrew Barbano, former campaign manager. As always, BE WELL. RAISE HELL.

NEAL WINS FIRST VOTE OF '98 PRIMARY --- Campaign Web Review has scored the www.Neal98.org website number one among Nevada gubernatorial candidates. Sen. Neal's site scored 8 out of a possible 10. Republican Aaron Russo's site took the silver with seven points, his GOP primary opponent Kenny Guinn placed third with a six. The "fourth Republican," Bruce Westcott, finished fourth with a score of five. Neal's principal competition in the Sept. 1 Democratic primary, Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones, was last with two points. You will find the comments and criticisms from the trio of young cyberwizards both amusing and enlightening. Campaign Web Review was recognized as a USA Today Hot Site on July 24. It is written and edited by experts in the field of new media political strategies and political science. Read all about it at http://www.campaignwebreview.com/issues/08261998/1.shtml ---> NEAL ON TV IN RENO --- This Saturday, August 29 at 7:30 p.m., KTVN TV-2 will air a special edition of its longrunning "On Assignment" series. The program will feature the major Democrat and Republican candidates for governor. KTVN TV-2, northern Nevada's CBS television affiliate, is available over the air and on all cable systems in the region. ---> Be well. Raise hell.

RENO --- CHEAP THRILLS ---> GO TO http://www.lasvegassun.com/elections98/adneal.html to see Sen. Neal's TV campaign. The odds are you'll never see them on TV because we can't afford much. So see them on the web. They are a rarity -- hardhitting and totally factual while committing no sin of omission or innuendo. They even come with footnotes and documentation. E us for a copy. The spots will soon be linked to the front page of this site, as will some final-week surprises. Keep surfing in ---> ZERO-ZIP-NADA-SNAKE EYES --- GUBERNATORIAL FINANCIAL REPORTS SUBMITTED TUESDAY show NO casino money in Sen. Neal's campaign. Imagine that. The full story will be posted on the front page shortly. Please E us if you need it faster. ---> ---> NEAL MAKES THE WASHINGTON POST AGAIN --- For the second time this year, the Neal campaign has made the Washington Post. A major article by veteran reporter Lou Cannon appears on page A-3 of the Wednesday, August 26, edition. Cannon, Ronald Reagan's biographer, grew up in the Reno-Sparks area and began his journalistic career there. His most recent book, "Official Negligence," critiques the media handling of the Rodney King videotape. He told Sen. Neal he wanted to meet the man doing the Nevada equivalent of running against tobacco in South Carolina. Read Cannon's story at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/keyraces98/stories/nv082698.htm ---> STAY TUNED FOR SURPRISES ON OUR FRONT PAGE. ---> Be well. Raise hell. AB

NEAL SCHEDULES TWO HOURS OF NORTHERN NEVADA TELEVISION --- RENO (August 23) --- KTVN TV-2 (CBS) THIS AFTERNOON --- Face the State, KTVN TV-2's longrunning public affairs program, has been re-scheduled from its regular morning time slot to 3:00 Sunday afternoon, August 23. Today, news anchor Chris Murphy interviews State Sen. Joe Neal (D-North Las Vegas), as part of the station's continuing coverage of the Nevada gubernatorial race. ---> RENO-SPARKS TCI CABLE SNCAT-16 THIS EVENING --- Carson City's popular public affairs program "Another Point of View," will air this evening at 6:00 on Reno-Sparks Sierra-Nevada Community Access Television (SNCAT) on TCI Channel 16. Former Common Cause-Nevada Chair Ellen Nelson interviews Sen. Neal, who also takes phone calls from the public. The show was originally cablecast live in the capital city a few days ago. ---> KTVN TV-2 SATURDAY, AUGUST 29 --- This Saturday at 7:30 p.m., KTVN TV-2 will air a special edition of its "On Assignment" series. The program will feature the major Democrat and Republican candidates for governor. KTVN, northern Nevada's CBS television affiliate, is available over the air and on all cable networks in the region.

FLASH! ROUND ONE TO JOE NEAL --- (LAS VEGAS, Nev.) --- The Las Vegas Sun just reported that the Nevada Tax Commission has ruled that the public must have FREE access to Bellagio art. ---> "If casino owner Steve Wynn wants to take advantage of a tax break for fine art at his soon-to-open Bellagio hotel-casino, the gallery will have to be open free to the public at least 20 hours a week," veteran Sun reporter Ed Koch wrote. ---> Sen. Joe Neal stated "the public should not be forced to pay for Mr. Wynn's art collection twice: first with a huge tax break...then again in the form of admission fees." ---> "Wynn, who figures to get $15 million in tax breaks the first year and nearly $3 million a year after that, said earlier that admission fees are necessary because of the high cost of displaying the art, which includes transportation, insurance, and security," the Sun reported. ---> Read the full story at http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/1998/aug/19/507615650.html ---> The Tax Commission is back in session as this is uploaded. Among other things, commissioners will consider defining what constitutes "public access" and "what is art?" If they adequately handle the latter, I nominate them to look into "what is the meaning of life?" ---> STAY TUNED. Be well. Raise hell. AB

FLASH! --- We have just been informed that the Nevada Tax Commission reached no decision this morning and will continue work on the Steve Wynn art tax loophole rulemaking this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. PDT. As he has since this goofy idea was first shoved throught the legislature last year, Sen. Neal will be there to oppose the taking of millions from school children to benefit a billionaire on corporate welfare. Stay tuned. Be well. Raise hell.

READY FOR PRIME TIME: NEAL BRINGS CASINO TAX ISSUES TO STATEWIDE TELEVISION JUST IN TIME FOR TODAY'S STEVE WYNN CASINO ART TAX LOOPHOLE HEARING ------> (LAS VEGAS) -- Just in time for today's final Nevada Tax Commission hearing on the multimillion-dollar Steve Wynn art tax break, Sen. Joe Neal's campaign for governor brings the issue to Las Vegas television. ---> Sen. Neal (D-North Las Vegas) will continue his lonely fight this morning against billionaire Steve Wynn's juggernaut which juiced a preferential tax break through last year's legislative session. Neal led the fight against the bill. Wynn is applying for a tax break on high-priced works of art for both his existing Mirage Resort and the soon to open Bellagio. Recent reports have pegged his expenditures at more than $300 million. ---> The Nevada Tax Commission will vote today on final rules for administering the loophole, as well as on Wynn's attempts to have the tax break expanded without legislative authority. ---> The Nevada Tax Commission goes into session at 8:00 a.m. in room "McCarran 2" near Gate B-17 at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. ---> The new TV spots bring to the fore what one poll reflected as the two issues displaying highest voter top-of-mind awareness in this election: fairness in casino taxation and repeal of the casino art tax loophole which penalizes school children at the same time Nevada education faces a shortfall of up to $48 million and perhaps more. ---> The Wynn art tax loophole story has made international news. The Art Newspaper of London (UK) published a story on the issue earlier this summer. A New York paper reportedly carries a story in today's editions. ---> The new TV commercials are unique in that they utilize neither innuendo nor sin of omission. Instead, they are based on facts easily verified by public records. The spot continuity and fact-checking references are available by e-mail request. TV news departments wanting copies for news use should contact Andrew Barbano in Reno. ---> The spots have already been airing in northern Nevada. The Neal campaign will soon have the commercials digitized and viewable at www.neal98.org by anyone with proper hardware and software. ---> We will also post approximate airtimes for both northern and southern Nevada at the bulletin board of the Neal98.org site as station logs close. ---> Here are tonight's spot placements on Las Vegas 1, the Las Vegas Sun/KLAS TV-8 all-news channel. The programming appears on Prime Cable channels one and 39. ---> :15 "Qualifications", 8:51 p.m. ---> :30 "Art Tax", 9:35 p.m. ---> :15 "Gaming Share", 10:23 p.m. ---> :15 "Qualifications", 1:06 a.m. ---> Let's go win this thing! Be well. Raise hell.

NEAL ON NORTHERN NEVADA MEDIA --- RENO --- Sen. Neal will take phone calls and answer questions on live northern Nevada radio and television this week. ---> WEDNESDAY, Aug. 12, at 2:00 p.m., he will be a guest of longtime talk radio personality J.R. Reynolds on KRNV 101.7-fm. The on-air phone number is (702) 785-1234. ---> THURSDAY, Aug. 13, 8:00 p.m. --- Sen. Neal will be a guest on "Another Point of View" on Carson Cable Access Television Channel 10. Longtime capital city activist Ellen Nelson will guest-host for Nannette Moffett. The call-in line is (702) 882-2839. The program will be repeated on Carson Cable at 1:00 p.m. Friday, August 14, and on the SNCAT system in Reno and Sparks at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 23. Tell your friends and set your recording times.

GOOD NEWS FOR US: In case you haven't seen it, go to the front page of the Sunday, August 9, Las Vegas Review Journal for an in-depth look at the campaign as it stands right now. It's well worth your reading and also *forwarding* to your personal e-mail list. ---> There's also a good Q&A section contrasting the positions of the five major GOP/Demo candidates. ---> AND OUR BUTTON, REPRODUCED IN FULL COLOR, LOOKS BETTER THAN THE OTHERS! ---> HERE'S THE URL: http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/1998/Aug-09-Sun-1998/news/7871692.html ---> "DEMOCRATS: Maneuvering for the Mansion, The race for governor" By Jane Ann Morrison ---> Assuming the Las Vegas Review-Journal's recent poll was correct, we could be about 15 points down right now, with the trend going our way. ---> Keep up the good work and press on regardless. WE CAN WIN THIS THING. ---> And remember, as Napolean once said, "when your enemy is destroying himself, never interfere." ---> Be well. Raise hell. ---> Andrew Barbano ---> http://www.neal98.org

HAWTHORNE, SATURDAY (Aug. 8) --- Sen. Neal today stops at the Walker Lake home of a longtime former colleague, State Sen. Richard Blakemore (D-Central Nevada), to meet Mineral County residents. Sen. Blakemore has put together a public meeting and speech for Sen. Neal this evening at 7:30 p.m. at the Mineral County Public Library at 1st and "A" streets. ---> RENO, FRIDAY (Aug. 7) --- At Friday evening's fundraiser at the top floor of the Reno Holiday Inn, Sen. Neal met with Reno/Carson area supporters and related a series of humorous anecdotes from his ongoing tour of rural Nevada. The campaign's new television campaign was warmly received. ---> Those attending included Bob Fulkerson, state director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada; his former wife Sheila Leslie, the frontrunner for Assembly District 27; State Sen. Bernice Martin-Mathews (D-Reno/Sparks); Assemblywoman Vivian Freeman (D-Reno); the Rev. William Webb; former Common Cause-Nevada Chair Pat Fladager; Democratic state controller nominee Mary Sanada; Reno mayoral candidates Judy Pruett-Herman and Sam Dehnι; Reno civil rights leaders Onie Cooper (event chair) and Eddie Scott; Nevada Democratic Party official Brooks Stratmore and Washoe County Democratic Chair Shane Piccinini. Perhaps most notable were the Republicans and Libertarians who attended.

POLL GOOD NEWS FOR NEAL ---> AUGUST 7 --- In case you haven't seen it, go to http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/1998/Aug-07-Fri-1998/news/7988791.html to view the latest Las Vegas Review-Journal/KTNV TV-13 poll of the Nevada gubernatorial race. The survey presents especially good news for underdogs Aaron Russo and Joe Neal. ---> Hollywood producer and multi-millionaire Russo has gone from 41 points down to just seven in the GOP primary. His saturation television budget is, of course, a major factor. He could not have accomplished this run-up without tremendous assistance from the Guinn campaign and all its high-priced consultants. ---> The Guinn campaign has been soft from the start, while Mr. Russo has talked populist issues. ---> *Predixion* (you heard it here first): Sig Rogich will take a maneuver from his 1970 Ed Fike playbook to try to turn matters around. Back then, columnist Jack Anderson and the Las Vegas Sun had run an exposι on GOP shoo-in Ed Fike, the Kenny Guinn of his day (they even share the same hairstyle and jawline). ---> "Fike in state land grab" remains one of the most famous headlines in Nevada political history. As a shunt to sidetrack the withering criticism, my old friend Sig and the rest of the Fike faction pulled the old red herring maneuver. They came up with a populist issue to try to get back on a positive track. ---> Fike announced that as governor, he would repeal the sales tax on food. That was easier said than done. Such a revision of state tax law would require a five-year constitutional amendment process. Fike immediately had to change his commercials with a clarification, concluding "it *CAN* be done." Actually, Fike was done. You could stick a fork in him. ---> I predict that the neo-Fike-ites will try just such a shuck to try to turn their Russo problem around. You can win bar bets with it. ---> NEAL HELPS RUSSO & VICE-VERSA --- Mr. Russo also got a little help from the Neal campaign. He used the Neal '98 opposition research on Kenny Guinn to his advantage, posting our Guinn Watch to the front page of his website. We loved his heavy advertising of his URL, because once people got to him, they were a click away from Joe Neal. (Go to http://www.russo4gov.com and scroll down to Kenny Guinn Watch.) ---> While Sen. Neal and Mr. Russo could not disagree more on political issues, Mr. Russo showed some class the morning after Sen. Neal came close to death in a Las Vegas auto accident. Russo's office was the first to call with get-well wishes, followed by Nevada Republican Liberty Caucus chair Charles Muth and the office of Mr. Guinn. The Democratic hierarchy's well wishes are still lost in the mail. ---> NEAL'S GOOD POLLING NEWS --- A political rule of thumb holds that once a candidate breaks the 30% negative threshold, he or she becomes almost unelectable. Mayor Jones has gone from 21% negative in the LVRJ poll taken June 8-10 to 25% negative in the poll released Friday, Aug. 7. Her lead over Sen. Neal has shrunk from 27 points to 19 points over that same eight-week period. ---> Sen. Neal's negatives have amazingly shrunk. In the LVRJ/TV-13 poll conducted February 19-21, his negatives stood at 9 points, surprisingly low for someone with 26 years in public service. His negatives rose to 13 points in June, within the realm of sampling error and proving that he withstood without harm the gambling industry-inspired attacks of Gov. Miller, Sen. Bryan, Speaker Dini and State Senate Minority Leader Titus. ---> This also reflects that senior U.S. Senator Harry Reid's endorsement of Her Honor has had no effect on Sen. Neal. How it affects Sen. Reid's standing with the African-American community and Sen. Neal's statewide base is another matter entirely. ---> Mr. Russo's negatives have sharply increased, as have Mr. Guinn's. Their respective negative percentages, February/June/July: Russo - 7/32/37. Guinn: 6/10/24. Remember, Sen. Neal's are 9/13/9 and beware the 30% threshold. ---> The undecided across the board hovers around 20%, highly consistent with historical numbers for this point in the state's highest-profile race. ---> Sen. Neal stood within 11 points of Mr. Guinn in February and 13 points today, basically the same and well within the range of sampling error. He has widened his lead in a matchup with Mr. Russo, from 26-22 in February to 39-32 in July, the latter standing outside the range of sampling error. ---> Sen. Neal's greatest deficiency lies in name identification, standing the same as February. Almost four in 10 likely voters don't know him. We will reduce that number with television spots starting next week. ---> CHILLY IN PHILLY: The Jones campaign has yet to follow through on a pledge to debate before the primary. Philadelphia-based Jones campaign manager Denise Rawles so committed Madame Mayor last Tuesday before Washoe County Democrats. ---> The Jones campaign has received this message: How about Thursday evening, August 13, in Carson City on live TV? ---> Be there or be square.

THE LATEST FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL ---> JOE NEAL ON THE ROAD IN THE HIGH DESERT OUTBACK OF THE AMERICAN DREAM ---> AUSTIN (Aug. 6) --- Sen. Neal attended a candidates night and addressed more than 150 people. "It seemed that the whole town turned out." He picked up on a feeling of detachment reflected by those in attendance. "You may think you are Democrats or Republicans," Sen. Neal told the enthusiastic crowd, "but you have no power because there is only a gaming party in Nevada." ---> BATTLE MOUNTAIN (Aug. 5) --- Sen. Neal spoke at a Republican-sponsored candidates night and enjoyed his reception by the residents of Lander County. ---> ELKO (Aug. 3-5) --- Sen. Neal posted a very strong three days in booming Elko County with the help of former E