Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 59

Sunday, February 9, 1986 3D Politics Reno Gazette-Journal Legal expert V-S vv V- 1 Yf- l( si oY7 I vW "OX Gazette-Journal tile photos THE RACE IS ON? Democratic Rep. arry Reid, left, and make his candidacy official Monday. Santini says he's on From page 10 ington, D.C., office of National Republican Party Chairman Frank Fahrenkopf "It is still a long way from the election and nobody feels pressure to announce. We have known all along that Harry Reid was going to run and we feel comfortable with our situation and the opportunity to retain the Senate seat." Republicans expect President Reagan, a Laxalt friend and confidant, to make several personal appeals in Nevada on behalf of the GOP candidate. Reid says he can counter presidential visits with the support of such popular Nevada Democrats as former Gov.

Mike O'Callaghan, now a newspaper executive in Las Vegas. Some of the party's biggest guns will beat Reid's side when he announces his candidacy Monday. Expected are Gov. Richard Bryan, O'Callaghan, former Gov. Grant Sawyer, Secretary of State William Swackhamer, University of Nevada Regent and Secretary of State candidate Frankie Sue Del Papa, former secretary of state John Koontz, former U.S.

Sen. Berkeley Bunker and probably Nevada Senate majority leader James Gibson. Reid's announcement week includes trips to Las Vegas, Ely, Tonopah, Hawthorne, Reno and Henderson before returning to Washington, D.C. Republicans deliver their own show of strength this week in northern Nevada. Santini, Fahrenkopf and Laxalt are scheduled to attend the Lincoln Day Dinner Wednesday in Reno, a traditional Republican Party fund-raising event.

Santini supporters reportedly have arranged a $50-a-head fund-raiser for the former congressman in Carson City, again discounting reports he may not run. Santini dined with Reagan administration aides and allies in Washington last week. One Republican contributor said he was told 28 diners paid $2,500 each to share the event with Santini, Laxalt, Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole, Treasury Secretary James Baker, and former Clark County Commissioner Robert Broadbent, now an assistant secretary with the Department of Interior. The U.S. Senate campaign in Nevada is expected to cost each candidate $2 million to $3 million.

Reid started the 1986 election year with a $226,000 war chest. Santini says he has yet to raise more than "nickels and dimes" but says money won't be a problem when he announces. A Republican loss of Laxalt's Senate seat in November could not only tip the former Republican Rep. Jame rget tor a senate campaign and denies rumors that his Mark is too ill for him to commit to the race. auei tor tne benate seat ot Hepuiiican Haul Ijlillt.

Ibid MIILS) 1 already delicate balance of Repubucah Jilbray isa mid-term state senator Republican State Sen. Bob Ryan of Las Vegas is an announced candidate and already is campaigning door-to-door for Reid's House seat. Peggy Cav-nar, who lost twice to Reid, has said the Wirthlin and other polls show she would be foolish not to run again in 1986. "With four separate polls conducted by different pollsters showing me leading the closest Republican better than 2 to 1, it looks like I will be in Washington next Christmas setting up my congressional office," Cavnar said in a letter two months ago to constituents. She said the latest poll showed her lead widening by 62.7 percent to 28.9 percent against Republican hopefuls and 59.9 percent to 33.8 percent over Democratic candidates.

Van Heffner, a Las Vegas businessman who served seven years as executive vice president of the Nevada Hotel Motel Association and the Nevada Restaurant Association, also is a declared Republican candidate for the southern Nevada congressional seat. Heffner, a Utah native with a master's degree from the University of Utah, cited his experience in the tourism industry and lobbying and his legislative activities as credentials for his election to Congress. and can run for Congress without jeopardizing his current position. Foley must surrender her state senate seat to run for Congress. Political observers believe Bilbray, who has a strong personal monetary base, may be a more successful fund raiser than Foley because he is a holdover senator.

"If he loses, he will still be a state senator. That can help in fund raising," said one political expert. "Helen will have the foot soldiers, but the question is, will she be able to raise the dollars in the primary to compete with Bilbray. Maybe she can raise the money, but a lot of out-of-state money will be withheld until after the primary. The question is whether volunteers can offset Bilbray money." Bilbray on a recent Las Vegas television interview referred to Foley as a liberal because of her pro-labor voting record, possibly telegraphing issues to come in a Bilbray-Foley contest.

Foley, a Las Vegas city employee, comes from a well-known fifth generation Nevada family of lawyers and judges. She has never been seriously challenged in her Nevada legislative contests. Senate control on (Japuol Hill, but would also be a personal embarrassment to Laxalt, who has vowed the GOP will keep the seat. A Democratic loss means Republicans could continue to control and possibly fill Nevada's congressional delegation. The margin of GOP control over Nevada's congressional seats also depends on the outcome of the District 1 congressional race in Clark County, which Reid, currently the only Nevada Democrat in Congress, leaves open in his quest for the U.S.

Senate. Reid's northern Nevada counterpart, Republican Rep. Barbara Vucanovich, has a strong constituency in Washoe and the cow counties and seems virtually assured of re-election in November. Her only announced opponent is Reno Mayor Pete Sferrazza, a Democrat. Sen.

Chic Hecht, does not face re-election until 1988. In southern Nevada, State Sen. James Bilbray, D-Las Vegas, says he will announce for Reid's District 1 seat "in a couple of weeks." State Sen. Helen Foley, D-Las Vegas, was in Washington, D.C, over the weekend to confer with party leaders about also seeking Reid's post. Art Laffer From page 1D ing through the orange glow of an electronic word processor.

On the screen was a legal motion that would be filed as part of a pending bankruptcy case, one of several Ybarra and his firm are working on. As a paralegal, Ybarra contracts his services with various lawyers in the Reno-Carson City area, conducting research and preparing drafts of legal motions and briefs to be approved by attorneys before being filed in court. He said he doesn't have the patience, time or money to go to law school, but he hopes to build Lawsearch to much more than it is today. "A paralegal has to work under the direct supervision of an attorney," he said in an interview in his modest office suite. "Some of the cases attorneys have taken since I was released are cases I took while I was in prison." HE SAID HIS interest in law was at first self-serving.

"The experience in prison was kind of an on-the-job training, and, of course, I was quite interested in my own case at the time. I suppose the results of various attacks on my conviction did add fuel to my desire to fight it." Ybarra was convicted in April 1975 of shooting Luevano several months before. He still maintains he shot Luevano in self-defense after a night of partying in Carson City, when Luevano, Ybarra and another man went to a stag party and went drinking afterward. Ybarra said Luevano made homosexual advances toward him on the way home, and that Luevano became furious after Ybarra questioned his masculinity. He said Luevano lunged at him and that he shot Luevano three times first in the stomach, because he didn't think it would kill him.

Ybarra was sentenced to life in prison with possibility of parole. "I've always believed, and still do, that this incident was unfortunate, but I've always felt it was self-defense," Ybarra said. His decision to handle much of his appeal himself from within the state prison law library led to a better understanding of the law, and gradually other inmates turned to him for advice. "IT KEPT ME occupied," Ybarra said. "If I just had to sit around, I don't think I could have handled it." When Ybarra left prison, he also left his job as senior law clerk.

"There is not a high percentage of people there able to handle legal pleadings," he said, adding inmates have told him the system isn't quite the same today as when he walked out of prison. "My understanding now is that there seems to be strong opposition to having anyone really in charge over there (at the prison law library). The one who took over has received considerable pressure to the extent where he's now working in culinary." He also said that while he took many cases with him when he left Max, he is not allowed to return. For example, he is working on the case of a former Reno jail inmate who claims he lost the sight in his last remaining eye because he was denied medical treatment. "They flat told him (the inmate's attorney) that I was a former prisoner and.

that they wouldn't allow me in. They contended my knowledge of prison procedures would possibly give me an advantage of smuggling in contraband or whatever." He discounted criticisms that the bulk of litigation gushing from inside prison walls is "frivolous," and he praised federal Judge Edward Reed of Reno for taking time to review them. "It's needed and it's healthy. It maintains a balance and helps assure proper treatment of prisoners. This prison system, I don't think, is as bad as others, but it's still got its problems.

There are some pretty unfortunate situations over there that are the subjects of these suits. "Judge Reed strongly subscribes to this: You may belong in prison, but you also deserve to be treated in a humane manner." Ybarra, a soft-spoken man who chooses his words carefully and sparingly, said he got into the paralegal business when he had to set up a parole program after his release. Carson City attorney Stephen Stephens hired him as an assistant on a case-by-case basis, and soon Ybarra had landed other contracts: "I have more work than I can handle right now. I'm not getting rich, but it is picking up." Ybarra works on criminal and civil cases, with most of his efforts currently on civil law. He said he also remains keenly interested in prison issues.

"If you don't have counsel, and you have an issue, nothing will be accomplished unless you do it on your own. And unfortunately, a lot of these fellas can't. In Max, the level of education as I recall was basically the sixth grade on the average. It's extremely difficult for a person to tackle a case by himself." YBARRA'S CAR AND suit bear some testimony to his success on the outside, but what about the sensitive issue of payment for legal work on the inside? Law clerks receive monthly pay for their time, but past that, it would be illegal for them to officially accept payment. "If jailhouse lawyers were allowed to charge, there would be some abuses, but you get a lot of offers." Such as the time Ybarra received a money-laden Christmas card.

The inmate was convicted of killing his wife, but Ybarra helped secure hearing that later led to a reversal over faulty jury instruc From page 10 prise, the 45-year-old Los Angeles Republican variously attacked the windfall oil-profits tax, inheritance taxes unbearable hardship on the excessive interest rates, Export-Import Bank subsidies and synfuels funding. Laffer Even Small Business Administration loans got a few of his pot-shots. But, because "bars, liquor stores and restaurants" are the top three businesses to benefit from this federal aid, he said, "I'll never stop them." A conventional litany of Reaganomic code-words popped up throughout the address: tax reform, Proposition 13, the Steiger-Hansen capital gains tax cuts, the bullish stock market, falling prime interest rates and reductions in maximum income tax rates from 70 percent to 50 percent. Laffer called the United States the "job creation capital of the world" and said a "revolution" is afoot, giving "dramatic" recognition to the role "incentives" play in economic growth. He attacked Cranston as a "redistribu-tionist" who "hates yachts and second homes" and "would enact policies that would make all of us poor." Laffer is a member of the president's Economic Policy Advisory Board and former chief economist of the federal Office of Management and Budget.

He has also served as an adviser to former Budget Director Caspar Weinberger, Treasury Secretaries George Shultz and Bill Simon and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He described the federal deficit, now at at estimated $208 billion, as "mego: my eyes glaze over" numbers and "a major to economic progress." "Whether you're looking at welfare or warefare, you've got to spend each dollar as if it were your own," Laffer said. Monetary and tax reform as well as cuts in federal spending are "critical" to balancing the federal budget, Laffer said. He urged passage of the long-debated "flat tax," which would take the same percentage in federal income taxes from each American regardless of income, and said that businesses should be allowed to write off all capital purchases. II 0 Y1 en1 i Y) sV Y.Y:&v (iY jr.

1 -CSKilJ ft- -zz IT 4rif r3TJIU Mark CrosseGazette-Journal SOUPED-UP: Grass Valley resident George Harrison cuts his way through a log as sawdust flies around him during competition in the "hot" saw contest held Saturday during the Sierra-Cascade Logging Conference at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. Some competitors used chain saws that had engines originally made for motorcycles. Harrison won the overall title. rVp threatened the women with rape as he rummaged through their belongings. He then ordered them into the bathroom and threatened to kill one woman and her family.

All the women said they suffered emotional problems after the incident. Semenza said there had been a rash of room robberies at the time, but the hotel-casino failed to take any corrective action. Roger Newton, attorney for the Sundowner, had argued it was impossible for the hotel-casino to foresee or prevent the robbery. Newton said the robber gained entry to the room through force, and the doors and locks were all up to city standards. The women, he said, suffered at the hands of the robber, not the hotel.

At the trial which began Tuesday, psychologists and social workers testified the four women suffered stress not unlike that experienced in a military combat or rape situation. Sundowner From page 1D security," Payne said. "To be honest, I'm surprised no one was killed there. "It wasn't so much the damage to the women themselves, although we felt they did go through a fair amount of trauma. We wish to strongly encourage him (Karadanis) to start making better security arrangements." The four women had been on a gambling vacation in March 1984 when the incident occurred.

They returned to their room at the Sundowner one night and were confronted by a robber who had pried open the door. The victims testified they had entered the room joking about how it appeared someone had tampered with the door lock. They recounted how a man appeared from the bathroom brandishing a pistol. The robber, who was never caught, Ken M. JohnsGazette-Journal tions.

"He said he didn't have any money, but that if I helped him he'd take care of me later. I said no problem, and that Christmas I got a Christmas card with a money order in it. He just signed his first name. I had no return address; I couldn't have returned it even if I wanted to." WALK FOR LIFE: Al and Valerie Eddings walk with their son Nathan during a five-mile heart walk held Saturday morning at Meadowood Mall. The walk is part of a continuing fitness program sponsored by the mall's merchants.

Proceeds from the walk go to the Nevada chapter of the American Heart t-.