The Nevada Sagebrush

A student signs a petition for what he thinks will bring a professional sports team to Reno. Tony Contini /Nevada Sagebrus

A ballot advocacy group misled University of Nevada, Reno students in an effort to collect signatures for a sports arena in Las Vegas.

The group, registered with the Nevada Secretary of State as the Ballot Initiatives Committee, asked students to sign petitions for an arena and professional sports team in Reno. As registered with the Secretary of State, the petition is for a .9 percent sales tax increase, exclusive to counties with more than 800,000 people, for the funding of an arena. Clark County is the only county in Nevada with such a population.

The Ballot Initiatives Committee is supported by Harrah’s Casino, Committee Chairman Bruce Woodbury said. A second ballot advocacy group, backed by MGM Resorts International, is working to rescind the committees efforts with a counter-petition.

Students misinformed

Charles Reider, a 19-year-old undeclared UNR student, said he was deceived. A petitioner asked for his signature to support a new sports complex in Reno, he said.

Reider said he didn’t sign the petition, but would have if he hadn’t been late for class. Upon hearing the petition was for a sales tax increase for funding a stadium in Las Vegas, he said he felt misinformed.

“It’s pretty dishonest,” he said. “They need to be explicit that it’s in Las Vegas, not Reno.”

Mike Wang, a 23-year-old nutrition major, said the group asked him to sign a petition for bringing a professional sports team to Reno. The group didn’t mention Las Vegas or a tax increase.

Wang said he didn’t sign because he wanted more information.

“I’m just skeptical,” he said. “I’d just like to read it before I sign it.”

A second group, registered under the name Taxpayers for the Protect of Nevada Job, is collecting signatures to annul the Ballot Initiatives Committee’s petition.

Cameron Johnson, a 23-year-old political science major, collected signatures for the group last week in front of the Joe Crowley Student Union. He said people sign annulling petitions because they were unaware of what their original signature promoted. A majority of the students who signed the arena petition were coaxed into participating, he said.

“They’ll pretty much say whatever to get your signature,” he said. “The biggest issue with people signing ours is that they weren’t informed to begin with.”

Tanya Gayer, 22, signed the Taxpayers for the Protection of Nevada Jobs petition on Thursday after learning more about the original petition she signed in Virginia City in early September.

She said she signed the Ballot Initiatives Comimittee’s Petition without knowing which specific issues it addressed.

“They just said they wanted a hockey team,” the art major said. “The conversation was literally a minute long.”

Petitioners hired by both groups are paid per signature. Taxpayers for the Protection of Nevada Jobs petitioners said they receive $2.50 per signature.

The Ballot Initiatives Petition is for a .9 percent sales tax increase in Clark County, and would only be imposed within a three-mile radius of the proposed sports arena.

The proposed tax would fund the building of the stadium on a parcel of land donated by Harrah’s Casino.

If 97,003 votes can be collected before Nov. 9, the tax-increase question will be added to the ballot in 2012.

Signatures must be collected from Nevada counties with populations greater than 100,000.

The Secretary of State screens signatures to confirm they are valid. All signatures must come from registered voters.

Problems with hired petitioning

Problems often arise with the professionalization of petitioning, Stacy Fisher, a professor of political science at UNR, said. Hired petitioners are rarely well-informed on the issues addressed in the petition.

“The student has the responsibility to ask basic questions about new taxes or fees,” she said. “But often the information is not accurate or the signature collector does not have enough information or proper training.”

Grassroots petitioners invest time and money in causes they find important or necessary, Dave Damore, a professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas said. Paid petitioners are looking to fill signature-quotas for cash. They are often ill-informed and concerned only with the number of signatures they collect, he said.

Students must do more than take a petitioner’s word on what is being supported or rescinded in the petition, Damore said.

“The responsibility is on the students to read the document or petition from the group before they sign,” he said.

Casino backing

The two ballot advocacy groups are backed by major casinos in Las Vegas. The Ballot Initiatives Committee is supported by Harrah’s Casino, Bruce Woodbury, committee chairman and former Clark County commissioner, said. Harrah’s has pledged to donate a parcel of land for the proposed sports arena if it’s passed.

Taxpayers for the Protection of Nevada Jobs is backed by MGM Resorts International, he said. MGM and other Las Vegas casinos are worried about possible competition, but Harrah’s would have no management authority in the arena, Woodbury said.

Washoe County signatures are relevant because building a venue for a professional sports team is a statewide economic issue, he said.

“We think it’s very important for the economy to get an arena built in Las Vegas,” Woodbury said. “We think there is a very strong indication a professional NBA team and a NHL team would come if an arena was built.”

The proposed sales tax increase would cost locals little, Woodbury said.

“It would cost the average Las Vegas resident an average of $1 a year,” he said. “The bulk of the cost would be covered by tourists.”

The MGM group took Harrah’s to court in September, saying the petition violated the “single subject rule.” The case was thrown out.

Damore said the petition battle between the two casinos is uncommon. Most disputes over ballot advocacy are dealt with in court after petitioning deadlines have closed, he said.

Nick Vander Poel, who worked on Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons’ special projects commission, oversees petitioners with the MGM-backed group. He declined repeated requests for comment.

Don Weinland can be reached at dweinland@nevadasagebrush.com.

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