Rochelle Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.)

U.S. Representative (since 1999)

(Congress Bio Directory)

Why She Matters

Representing Las Vegas, Berkley is one of the most powerful allies of the gambling industry in Washington. The representative from Nevada's 1st Congressional District, centered in Sin City, has also been vocal on other Nevada-specific issues, most notably in her opposition to the disposal of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain near Las Vegas, which is now on its last legs.

A member of the normally exclusive House Ways and Means panel, Berkley is one of the representatives allowed to moonlight on other panels. Berkley is a staunch pro-Israel advocate and a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Executive, Sands Hotel (1989-1998); Chair, Nevada Hotel & Motel Association (1994); Counsel, Southwest Gas Corp. (1977-1982)
Birthday: Jan. 20, 1951
Hometown: Las Vegas, Nev.
Alma Mater: University of Nevada at Las Vegas, B.A., 1972; University of San Diego, J.D., 1976
Spouse: Larry Lehrner
Religion: Jewish

Committees: Ways and Means , Foreign Affairs
DC Office: 405 Cannon House Office Building, 202-225-5965
State/District Office: Las Vegas, 702-220-9823
Email
Web site

Path to Power

Born in 1951, Berkley moved 11 years later from Manhattan's Lower East Side to Las Vegas where her father rose to become a maitre d' at the Sands casino. Berkley would later become a cocktail waitress and keno runner on the Las Vegas strip, jobs she said helped pay for and pave her way through college, law school and eventually to Congress.

Berkley's political interests stemmed from her days as a student at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, where she served as student body president. After graduating from University of San Diego Law School, Berkley served as an attorney for Southwest Gas company from 1977 to 1982. In 1982, she was elected to the Nevada House of Representatives, where she served one two-year term.

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Berkley became an executive for The Sands in 1989, where she would work through the 1990s, while also serving as the chairwoman of the Nevada Hotel & Motel Association in 1994. She also became a member of Nevada's University & Community College System Board of Regents in 1990, where she served through 1998.

1998 House Campaign

Berkley passed up a 1996 House race against then-Rep. John Ensign (R-Nev.), but the day after the election, which Ensign won with just over 50 percent of the vote, she announced a 1998 bid. Ensign relinquished the House seat to run unsuccessfully for the Senate in 1998.

In June 1998, after she was fired by Sands Hotel owner Sheldon Adelson, a tape recording and a memorandum were leaked to the Las Vegas Review-Journal in which she advised her former boss to do favors for county commissioners and donate to judicial campaigns in order to get The Venetian hotel-casino development approved. The controversy was the subject of the first ads funded by a $37 million nationwide advertising blitz sponsored by the National Republican Congressional Committee. Berkley was not prosecuted and continued the House race.

She outraised her Republican opponent, District Judge Don Chairez, $1.1 million to $366,000 and won the open House seat, 49 to 46 percent. In 2000, Berkley raised more than $1 million again and defeated state Sen. John Porter (R), 52 to 44 percent, to retain her seat. Berkley has since won election by more comfortable margins.

Candid about undertaking cosmetic surgery, Berkley missed 2005 votes for emergency funding following Hurricane Katrina because she was recovering from work on her neck.

Initially promised a seat on the House Ways and Means Committee, Berkley instead ended up on a variety of other panels in her first four terms. She gained a seat on the coveted Ways and Means panel in 2006. She also received permission in February 2009 to rejoin the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which she sat on 2001 through 2007 (the tax-writing panel is usually an exclusive committee assignment).

The Issues

Berkley voted with her party 96.8 percent of the time during the 110th Congress.

Berkley has been active on veterans' issues and took credit for helping approve a $295 million Veterans Affairs medical center in North Las Vegas, set for completion in 2011.

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Gambling

Berkley has opposed the National Collegiate Athletic Association's 2001 proposal to ban casinos from accepting bets on college sports. Berkley offered a counterproposal the same year, calling for a two-year federal study of illegal gambling and the creation of a $28 million Justice Department task force on the issue. Neither bill made it to the House floor.

After the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act of 2006 was enacted, seeking to prohibit financial institutions from accepting payments to settle online wagers, Berkley has been among the most outspoken proponents of repeal. In May 2007, Berkley introduced a bill calling for a one-year study of the Internet gambling industry as an alternative to a bill authored by then-House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) that would repeal a ban and institute regulation on U.S. online gambling.

Berkley was a co-sponsor of Frank's 2009 online gambling bill introduced, which seeks to lift the ban and permit licensed gambling operators to accept bets from within the U.S.

Foreign Affairs

Berkley is a fervent defender of Israel, and has differed with Obama on multiple occasions on Middle East politics. Following the president's June 2009 speech to the Muslim world from Cairo, Berkley said she disagreed with challenging the legitimacy of all Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory. Berkley said while Jewish settlements far from Israeli territory should be deemed illegal, those near Jerusalem have "every right to continue." She also said Obama's talk of a Palestinian state was premature, saying the newly-independent state would need a unified government that recognizes Israel and is dedicated to ending terrorism.

Berkley was initially an outspoken supporter of military action in Iraq . Her views shifted in 2004, when she argued that House members were misled in confidential pre-war briefings, which suggested Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

A co-chair of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, Berkley was the chief sponsor of a 2009 resolution that pledged an "unwavering commitment" to the Taiwan Relations Act that was passed 30 years ago. The act requires the U.S. to maintain the capability to defend the island if China attacks, but not necessarily with the backing of U.S. military force.

Yucca Mountain

In 2000, Berkley voted against a bill that would've established a permanent nuclear waste storage site at Yucca Mountain, just 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Berkley and other Nevada politicians, (including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), have tried to drum up national opposition against the facility. In 2004, she helped insert the anti-Yucca plank into the Democrats' national platform.

The Energy Department has spent 20 years and $9 billion studying the site as a nucleat-waste repository. After Obama released his budget outline in February 2009 cutting funding for the site to $197 million, nearly $100 million lower than the previous year, Berkley said the project was killed "once and for all."

The Economy

After voting against the first version of the fall 2008 financial bailout proposal, Berkley voted for the second version after saying she "got an earful" from her constituents. She said the second version included tax breaks that would benefit Nevada.

Berkley supported the $787 billion economic stimulus package enacted in February 2009, but criticized the Nevada Department of Transportation for initially deciding to spend only 14 percent of the $140 million in discretionary transportation funding in Clark County, the state's most populous and home to Las Vegas. Berkley joined Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) in criticizing Gov. Jim Gibbons (R-Nev.) for initially balking at accepting unemployment funding from the bill.

The Network

Berkley is close to other Democratic members of the Silver State's delegation, including Titus and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Reid and Berkley have worked in tandem on the Yucca Mountain issue.

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