The two longest-serving party leaders in the legislature are Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio (R-Reno) and Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus (D-Las Vegas). And with good reason. While they certainly don’t agree with each other or their opponents very often, they are both are smart enough to know how to deal with the “the great unwashed” from time to time. Case in point…
A little over a week ago, state Sen. Dennis Nolan (R-Las Vegas) suggested that since Gov. Jim Gibbons (R) had promised to veto any tax hike to pay for highway construction, the Legislature should place such a tax hike directly on the ballot and let “the public” decide.
In response, many of you signed our online petition - which was delivered to all 63 members of the Legislature via email - telling them that any such “Nolan Tax” should have to go through the same signature-gathering process that state Sen. Bob Beers’ spending control (TASC) initiative did last year.
A handful of legislators initially responded to a few of you, but then tired of the process.
Assemblyman Mark Menendo (D-Las Vegas) responded initially by demanding to know where petitioners lived, apparently deciding he’d only respond to voters who lived in his district…as though everyone else in the state who would be affected by his vote in favor of the suggested “Nolan Tax” wouldn’t equally get hit in the wallet and had no business expressing their opinion to him.
And then there was the email I received from Sen. Nolan himself yesterday, which advised me that he wasn’t going to be my friend anymore. I tossed and turned all last night.
At least, to the best of my knowledge, nobody “pulled a Knecht.”
On the other hand, both Sen. Raggio and Sen. Titus took the time to read our online petition and crafted a response. Granted, the responses were “canned” and didn’t really address the issue we raised directly, but both of their offices at least took the time to send a response to each person who took the time to fill out and send the petition. Smart. Very smart.
A valuable lesson for both rookie leaders in the Assembly.
Posted on February 23rd, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada
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