Republican Assembly Minority Leader Garn Mabey said last week that he wouldn’t waste one of his allowed “emergency” bills to introduce Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons’ plan to reallocate a small portion of future room tax revenue toward highway construction. Mabey at the time said it was a waste of time. But now he’s changed his mind and will introduce the proposal as a bill after all. Here’s how columnist Jon Ralston reported on Maybe Mabey’s fish-out-of-water flip-flopping on this matter…
“There is a bit of a backstory to Assembly Minority Leader Garn Mabey’s decision to reverse his previous decision – that’s why his detractors call him Maybe Mabey — on the governor’s transportation bill. Seems his caucus was quite adamant that he give the governor one of his emergency bills. And, quite coincidentally, there was some real talk about Mabey’s problems, including a recent set-to with Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio. Indeed, Ty Cobb had gone to Heidi Gansert, sources confirm, to have her take over, but she declined to be part of a coup.”
If this session doesn’t end on time, and the Governor is forced to call a special session (or two, or three, or…) to wrap up business, Gansert should re-think her position. Garn should have never been chosen as leader in the first place. It’s what the caucus gets for rushing into a leadership vote immediately after the November 7 election rather than giving the incoming freshmen an opportunity to get their sea legs and consider the alternatives.
What’s done is done. But Maybe Mabey’s 15 minutes of leadership fame should now be up. Let the man finish blundering his way through the regular session, but if a new special session is called, a new leadership vote in the Republican Assembly Caucus should be called as well.
Garn’s Gotta Go.
Posted on May 26th, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada
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