White smoke emerged from the dome of the state Capitol this afternoon, signaling a “deal” to wrap up the budget for the 2007 legislative session. And that means the Gang of 63 may very well go home on time with no need for an expensive, taxpayer-funded special session (or two, or three, or four).
Just got back from the big 2 o’clock press conference, which actually didn’t start until well after 2:30 pm. Some observations…
As noted in the “ALERT” I sent y’all earlier today, Democrat Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus was the only legislative leader not listed as a participant in the press conference announcement distributed by the governor’s office today. But by the time I arrived at the Capitol, there was talk that she’d changed her mind and would join the united “One Nevada” media extravaganza to announce a budget deal.
Indeed, the governor’s office sent out a “Media Advisory Update” shortly after the original which included Titus in the headline listing the leaders who would be involved. Alas, despite some last-minute negotiating, Titus remained typically “unhappy” and decided to boycott the press conference after all. Reportedly, she wasn’t happy that taxes on Nevada businesses weren’t going to be raised as part of the deal.
We’re shocked.
The bottom line, though, is that Titus apparently does not have the votes in the Senate to block this deal, and Democrat Speaker Barbara Buckley on the Assembly side has signed off on it. So the deal appears to be a done deal.
The word for the day at the press conference was “compromise.” Full-day kindergarten will expand, but not statewide. The governor’s empowerment program will be started in 29 schools instead of 100. So that could be considered a “wash.”
The big victory as far as education is concerned, however, is the approval of a new merit-pay pilot program for teachers…a major Republican policy agenda item - despite GOP Minority Leader Garn Mabey’s opposition to it at his only press conference earlier this year.
But the really big thing about this “compromise” is what the governor did NOT compromise on.
Indeed, there are NO NEW TAXES included in this budget deal!
Additionally, a tax cut approved two years ago which was scheduled to sunset this year has been made permanent. Oh, and all of those items Gov. Jim Gibbons said last week that he HAD to have in the budget or he’d veto it? He got ‘em…with the minor exception of funding for his homeland security “fusion hub” (whatever the heck THAT is).
Not too shabby for a governor with a 30 percent approval rating who has been beat up unmercifully by the press this entire session, huh?
The press likely won’t concede that this was a huge victory for him…but it was.
If the deal sticks. There are, after all, six more days of mischief-making left before legislators are scheduled to go home.
But Gov. Gibbons campaigned on a “no new taxes” pledge. He stuck to his guns…despite a mountain of grief and grumbling, much from his own party. And when the smoke cleared this afternoon, we had a budget deal with NO NEW TAXES!
You just can’t spin this any other way than as a big win for the freshman Republican governor.
Next up: The big debate over the transportation budget and how to pay for future highway construction projects. Anyone want to bet whether or not THAT deal will include any tax hikes? Or that Dina Titus will, once again (still), be unhappy?
Posted on May 29th, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada
This is not in defense of Titus …. are you aware that Gibbons’ PR staff very rarely issues one lonely press release per issue/event? They usually come in pairs or threes because someone got some detail wrong the first time. It’s pathetic. One would think that with his connections, he could do better.