JOHN L. SMITH: Governor shows signs of leadership in state's deepening budget crisis - News

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Apr. 01, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

JOHN L. SMITH: Governor shows signs of leadership in state's deepening budget crisis

JOHN L. SMITH
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It's purely a coincidence that I'm writing something constructive about Gov. Jim Gibbons on April Fools' Day.

No rim shots, please. No kazoo salutes. No rubber chickens dropping out of the ceiling, and no comically timed rolls of the eyes.

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Maybe it's Gibbons' fate to be ridiculed even during the week he steps up and performs his duty as the state's elected leader. But that's what he did on Monday when, after meeting with top legislators, he called for more budget cuts in an attempt to offset Nevada's flagging economic picture.

Gibbons has been pilloried on many fronts in recent months, and much of that criticism has been deserved, but today I think the governor deserves credit for doing precisely what he promised he would do when he announced his candidacy a couple of years ago. It's the same promise he made after he was elected.

Gibbons promised not to raise taxes come hell, high water, or -- in this case -- pancake-flat fiscal scenarios. And he hasn't.

But something else happened Monday in Carson City during a meeting between Gibbons and top legislators. There was an exchange of ideas. There was give and take. There was compromise. The words "Gibbons" and "negotiation" were used without an ounce of sarcasm.

Out of that interplay came cuts, as painful to some as they might be, that avoided large layoffs and spared the K-12 education and health budgets. Advocates of both areas would quickly add that education and health have already taken hits and that on its best day, Nevada is no paradise of learning and healing.

The big picture: Gibbons stepped up and showed a reasoned approach to a complex subject. Whether it came from enlightened self-interest or something more noble really makes no difference. What's important is Gibbons was focused on the difficult and important work at hand and was engaged.

At the risk of making Gibbons sound like Helen Keller at the water pump, I consider this a breakthrough moment for a governor sometimes accused of being an autocrat on autopilot. It's certainly a big improvement over the last time the governor met with legislators and was criticized for essentially dictating the terms of the budget cuts. Of course, it's also true that Gibbons has lost a few public relations battles since then.

"Legislative leaders reached out to the governor and urged there be a more collaborative approach to the budget cuts," Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley said.

That spirit of collaboration and compromise appears to have won the day. And that's a good thing for Nevadans because there will be more difficult days ahead.

The group is still about $20 million short of its revised goal. The greater challenge, of course, is that the anticipated state revenue shortfall is expected to reach $900 million, and that's about twice as much as has been cut from the current budget so far. (Translation: More painful cuts are coming, and don't rule out any areas for the knife.)

Delaying construction projects to save money is effective, but it can't last forever. Pulling one-shot appropriations is another way to temporarily bring the ledger back into balance, but it's not a long-term solution.

But, brother, don't ask me for any long-term solutions. Not with the prices of gasoline and bread rising, the mortgage crisis continuing to expand, and substantial layoffs in the construction and casino industries.

There's negative job growth and a slipping gaming win. People with jobs are losing their homes. People without jobs are losing everything. Even blood donations are down.

One Gibbons administration insider puts it bluntly: "The governor has consistently said that people are paying more to fill up their gas tanks, paying more to feed their families, paying more to heat their homes, and paying more for health care, and he's not also going to ask them to pay more for government."

Knowing that more cuts will probably be needed, will Gibbons attempt to assemble a scale-model, Reagan-era Grace Commission? The commission analyzed government spending and identified areas of waste and was essentially ignored by Congress.

In 2008 Nevada, neither the governor nor the Legislature has the option of doing nothing as the state's fiscal fortunes continue to falter.

There's not much room for jokes now. People are hurting.

If ever there was a time for leadership in Nevada, this is it.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295.

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. sam dehne wrote on April 02, 2008 04:36 PM: Has ANYBODY including the gube .. suggested pay cuts? Shouldn't the gube be ordered to take a 50% pay cut.. and still be grossly overpaid? BURP! Terri wrote on April 02, 2008 06:21 AM: Nuevo Americano BTW, I take care of my own kids, we do our own yard, and we clean our own house. Get over it. There is no excuse for us tax payers flipping the bill for all the illegals. We are hard working and tax paying... and we buy car insurance for our cars, unlike illegal aliens. Terri wrote on April 02, 2008 06:19 AM: It is a known fact that the American tax payer pays more for illegal aliens in social benefits, medical expenses, schooling... then they contribute to the tax system. Our ER's are being used as primary docs for illegals, putting Americans that need as an emergency at risk. It's only the GREEDY EMPLOYER of illeglas that benefits. The boat is full, the Ameicans will sink b/c of the constant wave of illegals drowning us. Not even going there about illegals STEALING OUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS. Nuevo Americano wrote on April 01, 2008 03:39 PM: Sure terri and listen, blame the hard working aliens that build your home your roads and take care of your kids and yards. The republicans want everything for free including a six year war. Let see how long they can have a war on IOU's to China. When you have a war and wait to pay for it in the future you get a recession. CAS127 wrote on April 01, 2008 02:50 PM: I feel no obligation to pay ever higher tax rates just so the demented, inflationary spending projections of tax feeders don't have to be "cut" (which is, of course, an utter prostitution of the meaning of the word). Golly, what should we call the 30%+ general fund increase in 2004? A bureaucratic orgasm? Listen to Terri wrote on April 01, 2008 01:37 PM: How is it we, the people, see the burden of illegal aliens but whether city, state or national (most) of our elected "representatives" will not address the problem. Our country cannot afford the money that is being spent on these criminals and their spawn. The financial "crisis" we are now in is a result of decades of freebies to our third world neighbors to the south. Terri wrote on April 01, 2008 01:26 PM: If we quit paying for all the social services and medical care for illegal aliens we could cover it!!!!!!! Our schools are paying the price for it. Yet, not one of our politicians will address this issue... we need to STOP THE MAGNET and cut off the social benefits that WE pay for... I was told that UMC loses over a billion a year due to medical care for illegals. november wrote on April 01, 2008 10:37 AM: Remember Guinn v Nevada Legislature and the Supreme Court raping the people of Nevada by throwing out the two thirds majority rule to swallow $800,000,000. This is simply a staging to prep the public for another round of the same. Juice wrote on April 01, 2008 09:11 AM: APRIL FOOLS! APRIL FOOLS! There is no way this is not a joke. Look at the photo with the article. Folks are milling around in the room with their back to the Gov'nor while he is pointing to a chart he could not begin to understand. If there were true negotiations, the idea of raising the gaming tax would have been discussed. This clown can't run his own washing machine much less this state. Juice wrote on April 01, 2008 09:11 AM: APRIL FOOLS! APRIL FOOLS! There is no way this is not a joke. Look at the photo with the article. Folks are milling around in the room with their back to the Gov'nor while he is pointing a chart he could not begin to understand. If there were true negotiations, the idea of raising the gaming tax would have been discussed. This clown can't run his own washing machine much less this state. Read All Comments