Tempers are flaring in Carson City -- and Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford finds himself right in the middle of it.
On Thursday, the president of the state teachers union went after Sen. Horsford, a Las Vegas Democrat, for comments he made during the debate over a proposed hotel room tax increase.
The tax hike was approved by Clark and Washoe county voters in an advisory referendum pushed by the Nevada State Education Association, which got some gaming companies on board by backing off a threat to pursue a more punitive hike in the state gaming tax.
That the union went around the Legislature and through the initiative process angered some lawmakers, including Sen. Horsford. He said he would reluctantly support the tax hike because it is "about the future and the children" who "are more important to me than any teachers group."
Lynn Warne, president of the NSEA, shot back: "If he represents the children, why has he represented them in such a way that has left them sitting in overcrowded classrooms with a lack of supplies and teaching materials?"
Of course, the NSEA room tax hike will primarily fund higher teacher salaries for Ms. Warne's union members, not "supplies and teaching materials." And if anybody thinks the Nevada State Education Association exists to advance the educational needs of this state's children, we've got a beach-front condo in Gabbs for you.
Meanwhile, as Sen. Horsford was dusting himself off after the Warne skirmish, Gov. Jim Gibbons jumped into the fray, demanding that those who have criticized his budget come forward with their tax plans.
"Sen. Horsford and his tax-hiking colleagues," the governor said, "should show at least some honor and integrity by getting their tax hike plans out in the open."
Gov. Gibbons has a point -- but don't forget that he's the one who vowed not to raise taxes, included the room tax hike in his own budget, then let it become law without his signature so he could claim to have been true to his pledge.
There's talk again about allowing annual sessions of the Legislature. Given what's going on up there right now, the entertainment value may outweigh the risk.
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