Fainthearted opposition may pass up opportunity to weaken tinpot regime

A constitutionally weak legislative body in the failed state of Nevada has until May 21 to agree on some form of tax package which will then be vetoed by the state's tinpot chief executive. If lawmakers miss the deadline, the despised ruler can run out the clock and effectively preclude the Legislature from meeting to override his veto, in which case he may simply gets his way and legislators might as well not have bothered to meet at all.

As someone somewhere once said in another context, that'll put the banana in your republic.

Musing on some of these matters in his column in the Sun Wednesday, Jon Ralston writes that "if the tax plan has 40 out of 40 Democratic votes and two out of 23 Republican votes, can it rightly be called a Democratic package? I think so. Neither (Assembly Speaker Barbara) Buckley nor (Senate Majority Leader Steven) Horsford wants that."

Why not?

The aforementioned tinpot chief executive is also the face of the Nevada Republican Party and not surprisingly is the early frontrunner to yet again win his party's gubernatorial nomination. He proposes to  inflict irreversible harm on Nevada by hollowing out the education system, health programs and social services in a state that pound for pound already has the cheapest government in the United States. His thorough thrashing of the state budget would not only stall economic recovery and dash any hope of economic diversification, but ultimately threaten the public health and safety of residents and visitors alike.

If by some stretch of the imagination there is still a possibility that Democrats can pick off two -- any two -- Republican senators that they need to override vetoes and pass a tax package that is more aggressive than the timid and tired spoon-in-a-flood proposals that are reportedly in the works, they should seize the chance.

Buckley (who hasn't done her own gubernatorial aspirations any favors lately) and Horsford shouldn't be afraid of crushing the governor's dark vision and replacing it with a "Democratic package." They should relish the opportunity. Good policy is good politics -- especially if the politicians who support the policy have the sense to celebrate it instead of apologizing for it.

If 21 out of 23 Republicans vote against a tax plan, can Republicans up and down the ballot in 2010 rightly get Jim Gibbons wrapped around their necks? I think so. Both Buckely and Horsford should want that.

Comments

[Rich]

It appears that once again we'll have to hold our noses to vote what with Buckley and Horsford being MIA. We could have had a governor who'd have turned things around but, the northerners and rurals didn't like her accent. We deserve Czar Gibbons...he's the moron the people voted in. Damn, dumb
f&%kin yahoo Nevadans!

[Goldy]

John Oceguera has the best Democratic package.

[....Temujin... Khan..of..the..Yakka..Mongols...]

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...I love the dick tater look on Governor Potato Head..
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[Ned]

Hey Goldy--do you like John O's package because he gives mining a free ride (or maybe you're admiring a different package of John O's?)

[Happygirl]

Can't wait still his sorry ass is kicked out of the capitol next year ....