Guns, votes mix well for Ensign

By Lisa Mascaro

Monday, March 2, 2009 | 12:43 p.m.

WASHINGTON — In explaining why he tagged a gun-rights amendment onto a historic bill allowing residents of the District of Columbia a vote in Congress, Sen. John Ensign said last week that his home state Nevadans care deeply about 2nd Amendment issues.

What he failed to convey was just how little his constituents concern themselves, apparently, with the underlying legislation to give the residents of the nation’s capitol a vote.

Consider this memorable quote captured by the Washington Post for Sunday’s readers:

“I care more about the yogurt I just bought," said Amy Gardner, outside a Target Greatland megastore.”

The Post was on the scene in Las Vegas with a story explaining just how removed Nevadans seem to be with the issue that has captivated Washington.

The story goes on to describe the state’s affinity for gun rights issues. Ensign, the paper offered days earlier, just may be the National Rifle Administration’s go-to lawmaker when it comes to gun issues, now that former Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig has resigned.

Greetings from blustery Washington, where all those newly-transplanted Chicagoans get a kick out of the way this place grinds to a halt under a half-foot of snow.

In Nevada, the debate over whether the state got short-changed on the just-passed economic recovery legislation or whether the $1.5 billion boost from the feds is on par with normal allocations remains a hot topic in the weekend papers.

My story Sunday looked at the fairly well-known secret that Nevada routinely ranks near the bottom of federal funding formulas – a system crafted by political artisans that wasn’t about to change overnight in the stimulus bill. (Though the state did enjoy some gains, particularly the large boost of Medicaid dollars to Nevada, engineered by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid with help from Sen. John Ensign.)

But the other paper reports that grumbling continues. The Clean Water Coalition, which is building the water treatment plant, says of the funds that will flow to the massive wastewater project: “It's not a whole hell of a lot."

Which leads us to the next great debate in Washington: Earmarks. Those specially-funded pet projects help make up the difference when federal funding falls short in Nevada, leaving lawmakers to “love those earmarks,” as one told me.

Ensign, Gov. Jim Gibbons, Reid and other lawmakers all support getting money to the state via earmarks. The RJ notes that Ensign supported an earmark that included funds for a fish hatchery even as he derided sending money to a hatchery in the stimulus bill.

My Sun colleague Joe Shoenmann reports on the sister issue closer to home: The imbalance between what Clark County sends to Carson and what it gets back in services. You can read it here.

Another busy week on tap both here in Washington and in Carson City, where Week Five of the legislative session is underway.

Before you dive in, be sure to check out these notable reads from the weekend papers:

- The one-year anniversary of the hepatitis C outbreak, in the Sun and elsewhere.

Writes Marshall Allen in the Sun:

The history of health care in Las Vegas can be divided into two eras: the one before last year’s hepatitis C outbreak and the one after it.

Before the outbreak, patients and government officials seemed resigned to the region’s poor level of health care. After it, the status quo was no longer good enough.

- Charlotte Hsu writing in the Sun why Chancellor Jim Rogers’s latest, critical comments about Gibbons, drew a reprimand by the higher education system board.

- The venerable Capitol Hill paper Roll Call says Reid’s new governing style in the Obama era is allowing much greater debate via the amendment process. The idea is to bring Republicans to the table in the spirit of bipartisanship. Yet, after winning just a few Republican senators on the stimulus package, it may take more than opening the floor to win votes, the paper says. Apologies in advance, the site is subscription only.

That’s it for now. Check back later for all the political news from Nevada.