How dumb are Assembly Democrats?

Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011 | 3:12 p.m.

This is almost too bad to be true: After a couple of years of laying off state employees and cutting public services during the worst economy in state history, Assembly Democrats are spending more than $60,000 for the speaker to remodel his office and – wait for it – to put high-end exercise machines in the Legislative Building.

It’s not a lot of money in the scheme of a $3 billion budget deficit. But how tone-deaf can they be, considering that symbolism can be important and so can a simple fact: Ordinary mortals don’t use other people’s money to pay for their workouts.

The details: Six nice machines -- two Stairmasters, two recumbent bicycles and two treadmills – in a small room. Lawmakers are not printing those large bill books this year, saving a half million dollars, so you can hear the spin now: “Hey, we saved that money, so why not?”

Speaker John Oceguera, who I couldn’t find today(see update below), authorized the exercise room and a $30,000 remodel of his office. The remodel actually makes his office smaller to create a small conference room for private meetings. But how did Barbara Buckley, Joe Dini and others survive without this? And why do it now, of all times?

The expenditures were first reported by conservative activist Chuck Muth on his blog.

The timing couldn’t be worse for the legislative Democrats. First, a couple of Democratic constitutional officers won’t forego pay raises. Then, the Assembly Democrats reject a spending reduction committee – a GOP political stunt but still….

And now this.

Maybe the good news for them: Proposing a tax increase won’t look so bad.

UPDATE--From Oceguera: "We closed the bill rooms, did not hire 27 employees, saving 525k. We changed our operations, did some remodeling, and saved money in doing so.

"We used the additional available space to create a small and modest exercise room with six exercise machines, at a modest investment. The room is available on a first-come-first-served basis for all employees in the legislative building—staff and legislators combined.

"An on-site exercise room is part of my commitment to create a healthier work environment.Each session we deal with illness due to long hours and lack of exercise—I hope to reduce that.In the past I’ve had UNLV provide health and fitness counseling. This is just another step in a program for wellness and to avoid missed days of work."