Editorial: Democrats shouldn’t punish GOP legislator

Friday, Nov. 27, 1998 | 11:41 a.m.

As the Sun's Cy Ryan reported Monday, it is unprecedented for the party in power to reject the minority party's nominees for committee assignments. Von Tobel's offense? During the 1997 Legislature she showed a "lack of decorum and courtesy," Assembly Majority Leader Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, said. Translation: As a member of the Assembly's budget committee, she asked pointed questions about the university's budget, especially merit pay. Assembly Speaker Joe Dini, D-Yerington, said Von Tobel "was against the university and was hard to work with."

While the Democrats were perfectly within their right under the rules to keep Von Tobel off Ways and Means, it sends a couple of bad signals. First, it suggests there are sacred cows that can't have their budgets seriously questioned. Second, it suggests that independent, critical thinking could be met with retribution. There are enough people already in the Legislature who just want to get along; lemming-like behavior shouldn't be encouraged.

Although the Democratic leadership receives the brunt of the blame, if Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Minden, had more backbone he certainly would have been able to persuade the Democratic leadership to keep Von Tobel on Ways and Means. Finally, Democrats may be in the majority now, but given the cyclical nature of politics, Democrats should worry about the day that the GOP gets a majority in the Assembly. Even in politics, what goes around comes around.