Columnist Ruthe Deskin: Pay the bills, then spend the bucks

Ruthe Deskin

Thursday, Oct. 29, 1998 | 10:07 a.m.

Math was never my favorite or easiest subject.

I had no trouble absorbing simple addition and subtraction, even division. It wasn't until I hit the hard stuff that I cried out for help.

In college I signed up for trigonometry, advanced algebra and calculus without a clue as to my ability to absorb the intricacies of higher math.

A friend was a whiz at math. I was better than average in English and history; so we tutored each other and got passing grades.

He neglected to instruct me in the mysteries of budgets and deficits, and that's the reason I can't understand how Congress can pass a $520 billion spending package when the nation remains in a deficit condition.

The budget was contained in 4,000 pages and few Congressmen even had a chance to read it through before it went to President Clinton for signature. Both Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. John Ensign voted against the bill, which showed fiscal good sense to this ordinary citizen who believes you pay your bills before going on a spending spree.

Maybe I should have paid more attention to higher math.

It must be true. Politics makes strange bedfellows. How else can you account for the friendly relations between crybaby Aaron Russo and gubernatorial hopeful Jan Jones? Russo, a Republican, was soundly trounced by Kenny Guinn in the primaries and like a petulant child has been wailing over his defeat.

UNLV's Dr. Craig Walton voices an opinion held by many who heard or read Jerry Strohmeyer's statement at his sentencing for the murder of a 7-year-old child.

"I am virtually certain that Jeremy Strohmeyer did not write the statement. No 17-year-old talks or writes that way," Walton says. "There were subsubordinate clauses referring to subordinate clauses. There were complex preposition uses which virtually no one can handle except those of us who write professionally -- and the tone of it was way off the scale intellectually. I would wager five rubles that it was written by Leslie Abrahmson."

I won't take that bet.

Rave reviews are in for the water show at the Bellagio.

It isn't the first of its kind, however. Some of us old-timers remember the days of "Dancing Water," a major attraction at Wilbur Clark's Desert Inn.

The Bellagio show might be bigger, but not necessarily better.

Sheldon Adelson may be a wretch for all I know.

But he's not the first person to use his dollars to influence a political race. He just gets a little more "down and dirty" with his methods.

Remember what the unions did to Sen. Sue Lowden? Or, go back a little further and you might recall what Moe Dalitz did with $400,000 to defeat Hank Greenspun.

The old-time hotel and casino owners played politics in a different manner. They covered their backsides by spreading the money around. They gave to any candidate they thought had a chance of winning. In those days, there weren't campaign funding laws and contributions were not made public. This also gave candidates an opportunity to make a little money for their retirement years. I remember one county commission hopeful who admitted he pocketed half of the contributions for his own personal use.

Those were the days.