Guinn cruises through first year

Sunday, Dec. 19, 1999 | 10:07 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- He's been businesslike, not flashy. He's fixed some festering problems in state government but he hasn't been a social engineer.

That sums up the first year in office for Gov. Kenny Guinn, who is still on his honeymoon with the public.

"He's had a steady but not spectacular performance," said Eric Herzik, chairman of the political science department at the University of Nevada, Reno. "For a first-year governor and a first-time elected official, it's hard to imagine him doing a better job."

But the honeymoon for the Republican governor who took office in January may end in the coming months.

Guinn must wrestle with a booming educational system that projections show could consume the whole state budget within eight years. He must solve the problems associated with the computers in the Welfare Division and Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety.

Democrats are likely to get testy if social issues are not addressed.

And the impact of Peter Ernaut's decision to resign as Guinn's chief of staff to enter private business remains to be seen. A former three-term lawmaker and good friend of Assembly Majority Leader Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, Ernaut was a strong presence in dealing with the Legislature.

Experts say Guinn must also come to grips with growth in Southern Nevada.

But for now, even Guinn's political opponents don't find too much to criticize.

"He got his agenda through the Legislature. He's still high in the public opinion polls. You've got to say he had a successful first year," said Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas.

The relatively smooth sailing has been aided by a stronger than expected economy and the avoidance of any major political gaffes.

Guinn said he feels his top accomplishments have been creation of the Millennium Scholarships for graduating seniors going on to higher education, the program to help the elderly pay for prescription drugs and the privatization of the state's industrial insurance system.

The scholarship program starting this summer will give up to $2,500 a year to Nevada students who graduate high school with a "B" or better average and want to continue to a university or a community college. "That has terrific, positive ramifications for the state in the long run whether I'm here or not," the governor said.

The prescription drug program, which could start by July 1, "is something nobody else in America has," he said. The program would allow an estimated 21,000 low-income seniors to get help in purchasing prescription drugs.

Converting the state-operated industrial insurance system into the private Employers Insurance Co. of Nevada was a "monumental challenge," Guinn said. The switch, he said, "sets the tone" for other state programs that could be privatized.

In his first year, Guinn was able to right the near-bankrupt health insurance program for state workers, strengthen the state Ethics Commission and gain passage of a tougher ethics law, and hold the line on taxes despite inheriting a $241 million shortfall in revenue. For the latter, he received the award of "Friend of the Taxpayers" from Americans for Tax Reform.

"I'm a business person," Guinn said. "I've been in a public agency and a private agency and you cannot run state government like a private business. I've never said you could. But you can use some of the important elements you take from business, like efficiency, like stability and good service. But you don't have a profit and loss line."

He retained most of the top appointees of his predecessor, Gov. Bob Miller. He fashioned a program that should start next year allowing nonviolent prisoners to be released to the supervision of drug courts in Clark and Washoe counties and he helped develop a program for the state to help fund school construction in rural counties.

Herzik says there are reasons for the successes.

"He's not a social reformer," Herzik said. "He's more hands-on than Miller. That's why there were no huge mistakes. He's not a seat-of-the pants entrepreneur.

"He (Guinn) benefited from a strong state economy. That makes any political manager's job easier. There was not a lot of rancor from state employees or agencies. All of that is good."

Titus says the Democrats in the Legislature improved the Guinn agenda. For instance, they designed part of the program to spend tobacco money on health programs. And they pushed through a return of benefits to workers injured on the job as part of the plan to privatize the Employers Insurance Co.

"The public saw those as his (programs)," Titus said. "This is the honeymoon. The hard part lies ahead."

Timothy Fackler, an assistant professor of political science at UNLV, agrees with Titus. "In a small state like Nevada, the honeymoon lasts longer. He didn't make any enemies with the kinds of proposals he floated. The next couple of years will be crunch time for him and the state."

Nevada governors, Fackler said, are "fairly weak" in terms of actual power. But Guinn "gives the sense he can act strongly within the limits of his office."

Not everything has gone Guinn's way. He didn't deliver on campaign promises to raise property tax rebates for needy senior citizens and to establish a boot camp for juvenile offenders. His administrators say there wasn't enough money for these proposals.

A plan to create a corrections department to include prisons, parole and probation, and public safety failed. The Legislature voted down his plan to privatize the medical services to inmates in the state prisons.

He was criticized by Democratic lawmakers for sending "mixed signals" after he vetoed a bill that would have increased real estate fees. They pointed out part of the Guinn budget was based on higher fees for service to the public.

The shakeup at the state Public Utilities Commission with the demotion of Chairwoman Judy Sheldrew and the decision not to reappoint Commissioner Michael Pitlock raised questions whether consumers were losing two of their strongest voices. The changes were viewed with suspicion by some because Guinn was once president of Southwest Gas Corp.

But the governor said he removed Sheldrew because of friction on the commission. And he said he replaced Pitlock because he wanted someone with an economics background.

The state, he said, is getting ready to move into the era of deregulation of its electric companies and he didn't want fighting between members of the commission. And it's vital, he said, to have an economist, Richard McIntire, on the commission to make sure the public doesn't get hurt in the era of competition.

Guinn was criticized by the teachers union for his veto of a bill to require school administrators to spend at least one hour in the classroom before writing an evaluation of a teacher.

"It's too early to tell whether he will tackle some of the social issues," Jan Gilbert of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada said. She said her group and other social groups are working with the administration in hopes of getting such things as an increase in payments to welfare recipients.

He scaled back the budgets of Gov. Miller's Family to Family plan and the program to provide low-cost insurance for children of the working poor. But he promised he would find money if the demand exceeded the funds available.

"He's not been innovative, but it's early," Gilbert said. She praised him for his work in the "NOMADS" computer system being developed for the state Welfare Division. The governor went to bat personally to get the federal government to reduce some of the penalties being imposed on the tardy system. And he got money to help complete the system, which started as a three-year project in the early 1990s at a cost of $24 million and now has ballooned to more than $100 million.

Guinn's focus in 2000 will be on developing an eight-year plan to look at estimated tax revenues and expenditures. There's been an absence of a long-range plan, says the governor, who adds that the state can't bounce from year to year and crisis to crisis.

"The reason you need this longer plan is because as you get bigger, it takes more time, effort and cost to change your direction or to respond to a critical need," he said. "When you're small you can wait to the last minute and get things done. But when you're big, you've got to look ahead."

Preliminary figures show Nevada is in for a heap of financial trouble. Right now, 35 percent of the state's general fund goes to the public schools.

"The rough figures show that in the eight-year period the school budgets alone will exceed the general revenue budget of the state," he said. And that's without adding in any pay raises for teachers or other enhancements.

Asked if this means a need for a tax increase, Guinn sidestepped and said, "It demands a great deal of discussion, intellectual thought and long-range planning, rather than every other year." He added, "I'm not ruling out anything."

The eight-year plan will be unveiled sometime between April and May.

Compounding the problem on the nearer future, the University and Community College System of Nevada is proposing a new four-year state college in Henderson and the creation of a satellite campus for UNLV at Summerlin in 2001. Guinn will have to choose whether they should be in his next budget.

The governor continues to hold 1,300 to 1,500 jobs vacant in state government to save money in the next 18 months. And his newly created audit staff is going through the major agencies, making suggestions for more efficiency.

Fackler says government "has not been dealing effectively with the phenomenal growth in Southern Nevada." He said Guinn has recognized there's a structural problem of budgets and taxation. But he doesn't know if Guinn will be able solve it with his limited power.

Titus is skeptical of Guinn's pledge to streamline government.

"There is no government more streamlined than Nevada," Titus said. "There is not a lot to be cut because we are a small state.

"His promise to redo the tax structure puts him out there. It forces him to deliver something that may not be popular. I don't see him doing drastic things if he's looking to run again."

Guinn's second priority for the coming year is to "fix DMV."

"I'm unhappy about the DMV and the unacceptable service," Guinn said. "By next June, you will see some substantial improvement."

By that time, motorists should be able to re-register their vehicles and renew their driver's licenses over the Internet or by telephone. Residents of Clark and Washoe counties should be able to renew their vehicle registration when they get their yearly smog checks.

"This will be a major, major focus for me," Guinn said.

The DMV planned for several years for a new computer system and when it was unveiled it proved to be inefficient and slow, creating long lines of angry motorists. Although the program was approved and mostly developed before Guinn took office, it bombed on his watch.

"He (Guinn) had to step in there and fix it," Titus said. "When the public thinks about it, they will not blame the Legislature. The governor was in charge and he had to take it on his shoulders."

The third major priority, Guinn says, will be to get the welfare computer program working by October. Currently, 40,000 of the 80,000 cases have been entered into the system. And if it's working by the deadline, the state will save more than $3 million in penalties.

Guinn said he has not had any big disappointments in his first year. But he has had to make some difficult decisions.

The hardest, he said, was deciding not to commute or delay the execution of Reno killer Alvaro Calambro. The governor said that although he feels he did the right thing, it still "grates on you."

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