Guinn’s first week: Hard work, cold showers

Monday, Jan. 11, 1999 | 11 a.m.

Gov. Kenny Guinn found himself working harder his first week on the job than he had anticipated.

Following his inauguration last Monday as Nevada's 28th governor, Guinn spent most of the week working 12-hour days trying to resolve a $140 million to $145 million budget shortfall.

"It's been extremely busy and very exciting," Guinn said in an interview at the close of the week. "It would have been much better if we weren't so tied to the budget."

The 61-year-old Guinn, the first Republican governor since 1982, said he agonized over the painful cuts he had to make to balance the $3.1 billion budget over the next two years.

He said he's trying to keep a lid on the cuts until he discloses them during his State of the State address in Carson City on Jan. 18.

One area that won't be cut, he said, is education. Guinn, a former school superintendent and university president, has made education one of his priorities.

"When you start looking through the budget, you realize that everything you do affects somebody," Guinn said. "It bothers you because you have to make some tough decisions. You're dealing with real people that you know."

Guinn said he expects his job will become more exciting once the Legislature convenes next month.

"Right now, I've been locked in a room with paperwork," he added. "But I'm doing exactly what I like, and I'm enjoying it very much."

Guinn said he wants to use his State of the State address to explain the ramifications of the budget to Nevadans.

"I have to prove to the people we're spending the money we have in a very efficient manner," he said.

Guinn described himself as on a "high learning curve" about the way state government is run.

"You don't have the flexibility you have in the private sector," the former banker and Southwest Gas Corp. chairman said. "There are more processes to go through."

Guinn said he believes his "most daunting" challenge ahead is to persuade state lawmakers the state needs to do a better job of long-range planning to avoid going from good times to bad times in one year.

"We have to start planning longer for the future of Nevada," he said.

Last week, as he labored over the budget with his top aides, Guinn said, he thought about the huge responsibility of his job and the many "great decisions" that have been made at the statehouse by his predecessors.

He said he's up to the task of leading Nevada into the 21st century.

Much of that leading, he explained, will be done from Las Vegas, where he expects to spend most of his time working after the Legislature.

He and his wife, Dema, plan to keep their Las Vegas home and remain in contact with their friends in the valley, he said.

Both have yet to have had the time to move all of their personal belongings to the governor's mansion, Guinn said. But overall, they've enjoyed their brief stay in Carson City.

Guinn found out, however, that even governors don't always have first-class accommodations.

On Friday, Guinn woke up to no hot water in the governor's mansion, which is undergoing a $5 million renovation.

He had to take a cold shower, which may have been fitting for his first week at the helm of the state.