Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: Politicians’ power play

Thursday, Sept. 23, 1999 | 9:37 a.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.

"THE SUGGESTION to deconsolidate Metro is one of the dumbest ideas that I have heard in my 25 years of public service."

That is one of the smartest statements I have heard in the past 25 years from any public servant. It was made this week by former Gov. Bob Miller in response to some local calls by Las Vegas city officials to break up the Metropolitan Police Department.

Metro is the combination of the Clark County sheriff's office and the Las Vegas Police Department, which combined efforts more than 25 years ago to save taxpayer dollars and increase efficiency. It followed years of efforts by citizens groups to consolidate all governmental functions across the valley. Like every other good idea that takes away the power from the few for the benefit of the many, consolidation has been a hard-fought process. Metro is one of the victories.

Now a few power-hungry politicians and others who may not know any better want to fix what isn't broken and, with the power of marketing and sound bites on their side, believe they can win over a public whose attention span for such matters may not be sufficient to sift through the rhetoric.

I have tried to understand what Las Vegas City Councilman Mike McDonald says will be a benefit for Las Vegas taxpayers in light of what the facts and common sense would suggest. He has pointed to yet another study that shows breaking up Metro would save city taxpayers millions of dollars. If that is the case, who will make up the difference? A different set of taxpayers.

City officials will tell us that putting the burden on the rest of the citizens in this valley is not their concern, only the cost to Las Vegas residents. Except for the fact that we all live here and that crime and the need to control it is a countywide problem that knows no borders, they may have a point. But if tax parity is the issue, fix it. Certainly there are bright enough people on all sides of this issue to make sure all taxpayers are sharing equally in the cost of police protection. At the same time, those bright people should be smart enough to leave "well enough" alone.

I have always believed that in times like this, a bit of perspective doesn't hurt. So I went back to some old columns my father wrote when consolidation of all governmental functions was the topic of discussion to see why this community went down this path. Here are a few excerpts from what he wrote more than 30 years ago:

"Whether the good citizens realize it or not, they have an enemy that is increasing in number and slowly sucking the blood from their veins.

"The 'enemy' happens to be a gang of public officials, elected and appointed, who seem to have dedicated their whole efforts to fouling up the democratic processes rather than trying to run their little empires for the benefit of the general public.

"And the more officials foul up, the greater the number are being added to feed at the public trough. Everywhere you turn these days our public servants are making it tougher for the average person to keep his head above water. In some instances they make it impossible by standing on the little fellow's shoulders and giving him the shove that puts him under ...

"For years we have advocated creation of a metropolitan authority to handle all the problems of government in the Las Vegas Valley. One board can conduct all of the public business now divided up between four city commissions, four mayors, a county commission, a sanitation district, four police departments and a sheriff's department, five fire departments with five fire chiefs, water districts and to top it all off, a Fair and Recreation Board.

"There is no other answer if the people want to wind up with some money of their own after every public entity takes its slice of taxes ..."

That was the sentiment 40 years ago -- not much has really changed -- and that is why we have come as far as we have, to the point of some major consolidations in the police and fire departments. To think that some politicians are serious about taking us back to the time when political featherbedding and empire building was the way of life is almost laughable. To think that they want to do it with the one piece of government -- public safety -- upon which we all depend for our personal security is downright scary.

There may be problems with Metro. Whether it is responsiveness or arrogance or some inefficiency, it all can and should be fixed. The sheriff is directly responsible to the voters and they will tell him when he has messed up. But to put asunder what the people created years ago and what has worked for the benefit of all law-abiding citizens makes no sense at all.

Bob Miller said it's the dumbest idea he has heard in 25 years. I agree. But I don't think it is just dumb. I think it is a calculated effort on the part of some politicians to curry favor and power unto themselves at the expense of the people who live here and pay the bills. That makes it far more than a dumb idea.

It makes it a dangerous one -- for those who profess it and for those who blindly follow along.