Letter: Nevadans need public officials to tackle issues

Sunday, July 9, 2000 | 10:54 a.m.

I agree with the Shovel Brigade leaders that this will be a very important watershed event, but for different reasons. The no-show shovelers are the same imaginary right-wing, anti-government voters who have prevented progressive legislators of both parties from acting to bring Nevada into the modern era.

It is with one nervous eye on the long-gone specter of the "Sagebrush Rebellion" that our elected officials drop or water down proposals for meeting Nevada's real needs. The governor warns of a drastic budget shortfall, but dares not suggest ending our notorious tax subsidies for business. City and county officials lament our tangled traffic and air pollution, but cannot bring themselves to wrest control of our runaway growth from developers.

Elected officials like Rep. Jim Gibbons who supported the Jarbidge "movement" -- and those who knew better but dared not condemn its defiance of the law -- need to shake off those debilitating cobwebs of the past and get with the issues that define a successful modern state.

Our public officials, like our problems, are not hopeless. There are more Oscar Goodmans and Bruce Woodburys than Lance Malones and Michael McDonalds, more legislators like Mark Amodei, Terry Care and Dina Titus than the Ray Rawsons and Jon Porters. The people of Nevada need elected officials who will lead, even in controversial areas. There is so much catch-up needed, it must start now.

JOSEPH M. HOGAN