Editorial: Guinn wins one, loses some

Thursday, Nov. 9, 2000 | 10:08 a.m.

Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn wasn't on the ballot, but his face and name seemingly were everywhere this election year. Guinn obviously was pleased by his role in helping George W. Bush secure Nevada's four electoral votes. Bush's chief weakness was his fuzzy position on whether he opposed Republican congressional efforts to store the nation's nuclear waste in Nevada. Guinn and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., both vouched for Bush's bona fides on nuclear waste, and their popularity certainly aided Bush. But if the final count from Florida does give Bush an Electoral College win, this could be a Pyrrhic victory for Guinn and the state if Bush ultimately does not live up to Guinn's assurances that he would stop efforts to send nuclear waste here.

Guinn's efforts didn't all bear fruit. For instance, Guinn was directly involved in trying to defeat Democrat Rep. Shelley Berkley, who criticized his prescription drug program for seniors. But Guinn's television broadsides didn't seem to dent Berkley, who rolled to a decisive win over her challenger, state Sen. Jon Porter. In addition, the governor was hoping to complete a state government hat trick. Guinn won the governor's office in 1998, and the state Senate was expected to stay under Republican control in the 2000 election. So Guinn set his sights on the Democrats' grip on the Assembly, hoping to put the GOP in control of the lower house. But only one Democratic incumbent lost, leaving Democrats with a 27-15 edge.

What remains to be seen is whether Guinn will receive political payback from the Assembly Democrats who worked in a bipartisan manner with him during the governor's freshman legislative session in 1999 -- only to see him try to dislodge them the following year during their re-election bids. In an election season, governors will be partisan, but it will be interesting to see if Guinn's partisanship will hurt the consensus-building relationship he had forged with Democratic lawmakers, or whether he will be able to work together with Assembly Democrats on key issues facing the 2001 Nevada Legislature as he did in 1999. We hope it is the latter.