Letter: Pay raises for legislators not a solution

Saturday, Oct. 7, 2000 | 2:43 a.m.

Once again Jon Ralston offers his solutions for "Curing the ills of Nevada politics" (Oct. 1 column).

His solutions? Annual sessions of the Legislature and pay legislators more money. So, what else is new?

You would think having lived here as long as he has and after seeing one crisis after another come and go without legislative meddling, Jon would have figured out that Nevada's biennial sessions are a strength, not a weakness.

This time around the crisis is electric utility deregulation. Does anyone seriously believe if the legislature was in session they'd solve the problem? Jon is upset about the "backroom deal" made post-session, but then points out the original deal was pretty much "backroom," too. This is an argument for annual sessions? Not hardly.

Actually the Legislature, or the Gang of 63 as Jon lovingly (?) refers to them, did a very good thing by leaving it up to the governor to decide whether to go forward with deregulation. Clearly the governor should hold off until the national energy markets, currently wracked by supply and distribution shortages, regains some kind of equilibrium.

As for legislative compensation: A lot of people have wasted a lot of time trying to increase legislative salaries. Every time a plan has been presented to the legislators it's been rejected. Failure to raise legislative compensation is not the fault of the "hoi polloi" as Jon lovingly (?) refers to us. It's the fault of the legislators themselves.

KNIGHT ALLEN