Columnist Jon Ralston: Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce reigns supreme

Wednesday, May 23, 2001 | 9:04 a.m.

Jon Ralston hosts the public affairs program "Face to Face" on Las Vegas ONE and also publishes the Ralston Report. His column for the Sun appears on Sundays and Wednesdays. Ralston can be reached at 870-7997 or through e-mail at ralston@vegas.com

CARSON CITY -- The kings are dead; long live the kings.

Dim the lights on the Strip, for the true power crisis has arrived.

The juice no longer flows from Las Vegas Boulevard South -- the locus of control now resides on Howard Hughes Parkway. The days of NRA supremacy are gone; the LVCC has ascended.

Harvey Whittemore, Greg Ferraro, Billy Vassiliadis, the resources of R&R Partners -- they are the past.

Sam McMullen, Kami Dempsey, Berlyn Miller, the resources of the McMullen Strategic Group -- they are the future.

The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce held a news conference Tuesday in the state capital to announce "Nevada Business Statement of Position" on taxes. But this was no usual preening for the media -- this was a coronation, the crowning of the new rulers of the Legislature, the no-tax caucus that reigns supreme.

This was the state's new political royalty, led by McMullen, as an array of business interests, who have snubbed their noses at contributing significantly to the state's budget woes for years, looked down on the masses and said: "Let them eat cake." Or words to that effect.

Actually their words were many, contained in that three-and-a-half page statement. The chamber types already have adopted a tactic used by the Nevada Resort Association crew, which is to put out silly tax policy statements that mask their true intentions. Why, just a few weeks ago the gamers released their latest: "The (association) will continue to support a comprehensive, broad-based tax plan, one which includes gaming, to meet the growing needs of our state."

In other words: We want business to pay more and we ain't ponying up another cent until they do.

The chamber's statement used more words, but the intent was similar: Cover up its true motive -- not to hemorrhage members and not to pay up now what can be eviscerated later -- in a sea of rhetoric.

The business folks want the plebes to know that they care, they really care about tax policy, about doing the right thing -- just not now. That's because "we are currently in the end of the legislative session with consistent indications that the budget for this biennium can be balanced -- absent any newly proposed revenue needs requiring additional dollars -- without any new taxes based on adequate, if shrinking, estimates of current revenues and the ability to make budget cuts." That is: Forget about any plan this session, including state Sen. Mark James' franchise fee.

Oh, the business statement goes on to cite future needs and makes a promise to "develop and define a proposal" for the 2003 Legislature, and the chamberites will pay "the giant share." Uh huh. That is, unless the lawmakers can't find a tax that the business lobby considers fair to business. Well, that ought to be easy.

How can they get away with this kind of disingenuous chutzpah?

Because, as the gamers used to be able to say, they can. Why? They now have the gaming industry's crown jewel -- the chief executive.

The most obvious sign of the gaming industry's waning influence is that their Anointed One, Gov. Kenny Guinn, is on the same page as the LVCC folks. It's too late in the session, we need to wait until the interim, we must be cautious. I don't know which one's the ventriloquist and which one's the dummy, but the words are the same.

The chamber types are confident that Guinn, whose advisers are whispering in his ear about re-election and the danger of raising taxes, will stop the James proposal. He'll either tell the Gang of 63 to entomb it, which might do the trick. Or if the bill passes in the waning days of the session, he could wait until the bivouacking lawmakers go home and then veto it, thus forcing the solution onto the 2003 Legislature.

So this is what $300,000 bought Mandalay Resort Group -- a governor who won't play business tax ball? Oh, sure the chamber was with Guinn, too. But compared to the Mandalay Resort Group investment, which was the largest of a series of huge gaming bets on Guinn, the chamber's efforts were barely noticeable.

But not now. The governor, too, has realized where the real power in the state resides. My guess is when he travels to Las Vegas these days, he stops first on Howard Hughes Parkway and visits those Las Vegas Boulevard South addresses only if he has time. He knows:

The kings are dead; long live the kings.