Ernaut won’t write Guinn’s State of State

Thursday, Dec. 26, 2002 | 11:19 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Pete Ernaut, the re-election campaign chairman for Gov. Kenny Guinn and a lobbyist for big business, won't be helping write Guinn's State of the State message next month.

Ernaut was quoted in a Las Vegas newspaper this week as saying he would be one of the crafters of the governor's speech to the Legislature.

"That's not completely true," Greg Bortolin, press secretary to Guinn, said Tuesday.

"As you know Pete is one of many advisers to the governor. But this is going to be the governor's speech," Bortolin said.

Bortolin said the administration is considering hiring two speechwriters with private funds, but no final decision has been made.

"Who's going to be the wordsmith is still being worked on," he said.

Ernaut and others could make suggestions but he will not be drafting the speech to be delivered Jan. 20 to the Legislature, Guinn's Chief of Staff Marybel Batjer said.

Ernaut, asked if he would be helping write the speech, said Tuesday, "I'm usually part of the team that helps on that."

He said the story published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal was "haywire." He was quoted as saying it was likely Guinn will be asking for tax increases ranging from $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion for the next biennium.

Batjer said no decision has been made on a tax plan, and the budget presently is being drafted.

"We are still working on the budget," she said.

An official in the Guinn administration said Ernaut apologized both to Guinn and Batjer for his remarks in the newspaper.

Guinn said earlier this week that the projected deficit for the next two years will be around $700 million.

Ernaut said he was speaking for himself when he made predictions on the tax increase to the newspaper. "The governor will ultimately make the decision," he said.

He had said the $700 million to $800 million that will be needed is "only treading water." He said more money will be needed if improvements are made to public schools, the University and Community College System and health programs.

Ernaut, a former Republican assemblyman from Reno, was Guinn's first chief of staff. He resigned to go into private business and political consulting.

During the 2001 Legislature Ernaut lobbied for such clients as the Nevada Bankers Association, International Game Technology, El Paso Corp., The Nevada Mining Association, the Nevada Franchised Auto Dealers Association, Reliant Energy, Merck Medco Managed Care, Nevada Bell and Concerned Physicians of Nevada.