Columnist Jon Ralston: Call special session now

Friday, May 31, 2002 | 5:01 a.m.

-- Gov. Kenny Guinn, 5/30/02

MEMO TO THE GOVERNOR:

I know you love to build consensus. You live to bring parties together. It embodies your persona; it is who you are, who you want to be, what you hope to be remembered for.

But sometimes, governor, consensus can't be built; it must be imposed. And you are the only one who can do it on the issue of medical malpractice.

This is not even a close call: You must convene a special session and do it now.

I know what you'll say, disgorging the conventional wisdom you and your advisers have reached. If we don't get the doctors and trial lawyers and insurance companies on the same page, a session will bog down in bickering and inaction. It would be a waste of time.

But that's wrong. The truth is that there is only one way to get this resolved before the medical community here is decimated and the quality of life begins to suffer -- and dramatically. These doctors aren't exaggerating the crisis, even if they are trying to exploit it for all the tort reform it is worth. This is real and must be dealt with immediately.

The only way -- and this you will appreciate, governor -- is to get the three major special interest players together in one place. What you must realize, though, is that place is the Legislative Building in Carson City.

The only way to get something productive done is to force the Gang of 63 to listen to testimony from each of the groups and then decide for themselves. Sure, let the trial lawyers parade their quadriplegics in the hallways and let the doctors bring all the pregnant mothers who can't find an OB/GYN to testify. Fine.

But let's minimize the drama and force the lawmakers to answer some very basic questions:

There are many others, but that's a good start.

Let's face it, governor. What you have done so far, while admirable in its intent, has been to affix various Band-Aids to try to get though this until Session '03. Well, it's not enough. And the only reasons for not doing more are purely political. If it's a crisis, as everyone agrees, let's fix it.

Just because we have this asinine setup that only allows the Legislature to meet every other year doesn't mean problems don't happen in even-numbered years. And when they do, you are the only one empowered to call lawmakers back to do their jobs so you can do yours.

So call them back to Carson City and we can find out, in an event that will gain statewide attention, the answer to the political questions, too.

Let's see if the Assembly really is the property of Citizens for Justice, the trial lawyers' political action committee. If the Democratic majority wants to peremptorily resist any notion of tort reform, let them reap the consequences.

Let's see if the Senate really is the board of directors for Big Business, looking out more for the insurance companies, especially those managed care behemoths. If the GOP majority wants to blindly bend to their wealthy masters, let them face the voters.

And you, governor, let's see if you have been given an honorary M.D. because of two doctors of spin hired by the physicians -- Pete Ernaut, your former chief of staff and campaign manager, and Mark Brown, a consultant and close friend of your family -- who might as well be, and this is not a coincidence, your surrogate sons. Let the people see that you are not just cap-happy, but that you want a comprehensive solution.

I admire your willingness to take on this manifest crisis and try to stop doctors from fleeing to greener (literally and figuratively) pastures. But it's time for Consensus-Builder Kenny Guinn to take a hiatus. It's time for a different Kenny Guinn to be seen in public. It's time to see Gov. Kenny Guinn force a solution to be achieved in a special session.

And if they adjourn and do nothing, call 'em back again. And if you need to, call in the real troops -- the Strip soldiers -- to put pressure on their elected officials to make a decision on this issue. The gamers have a stake in this, too, because of escalating health care costs.

Only you can do it, governor. There's a name for that Kenny Guinn, too. That Kenny Guinn would be called a leader.