Shaffer switch lands him chairmanship

Thursday, Nov. 21, 2002 | 9:30 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Sen. Ray Shaffer of North Las Vegas, who jumped to the Republican Party, has been rewarded with the chairmanship of the Senate Transportation Committee.

And Republicans now will have a 5-2 majority on the important committees of Finance and Taxation, instead of the 4-3 edge in the past session.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, Wednesday announced the committee makeups and said every incumbent GOP senator has a committee chairmanship and the four new members are all vice chairmen.

Six of the nine chairmen will be from Northern Nevada.

Shaffer was a Democrat for his 19 years in the Senate but switched to Republican after the election earlier this month and said he would like to be chairman of transportation.

Raggio said Shaffer is a veteran on that committee and merited the appointment.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said she was "disappointed that, at a time when legislators need to work together in a bipartisan manner on a number of very difficult issues, the number of Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Taxation Committee has been reduced from three to two."

She said these two committees will hear the budget and tax issues "where the most cooperation and consensus building will be needed."

"Two Democrats on a seven-member committee is a much lower ratio than the eight seats we hold in a 21-member body," she said.

But Raggio said Senate rules require each senator to serve on three committees.

"When the numbers go down, you lose seats," he said. "I think even a political science professor can figure that out," he said, alluding to Titus' job as a political science professor at University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Clark County will have four of the seven members both on Finance and Taxation.

Raggio said he agreed there should be cooperation in the upcoming Legislature instead of issuing press releases, alluding again to Titus.

The switch by Shaffer gave the Republicans a 13-8 majority, up from the 12-9 edge they enjoyed in 2001. Raggio will continue as chairman of Senate Finance Committee and two of the Clark County assemblywomen who moved up to the Senate -- Barbara Cegavske of Las Vegas and Sandra Tiffany of Henderson -- will be on that committee that fashions the budget.

Sen. Joe Neal, D-Las Vegas, who ran for governor, lost his seat on the Finance Committee when the Democrat numbers were cut. Sen. Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, will be chairman again of the Taxation Committee. And Sen. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, will head the Judiciary Committee, succeeding Mark James who ran and won a seat on the Clark County Commission.

Sen. Maurice Washington, R-Sparks, heads the Legislative Affairs and Operations Committee, succeeding Jon Porter of Henderson, who was elected to Congress.

Other GOP officers in the Senate are Amodei as president pro tempore; Ray Rawson, D-Las Vegas, assistant majority leader; Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, majority whip, and Tiffany as assistant majority whip.

Other Democratic officers are Bernice Mathews, D-Reno, assistant minority leader, and Valerie Wiener, D-Las Vegas, minority whip.