Columnist Erin Neff: Gearing up for wild season of ‘Survivor: Carson City’

Erin Neff

Friday, Sept. 13, 2002 | 5:33 a.m.

THE STATE Senate's leadership is hanging on edge as the Senate's tenuous balance of power rests not only on numbers, but also on political will.

The Senate stands at 12 Republicans and 9 Democrats, but control could easily change the traditional way at the polls because of two close races. Or, it could change by the type of political gamesmanship state leaders learned when U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., got Jim Jeffords to switch from the Republican Party to Independent and give the Democrats a whack at control.

First, the election. Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, isn't on the ballot, but could emerge as majority leader if Clark County District 9 and Washoe District 2 are won by Democrats.

That has only recently become reality in a post-primary world where the money, name and connections of Richard Bunker couldn't win him the District 9 primary and instead left everyone dreaming of the upset.

But even if upsets rule the day on Nov. 5, there's Nevada's own little Jeffords in state Sen. Ray Shaffer, a moderate Democrat from North Las Vegas, who is being eyed by the GOP to switch parties.

Republicans have reigned over the upper house for a decade and aren't too excited about turning over the gavel. And even if the final numbers are 11-10 for the Democrats, you can bet Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, will try to strike a deal with Shaffer on Nov. 6.

Shaffer, who is in a Democratic district, hasn't asked Titus for a committee chairmanship ... yet.

And, as Titus says in her Georgia drawl, "He might just be enjoyin' the courtin'."

But Titus, who is currently teaching state politics and legislative strategy to her students at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, is no dummy. Shaffer, she says, could have the chair of Senate Taxation -- the marquee committee in a session about taxes, taxes and taxes.

If the Republicans keep control, with or without Shaffer's help, Democrats can still look to the GOP for help, because every tax vote has to be by a two-thirds majority.

There are plenty of other moderate senators in both parties on similar fences, making the art of alliances and deals prior to the 2003 session like playing "Survivor: Carson City."

With the state's budget crisis and taxes set to rule the 120-day session, the internal political games for control will mean more than the $1 million television prize.

Titus, who remembers fondly her 1991 stint as chair of Senate Judiciary, has worked 10 years to get her party back the gavels and will learn to outwit, outlast and outplay the Republicans.

So, even if the electorate doesn't put her in power and Shaffer doesn't take it from her, she'll be doing plenty of wooing on her own.

Sens. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, and Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, both buck their party from time to time -- usually in the Commerce and Labor Committee, which will dominate discussion of construction defect cases next session.

Then there's the tax-and-spend conservative Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, who usually votes with the Democrats on the budget anyway.

But Raggio knows Shaffer isn't the only Democrat who leans to the right. Sen. Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, sounds for all the world like a Republican on tort reform and construction defects.

Then there are the wild cards, typically good party followers who have been known to question leadership and build their own alliances.

Assemblyman Dennis Nolan, R-Las Vegas, made history by upsetting Bunker in the Senate District 9 primary, and defeated a bit of Raggio in the process. While both Nolan and Raggio, who pushed Bunker into the race, say they've buried the hatchet, political friendships aren't always the most lasting of relationships.

If Nolan beats Democrat Terry Lamuraglia in the general election, he will have two victories under his belt and could head to Carson looking for a third. This is, after all, the man who suggested Raggio should give his leadership post to a Southern Nevadan.

Another one of those, Assemblywoman Sandra Tiffany, R-Henderson, has a good chance of winning a Senate seat, leading one lobbyist to mutter: "Raggio doesn't know what he's getting."

Tiffany might head to the House of Lords with her own agenda. When it comes to taxes she's even aligned with the very voice of liberalism, Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas.

It wouldn't be a stretch to see her working with Titus.

Taxes make for even stranger bedfellows than politics. And coupling the two issues in 2003 will make watching the Legislature more fun than any reality show.