Columnist Erin Neff: Governor should have donned tax lobbyist’s hat

Erin Neff

Friday, April 4, 2003 | 5:52 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Kenny Guinn is many things, but a lobbyist he ain't.

Rarely has a hyped piece of legislation suffered such an anti-climactic death as the governor's call for short-term taxes did last week.

Few state leaders walked away happy after the bill for temporary taxes ran out of time without even an up or down vote.

Guinn is fretting that the state will be out of cash June 30, Republican leaders are worried their party will be blamed if that happens and Democratic leaders fear they'll be accused of inaction by not stepping up to call for the taxes.

The governor has no one to blame but himself.

Instead of making a clear case for the state's needs, the governor sent his proxy to a hastily called tax meeting with four milquetoast scenarios about the state's pending trouble.

Lawmakers were ready to push the button for the $75 million in tax increases to take effect from April 1 to June 30 -- they just needed something, anything, on paper to give them the political cover they needed.

When the governor first introduced the concept of raising taxes temporarily on cigarettes, liquor, slot route operations and business licenses, lawmakers scoffed at the plan because -- on paper -- the state's budget should balance come June 30.

But nothing else was said on the bill in the following weeks, despite our sudden entry into war and more signs that the economy is struggling. Lawmakers sat idly waiting for someone to come tell them the taxes were needed.

Guinn should have been the one.

If he had walked into the hearing himself and made a simple point -- lawmakers will be to blame if the state goes broke -- they might have had a different reaction.

No one really knows whether the state will be in the red June 30 and will have to lay off workers, free prisoners and shutter programs. But Guinn needed to tell lawmakers how very real those possibilities were given the current state of the economy and war with Iraq.

Instead, Budget Director Perry Comeaux drawled, "It could be bad," as he flipped through a handout of general fund balance scenarios after the tax chairmen had already canceled holding a vote on the bill.

On paper the state will be able to balance its budget at the end of the fiscal year. So if Guinn wanted lawmakers to take a leap of faith, he had to give them reason to jump.

He didn't even show up.

Lobbyists are adept at scare tactics and hyberbole with doom and gloom every day.

On Thursday a lobbyist urged passage of a bill related to counterfeit cigarettes by saying one counterfeit operation in Michigan helped fund Hezbollah. A few weeks ago a DUI victims' advocate likened drunk drivers to terrorists.

Lawmakers have a sinking feeling in their guts that they blew it last week by not approving the taxes and the added insurance of $75 million.

But the call for emergency taxes should have come with lights, sirens and a leader directing the scene.