Friday, Aug. 1, 2003 | 7:01 a.m.
WEEKEND EDITION
Aug. 2-3, 2003
No sooner had the 2003 Legislature passed a record tax increase than conservatives vowed to overturn it at the ballot.
Moves are under way for petition drives to put taxes, the budget, education -- even aspects of the political system itself -- to a direct vote of the people in 2004, purposely going around the elected members of the Legislature.
Dan Burdish, chairman of Nevadans for Tax Restraint, seeks to overturn the newly passed payroll and bank excise taxes through a referendum.
"During the Legislature the calls and e-mails to lawmakers were overwhelmingly opposed to tax increases," Burdish said. "If they're not going to listen to the people, maybe they'll listen to them at the polls."
George Harris, chairman of the Nevada Republican Liberty Caucus, announced two initiative drives and a recall effort at an anti-tax rally five days before the Legislature adjourned.
"What has happened in the last two weeks is an embarrassment to the people of this state and this state has to take its government back," Harris said at the rally.
His coalition group, Nevadans for Sound Government, plans to launch a recall of six of the seven Supreme Court justices because the six ruled to set aside a voter-backed amendment to the state constitution during the tax debate. The group will also circulate petitions to amend the state constitution to prohibit gaming companies from contributing to elections and to bar public employees from holding elected office.
Joel Hansen, chairman of Nevada's Independent American Party, said the recall is needed to remove justices who abused their positions by not upholding the state constitution.
In response to a lawsuit filed by Gov. Kenny Guinn against the Legislature, the court ruled July 10 that lawmakers may vote to increase taxes for education by a simple majority. The 6-1 decision said that the voter-approved constitutional provision requiring a two-thirds vote to raise taxes was procedural compared to the basic right of public education.
The American Civil Liberties Union in Nevada objected to the court's opinion but is very concerned about the recall.
"It's one thing to question a decision by the court," Gary Peck, the Nevada ACLU's executive director, said. "But do we want our judges to have to be looking over their shoulders and concerned about their public support when they have difficult decisions before them?"
Peck said he found it ironic that the same people who bemoaned the politicization of the court after the decision are now dabbling in a recall that could create a more political court.
"We are very distressed at the recall campaign that we believe threatens the integrity of the Nevada Supreme Court and the rest of the Nevada judiciary," Peck said.
The two initiatives Harris' group are planning have also drawn concern.
Harris said the proposal to prohibit gaming companies from contributing to elections is aimed at getting a monolithic power out of policy by prohibiting it from donating to those who make the policy decisions.
Gaming companies donated hundreds of millions of dollars to both of Guinn's gubernatorial campaigns and typically contribute to legislative leaders and other elected officials.
Many of the candidates Harris has associated himself with through his Libertarian-leaning Liberty Caucus have not received gaming support or won their races.
Paul Brown, executive director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, said that while he supports campaign finance reform, he does not think targeting gaming will be the answer.
"Why target just one group?" Brown asked. "Business and retail donate almost as much to campaigns as gaming."
In 2000, for example, gaming companies donated $885,228 to Nevada lawmakers. Business and retail combined for $841,918, according to PLAN's analysis of campaign finance reports.
The other initiative seeks to amend the constitution by prohibiting public employees from holding elected office.
Harris argues public employees should not set salaries or govern decisions about public retirement to which they are entitled.
Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Henderson, said that proposal "flies in the face of what a citizen legislature is."
"You will simply be making the Legislature more single-minded and less able to understand diverse points of view," said Titus, who is a university professor.
Opponents of the initiative drive say the move is essentially designed to kick out a number of state legislators -- most of whom supported the tax increase.
Fifteen of the 63 lawmakers currently have public sector jobs. Just three are Republican and just one -- Assemblyman Ron Knecht, R-Carson City, an employee of the Public Utilities Commission -- voted against taxes.
Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., has also announced plans to launch an initiative drive to amend the constitution. He is calling his initiative, Education First.
"The people's vote and the people's voice were ignored by the Supreme Court," Gibbons said of the July 10 opinion that also sparked the recall effort. "This is designed to give people back their voice in government."
Gibbons' initiative would require the Legislature to approve a school budget before a state budget. It would also reaffirm the two-thirds vote requirement and make it less subject to being overturned.
Still more initiatives could make it on next fall's ballot.
Assembly Republicans said they expect an initiative drive to cap the rate of spending or to require a two-thirds vote on budget passage.
Legislative Democrats say they expect someone to push an initiative to create a broad-based business tax -- a measure that did not win lawmakers' support this year.
Education and teachers union officials are also mulling an initiative to require Nevada schools to be funded at the national per-pupil average.
None of those initiatives has been officially announced. Petition drives for initiatives to amend the constitution cannot begin until Jan. 1. Petitioners will then have until June 15 to collect and file the required 51,243 signatures.
Since Burdish is pushing a referendum on a legislative vote, he can begin collecting signatures any time. He expects to launch his effort in mid-August.
"If we get the signatures then it's just a simple 'no' on the ballot," Burdish said. "We think that will enable the people to have a say in what has happened."
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