Governor answers editorial in Wall Street Journal

Erin Neff

Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2003 | 9:45 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Kenny Guinn has done what many citizens who are unhappy with newspaper coverage do.

He wrote a letter to the editor.

Guinn submitted a letter to The Wall Street Journal in response to a Feb. 7 editorial in the paper in which the writer stated that Nevada "has real needs but among them is a complete reorganization of state government before taxes are raised."

In his response, Guinn said he has done that already, freezing more than 1,600 state positions, eliminating 800 positions by privatizing the state's industrial insurance program, and preventing about 3,000 positions from being created "despite our record population growth."

"Since I became governor, our state agencies have operated with flat budgeting -- the process of creating a budget based on the prior year's funding without increased across the board spending -- while we've cut more than $250 million from our budget," Guinn writes in his letter dated Feb. 10.

Guinn also states that many of the tax-cut options outlined in the Journal's editorial are not options in Nevada.

While New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is proposing cutting the state's capital gains tax and cutting the top income tax rate to 7.7 percent, Guinn said his hands are tied in those matters.

"Here in Nevada, we cannot cut either of those taxes because they do not exist," Guinn writes. "Before writing your next editorial about a Nevada-related subject, please give me a call so I can help you better research your topic."