Columnist Erin Neff: GOP finds surefire way to lose its momentum

Erin Neff

Friday, Feb. 21, 2003 | 4:38 a.m.

REPUBLICANS cheered last November's elections as a sea of change in public opinion and vowed to make greater headway in the state's last bastion of Democratic control: the Assembly.

But while Democrats did lose four seats there, the gains once proclaimed by the GOP are being effectively erased at the rate of one per week.

Three Assembly Republicans have done more to harm their party's stature in Carson City through their own actions than any team of Democrats.

In each of three weeks, Assemblyman Bob Beers of Las Vegas, Assemblywoman Sharron Angle of Reno and Assemblyman Ron Knecht of Carson City have drawn so much negative attention to themselves the Democrats are anxious to see which GOP lawmaker will shoot his or her own foot this week.

One Republican leader even softly grumbled that "we need a Democrat to step in it next week."

The Republican sins:

The e-mail eventually ended up in unfriendly hands, was turned over to the media and shared with the rest of the state.

"For the most part, however, the many children they sire grow up not valuing education either," he wrote, referring to casino industry employees. "These youngsters are prone to dropping out of school, reproducing illegitimate children, often while little more than children themselves, abusing drugs and alcohol more frequently, and even killing themselves more often than people who do value education."

Democrats hold the edge in the Assembly 23-19. And after losing four seats, including the one to Knecht, they feared they would have a tough legislative session due to the rising GOP presence.

Scientology, elitist slurs and using the legislative process as a joke aren't exactly mainstream. And instead of marching into the meat of the 2003 Legislature with the ability to make a stand, the Assembly Republicans can barely stand on their own feet due to self-inflicted gunshots.

While political pundits are dreaming about this coming week's screw-up (Assembly Republican Don Gustavson appears to be the odds-on favorite), the Republicans are praying for the kind of news-making that should have put them on the map.

Tax policy is how all 63 lawmakers should make their mark.

There are now just 14 weeks left in the legislative session. At this one-a-week rate of political hara-kiri, only two Republicans in the Assembly will make it to sine die. Let's hope the others focus on real solutions to the budget crisis and save the stunts for the next election.