Letter: Court’s decision is an outrage

Monday, July 14, 2003 | 8:44 a.m.

The position I and other Republican Assemblymen and Senators have taken -- namely, to fully fund education, but to reject a $1 billion tax increase and a 35 percent expansion in other areas of government -- is clearly the will of the vast majority of Nevadans. Unfortunately, the elected Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that our votes and position do not matter.

What is even more unfortunate, however, is that the Supreme Court has ruled that Nevada's citizens and voters don't matter, either. Twice, more than 70 percent of Nevadans voted for the Gibbons Tax Restraint Initiative and overwhelmingly approved the two-thirds requirement for any tax increase as an amendment to our state constitution. These voters were disenfranchised by Thursday's Supreme Court ruling.

As a legislator, I am disappointed. As a Nevada citizen and voter, I am outraged, as all of our Nevada's citizens should be, at the Supreme Court's precedent-setting decision to ignore the will of our state's citizenry, the state constitution and the separation of powers between the branches of government.

WALTER ANDONOV Assemblyman, District 21

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