Raggio will keep them guessing

Friday, July 25, 2003 | 11:27 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, still isn't saying whether he will run for a ninth term, but some associates believe he will be back in the 2005 Legislature.

There was speculation in the hallways at the Legislature about the political future of the 76-year-old Raggio, who along with Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, holds the record for the longest service in the Senate.

Raggio is newly married and loves to travel. And this was a grueling session with tax deals repeatedly struck and then broken. He expressed frustration on several occasions when negotiations fell apart.

After the session closed Tuesday morning, Raggio said it was too early to make a decision on the election. He is expected to wait at least three months before making up his mind.

"This was the longest, hardest and most difficult session," he said. "It takes a lot out of the people in their personal and professional lives."

Raggio said he will attend the American Legislative Exchange Council meeting in Washington this month and another out-of-state meeting shortly after that before making a decision.

But those who have worked with Raggio over the years doubt the so-called Godfather of Northern Nevada politics will call it quits. Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, who worked closely with Raggio in trying to achieve a compromise on the tax plan, said "without question" the majority leader will run again.

"There is no doubt in my mind," Townsend said.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, who has butted heads with the majority leader during past sessions, also thinks he will seek re-election.

Others privately suggest Raggio's best days are behind him, and point to Assembly Speaker Joe Dini's retirement after the 2001 session as an example of how to leave while you're still at the top of your game.

The taxes that drove the bitter debate in Carson City also created a wedge in Raggio's caucus and left fiscal conservatives questioning whether the majority leader was eschewing Republican principles. At various points during the session, Democrats negotiated with Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, who many believe is a potential replacement for Raggio as majority leader.

If Raggio does not seek re-election, two Republican assemblywomen may try to succeed him.

Reno Republicans Dawn Gibbons and Sharron Angle have expressed interest in running for Raggio's seat. Angle, an ultraconservative who voted against taxes, is a dogged campaigner.

Gibbons, a moderate who voted for the $836 million tax plan, has the added advantage of name recognition. Her husband is Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev.

Dawn Gibbons told the Associated Press this week that she would not seek re-election to her Assembly seat. She made the same promise after the 2001 session, but ultimately decided to run again.

During the interim, Raggio will be vice chairman of both the Interim Finance Committee that handles decisions between sessions, and the Legislative Education Committee that oversees how the public school reform laws are working.

Raggio delivered for the north on several occasions this year. He pushed through a $5 million allocation for the University of Nevada, Reno, to help buy the adjacent Manogue Catholic High School, even though it was not on any list submitted by the regents of the University and Community College System of Nevada.

When sports enthusiasts in Washoe County wanted a baseball stadium for a baseball team in Sparks, they approached Raggio -- and a bill allowing an increase in the car rental tax easily cleared in the closing days of the regular session of the Legislature.

Fred Lokken, associate dean of teaching technologies and governmental relations at the Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, said Raggio still sees the big picture.

"He has the kind of experience from which everybody benefits," said Lokken, a registered Republican. "He shows real leadership and not just north against south."

The Republicans held a 13-8 majority this year in the Senate. At the next election, there will be six Republicans, including Raggio, and four Democrats up for re-election.

If Raggio does run again, he will face little resistance, and he has a good chance to retain his majority leader position. During the 2002 elections, it appeared some would give Raggio a run for the title. Dennis Nolan, who had made his bid for the Senate something of a referendum on Raggio's control, became one of Raggio's staunchest defenders during the 2003 legislative session.

Ann O'Connell, R-Las Vegas, who many said had enough votes to challenge Raggio for the leadership job, never sought it. Republican sources say she would never challenge Raggio.

Amodei is considered by many to be the man in waiting. But he stumbled as much as anyone during the 2003 session. One tax proposal failed when it was revealed the measure contained language Amodei had put into the bill for Sen. Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas. The language would have permitted time-share hotels with gaming licenses to move their location and still keep their license provided they paid higher taxes. Schneider is a former partner of the Royal hotel time share on Convention Center Drive and is still friends with the owner.

The incident tarnished Amodei's reputation almost as much as Schneider's. Amodei had also opposed most of Raggio's tax plans throughout the session, but did vote for the final tax bill.

Assembly Democrat Chris Giunchigliani of Las Vegas negotiated much of the education budget differences between the houses with Raggio, the man that as a fellow Italian she calls "Ragu."

Giunchigliani bested Raggio this session in some of the education debate, winning small battles over teacher retirement credits and class-size reduction.

She also stole one of his ideas by sponsoring the bill that would allow Clark County to raise the rental car tax to fund construction of a performing arts center and a culinary arts training center.

Asked if she thought Raggio would run again, she said what most believe: "I would never count him out."