Columnist Erin Neff: Buckley stages small Democratic rebellion of her own

Erin Neff

Friday, May 16, 2003 | 5:09 a.m.

Erin Neff covers politics for the Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-4062, or by e-mail at erin@lasvegassun.com.

WEEKEND EDITION: May 18, 2003

CARSON CITY -- Democrats in the Lone Star State declared "Don't mess with Texas" when they fled the state Legislature to make a political point.

The principled theme in Nevada's 2003 Legislature is becoming: "Don't mess with Buckley."

Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, showed again Friday that no matter what challenge comes her way, she has the intellect and the political savvy to win. The lawyer in her can manipulate laws to her party's benefit. As the highest-ranking woman in the legislature, she is also admired not just by women as a role model but also by men for the skills that got her there.

On Friday she deftly outsmarted the Senate's wise old men by turning a political poison pill back on them.

The Senate sent over an amended medical malpractice bill, which was designed to hand her party a defeat. The bill, which would tighten medical malpractice laws to favor doctors, mirrors the initiative that was pushed by a group of doctors and received thousands of voter signatures. Buckley knew that the Senate wanted to force Democrats to kill the bill, making her party look bad in the eyes of doctors and voters. Instead of serving as executioner, Buckley sent back an amended bill of her own, and she won support from some of the Republicans in her own house.

Dr. Garn Mabey, a freshman Republican Assemblyman, initially voiced opposition to Buckley's amendment. But Buckley knew she needed not just Republicans, but the house's two doctors, to pass the new version back to the Senate. With Mabey on board, he could lobby his freshman Republican colleague, Dr. Joe Hardy of Boulder City.

She won Mabey's heart by offering to launch an emergency bill -- exempt from deadlines -- to recreate the medical-legal screening panel that hears medical malpractice lawsuits before they go to court. Mabey's bill to do that died earlier this session.

Mabey's decision to come on board helped her pick up more Republicans on the Judiciary Committee. The amended bill passed unanimously, with three Republicans abstaining to give them time to catch up with what had just happened.

Even as a small cadre of powerful men continue to control the Legislature, there is no glass ceiling above Buckley. And when the Senate in short time receives the new medical malpractice bill from the majority leader, they will know they can't mess with a Texas-sized mind.