Columnist Jeff German: Focus on social ills, not recall of Guinn

Friday, Oct. 3, 2003 | 4:21 a.m.

THERE WERE no banner headlines when United Way of Southern Nevada released its first-ever community assessment report last week on the social ills we're facing in the valley.

In many respects, the 90-page report, funded primarily by big business, including gaming and banking, didn't tell us anything we already didn't know.

But after paging through the report and seeing everything that's wrong with Southern Nevada all listed together, I wondered how we could have let the valley's rapid growth get so out of hand. And I wondered why we aren't doing more to fix things.

Are we that determined to be like our neighbors in California, who, because of years of cutting taxes, now have a massive budget deficit and seem powerless to deal with a vast array of social problems?

Instead of working with the governor they just re-elected to fix their problems, Californians are engaging in a circus-like partisan battle to recall the governor. There is a possibility that on Tuesday they will elect an actor with no political experience to run things.

But that's California's story.

Look at what United Way says we're facing in Southern Nevada.

We lack affordable health care. We don't spend enough money educating our children. Our roads are clogged. We do little to treat the mentally ill. We are insensitive to the plight of seniors. Our economy isn't diversified. We don't offer enough quality child care services.

We are the worst in the nation in welfare spending. We don't do enough to help those with disabilities. Our classrooms are overcrowded. Domestic violence and child abuse are on the rise. We spend little on parks and the arts. We are stingy when it comes to giving to charities. And we provide no money to treat problem gamblers.

Many of these concerns were unearthed in May in a seven-part series by veteran Sun reporter Steve Kanigher.

No wonder nearly two-thirds of the Southern Nevada residents surveyed in the United Way study reported that they suffered from anxiety or depression.

"There are penalties to pay in your community if you do not work toward eliminating some of these concerns," says Gov. Kenny Guinn, who has experience tackling many of these problems. "If you don't watch out, growth will overrun your progress."

Guinn received criticism from the far right this past legislative session for pushing what turned out to be an $836 million tax increase to help the state and Southern Nevada keep up with growth.

And now a few anti-tax misfits who have a flair for attracting publicity, especially from those libertarian loonies at the Las Vegas Review-Journal, are mounting a campaign to recall the governor.

I'm willing to bet that none of these anti-tax zealots will ever take the time to page through the United Way report and consider the trouble that lies ahead for this community if we don't start to seriously address our growth issues.

They won't read the report because they know that, if they learned more about the problems we're facing, they would see that their political philosophy is selfish and shortsighted.

They would rather be a disruptive force like their friends in California and pursue a political agenda that is wrong for this state and this community. Their solution to all of this is to take care of their own pocketbooks and hope that the problems just go away.

When the campaign to recall Gray Davis in California began months ago, no one took it seriously. For the moment, that's what is happening in the campaign to recall Guinn.

But if we don't keep an eagle eye on these troublemakers, we may find ourselves in the same situation Californians are facing on Tuesday.

I'm not an expert on the failings of Davis in California. But I do know that Guinn has done nothing that would justify any effort to recall him from office.

I also am convinced more than ever that we need to start focusing on what really matters in Southern Nevada.