Columnist Jeff German: Hands off our citizen Legislature

Friday, Oct. 31, 2003 | 11:12 a.m.

All this fuss about banning public employees from serving in the Nevada Legislature is wearing thin on me.

Most of the noise is coming from people who want to promote their obscure political agendas.

They are people on the fringes -- like George Harris, the lightly regarded, right-wing chairman of the Nevada Liberty Republican Caucus, who is looking to drum up support for a ballot initiative to ban public employees from serving as lawmakers.

Many of the 14 lawmakers who work in the public sector are Democrats whom Harris has tried for years to unseat through the election process. He can't beat them through conventional means, so he's hoping to force them out of office by circumventing the election process. He wants us to give up our right to vote for someone who holds a public job.

In Nevada we have what is known as a part-time or citizen Legislature. It is made up of 63 lawmakers from all walks of life who come to Carson City every two years to conduct the public's business. When the Legislature isn't in session, most of these lawmakers work full-time elsewhere.

Some are lawyers. Some are ranchers. Some are physicians. Some are university professors. Some are financial consultants. And some are small-business owners. We also have a teacher, a truck driver, a police officer, a firefighter and a pastor.

The best thing about a citizen Legislature is that for the most part it gives everyone a chance to serve.

Several of the 14 lawmakers who have public jobs are in key leadership positions -- including Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, a deputy police chief; Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, a UNLV political science professor; and Senate Assistant Majority Leader Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, a dental hygiene professor at the Community College of Southern Nevada.

To deny these elected leaders, who bring a wealth of experience about government to Carson City, an opportunity to participate in the legislative process not only makes no sense, but isn't fair.

"Some of us think that experience enlightens rather than corrupts," says Ted Jelen, a longtime UNLV political science professor and Titus associate. "If you're going to have a part-time Legislature, it seems foolish to waste what little talent and experience exists there."

And where do we draw the line? Do we next ban from holding office those who work in industries, such as gaming, that are regulated by the state? Do we tell the lawmakers who get paid to serve on bank boards to take a hike?

Who then will be left? Retirees who have the time to serve? The wealthy, who can afford to serve? Or corporate employees who are paid by their companies to serve not us, but the special interests of their companies?

If we want to change the system, we should go all the way and create a full-time Legislature, where no one will have outside employment, where there will be far less potential for conflicts of interest.

Until we do that, someone should remind George Harris that public employees have just as much right to participate in the legislative process as anyone.