Editorial: Let voters decide who will serve

Friday, Oct. 31, 2003 | 8:54 a.m.

A movement is under way to change the state Constitution to prohibit employees of the state government and local governments, including school districts and the university system, from serving in the Legislature. The false reasoning behind a petition filed Tuesday with the Nevada secretary of state's office is that government employees are inherently biased toward passing increased taxes so that they can enjoy pay raises and increased benefits.

The organizers of the petition will need 51,243 valid signatures to get their question on the ballot of the 2004 general election. We hope there are not that many people in Nevada who would go against the principle of our citizens' government, which has been in place since the state entered the union exactly 139 years ago today.

Some of the organizers of the petition drive are upset that the 2003 Legislature, which includes 14 public employees out of a body of 63 members, approved raising an additional $418 million a year from the state's taxpayers. We fail to see how a modest tax increase, after 12 years of holding the line, equates to greed and bias. The organizers are also using as fuel for their position the recent news of double dipping by a few legislators who are employees of local governments. The answer there is for local governments to do a better job of setting and enforcing policies. Banning employees from holding state office would be an over-reaction. If the petition passes, it would deny more than 50,000 people in Southern Nevada alone the right to serve in the Legislature -- people who have unique insight into how local residents and programs are affected by state policies.

Our citizen legislators have been willing to serve while receiving far less than a living wage. After 60 days of each 120-day session, legislators' regular pay ends and they get by on per-day expense checks. Perhaps in the future Nevadans will decide that a full-time Legislature, with full-time pay for professional politicians, is appropriate. Until then, all eligible citizens, as befits a citizens' Legislature, should have the right to run for office.