Sunday, Dec. 11, 2005 | 8:13 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration may be backing off its proposal to siphon public land sale profits now pouring into Nevada away from the state and into the U.S. Treasury to help offset the deficit.
Bush proposed that 70 percent of the profits from federal public land auctions in Clark County, held under rules laid out in the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act, be funneled to federal coffers. The profits currently are used solely in Nevada for land, water and education programs. Nevada lawmakers successfully stopped the administration plan in Congress.
The Bush proposal was contained in the Interior Department's 2006 fiscal year budget proposal, released in February. But the department has no plans -- at this moment, anyway -- to include the proposal again in the budget it is drafting for next year, department spokesman John Wright told the Sun.
But the department and the White House's Office of Management and Budget are still passing budget drafts back and forth -- and there is still time for the White House to reinsert the proposal.
The department's budget proposal is typically completed by early January and released to the public with the rest of Bush's budget by late January or early February.
Berkley adjective surplus
A panel of House and Senate negotiators will have to decide whether casinos should be eligible for the tax breaks being doled out to businesses that suffered losses in Hurricane Katrina.
Nevada House lawmakers dutifully went to bat for the gaming corporations last week. In an effort led by longtime gaming foe Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., casinos were excluded from the tax benefits. Wolf said casinos didn't need federal help. Casinos were lumped together with various businesses that were not to receive benefits: massage parlors, liquor stores, hot tub facilities, race tracks and tanning salons.
Nevada lawmakers said it was unfair to exclude a well-regulated casino industry vital to Gulf Coast recovery. Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., said casinos were not asking for special treatment, just equal treatment.
In a fiery speech spanning just a few minutes, Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said she was "angry," "outraged," "dismayed," and "astounded," by the House action.
"Shame on this body for allowing the gaming industry to be discriminated against," Berkley scolded.
The House included the provision in a broader tax-break bill approved last week, but the Senate did not approve the measure.
Gibbons fires back
A panel of House and Senate negotiators this week could begin considering a budget bill that contains controversial mining legislation championed by Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev.
It has been a rough few weeks for the legislation, which would allow mining companies to buy public land.
A long line of critics has argued that the legislation potentially opens up millions of acres to development of everything from condominiums to fast food joints.
Critics have bombarded Gibbons' legislation, including a number of Democratic lawmakers, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., environmentalists, Aspen Ski Resort, former Nevada Bureau of Land Management director Bob Abbey, six Democratic Western governors, groups in Montana which launched television commercials, and 19 mining and lands law professors who blasted the legislation in a letter to key lawmakers.
Perhaps the harshest blow came from several key senators who have voiced criticism, including Sens. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., and Wayne Allard, R-Colo. Without Senate support, the legislation isn't likely to survive House-Senate negotiations.
So Gibbons launched an aggressive defense last week, holding a conference call with reporters from around the country, firing back at critics who he said misunderstand the legislation. After an hour of questioning, Gibbons blurted that it was "simply hysteria" to suggest his legislation would lead to developers gobbling up pristine public lands.
As to Senate opposition, Gibbons tried to remain upbeat in the face of near-certain defeat, saying his staff was working with the aides of Senate critics to "work out any of the differences."
The Reid world
The Nevada Republican Party last week unveiled a Web site to slam Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid: www.thereidworld.com. The site was inspired after Nov. 1, when Reid called for a rare closed-door session of the Senate to discuss what Democrats described as Republican stalling on an investigation into Iraq intelligence.
The Web site was launched as "the voice of Nevadans embarrassed by the stunts and statements of our senior senator," wrote Paul F. Adams, state party chairman.
Reid, of course, has a political Web site of his own: www.giveemhellharry.com. More than two months after its launch the site is still attracting visitors -- a mix of Reid friends and foes -- who post pans and praise.
Trim the tree with controversy
Workers flipped the switch Thursday night to light the 83-foot Engelmann Spruce on the U.S. Capitol's west lawn, further illuminating the controversy: Is it a Christmas tree?
Conservative Christian activists in recent days have waged a campaign to bring back the word "Christmas." The issue warranted front-page space in the Washington Post last week: The White House since 1992 has left the "Christmas" out of the holiday cards it sends out every year to 1.4 million friends, donors and media (a list, it has been noted, of people of all faiths). Didn't get one? It read: "With best wishes for a holiday season of hope and happiness."
That Christmas-less message irked some conservative Christians. The White House has "capitulated to the worst elements in our culture," Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights president William A. Donohue told the Post.
Then there's the Capitol tree, which has become not just symbolic of the holidays, but of a widening national controversy over the renaming of everything from retail Christmas sales (holiday sales) to school Christmas vacations (winter breaks). House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., this year adamantly insisted the spruce be referred to as the Capitol Christmas Tree, and not a holiday tree.
The larger controversy spawned a book by Fox News anchor John Gibson, "The War on Christmas, How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday is Worse Than You Thought." The book description notes it is "perfect for everyone who's pro-Christmas." And of course, it is just in time for holiday, er, Christmas shopping.
Benjamin Grove can be reached at (202) 662-7436 or by e-mail at grove@ lasvegassun.com.
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