Guinn won’t lobby Bush on federal land sales policy

Benjamin Grove

Tuesday, March 1, 2005 | 9:11 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Gov. Kenny Guinn says he will not lobby the Bush administration Congress -- at least, for now -- against a the president's budget proposal to siphon hundreds of millions of dollars away from Nevada.

Guinn plans to let Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and the rest of the Nevada delegation in Congress take the lead in fighting off the Bush proposal, Guinn told reporters Monday. Guinn was in the nation's capital for an annual winter meeting of the National Governors Association.

The Bush proposal would funnel to the federal treasury some profits from sales of federal lands in Clark County. Under a 1998 law the state keeps the money from public land auctions for land, water and education programs. Bush has proposed allowing Nevada to keep 30 percent of the money, but he wants to use 70 percent of the proceeds for federal deficit reduction.

Guinn said the issue was a "serious concern" for the state.

"And hopefully it will not come about," Guinn said.

Guinn said he was ready to help fight the Bush proposal if called on, but for now he plans to leave lobbying on the issue to Nevada's members of Congress.

"No matter how tough your dog is, you can only get into so many fights," Guinn said.

The Republican governor has enjoyed a friendly relationship with Bush and served as chairman of Bush's 2000 and 2004 election campaigns in Nevada.

But Guinn's aides said there wasn't much Guinn could do beyond the lobbying that is being done against the proposal by Nevada's Republican members of Congress.

Guinn has another interest in preserving the current land sale law. Guinn has enlisted the support of Nevada lawmakers to pursue a plan in which the state, under the 1998 law, would buy land at $1 an acre to be used for affordable housing. State officials are talking with Bureau of Land Management officials about the proposal, and whether "tweaks" in the law might be necessary to make the plan happen.

In other comments, Guinn said he objected to GOP attacks on Reid.

"I don't think that helps any of us," Guinn, who serves as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, told Nevada reporters Monday. "It doesn't help anybody in Nevada."

Guinn's comment referred to attacks on Reid launched by the Republican National Committee, which regularly e-mails critiques of Reid, Democratic leaders and their comments to roughly 1 million GOP activists and journalists.