Columnist Jon Ralston: How Republican state Sen. Bob Beers, a candidate for governor, will bring an initiative on tax restraint to the fore in 2006

Sunday, Nov. 6, 2005 | 8:28 a.m.

Jon Ralston hosts the news discussion program Face to Face with Jon Ralston on Las Vegas ONE and also publishes the daily e-mail newsletter RalstonFlash.com. His column for the Las Vegas Sun appears Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Ralston can be reached at 870-7997 or through e-mail at ralston@vegas.com.

Bob Beers and I don't often agree. But on one critical point we see eye to eye: The most important vote Nevadans will cast in 2006 will not be for governor but on a tax and spending restraint initiative the Republican state senator has given buoyancy.

As Colorado voters last week stepped back from a Taxpayer Bill of Rights many there believe has asphyxiated education and other programs, TABOR advocates here are about to move forward with a parallel initiative that could permanently change the quality of life. The name has been changed -- here it is Tax and Spending Control (TASC). But an anti-democratic lemon by any other name still smells as sour.

The news last week wasn't so much that Coloradans, by a narrow margin, had agreed to spend $3.7 billion on programs rather than grab refunds promised under a 13-year-old initiative mandating government spending not exceed population growth plus inflation.

The news was not just that Beers, who is running for governor, is about to announce the signature-collection drive for TASC. The news was that four of the five gubernatorial contenders now have clear positions on the initiative.

Only GOP Rep. Jim Gibbons, a well-known initiative-lover, continues to equivocate on TASC, insisting he has to see the language before he takes a stand. Gibbons, he of the purported $2 million war chest, may believe he can afford to walk the line on TASC -- I love tax restraint but I love education spending, too.

But, thanks to Beers, the debate will be unavoidable and Gibbons will neither be allowed to waffle nor remain silent once the specifics are released in a week or two.

It's hard to imagine what Gibbons is waiting for. The basic tenet is simple: Take the power away from elected officials and restrict the ability of government to spend money by constitutional fiat.

The concept already has drawn skepticism from the other Republican in the contest, Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt, who indicated in September that she didn't like the idea and that people should change their legislators and not the Constitution if they are dissatisfied.

Such a novel concept -- that people elect lawmakers to make these decisions and they should not be hamstrung by constrictive initiatives. This was even more clearly articulated last week by both Democratic contenders, Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson and, especially, state Sen. Dina Titus. Both took TASC to task.

On Las Vegas ONE's newscast, Gibson said he opposes TASC and added, "I think government has done an awfully good job in Nevada. ... If people can't be responsible as elected officials, then what we ought to resort to is the ballot ..."

This concept, ethereal to those who would reduce policy discussions to sound bites, was fleshed out by political science professor Titus, who sent out an e-mail to her supporters that beautifully outlined the problem:

"Representative Democracy is based on a simple premise: Americans select individuals to make and enforce laws -- and then hold them accountable for the performance of their government. TABOR changes government into an institution of the formula and for the formula -- not the people.

"Life is too complicated to live by a strict formula. Families don't live on a strict formula. Businesses don't live on a strict formula. When you are locked into a formula crises cannot be solved and opportunities cannot be seized."

TASC is a magic trick whereby a hungry populace sees only the hand offering the tax rebate while the other hand is gutting services, as Coloradans have found out and now are trying to rectify after much damage has been done.

Nevada has avoided this debate thanks to craven lawmakers who sidestepped it as they passed a record tax increase in 2003 and enacted record spending in 2005.

But now, thanks to Beers, the battle finally will be joined during Campaign '06. And once the language is released, neither Gibbons nor anyone else on the ballot will be able to avoid taking a position on the most important issue before Nevadans next year. Jon Ralston hosts the news discussion program "Face to Face With Jon Ralston" on Las Vegas ONE and also publishes the daily e-mail newsletter "RalstonFlash.com." His column for the Las Vegas Sun appears Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Ralston can be reached at 870-7997 or through e-mail at ralston@vegas.com.