Looking at the whole picture

Kevin Rademacher

Sunday, Nov. 20, 2005 | 7:39 a.m.

The turmoil resulting from the divisive 2003 Nevada legislative session got a lot of people talking.

Powerful business leaders began to toss back and forth ideas for shaping the future of a state rapidly outgrowing the status quo. As time passed, those discussion became more formal, and the Council for a Better Nevada was born.

The group's membership now totals 19 top executives from key industries including gaming, banking, real estate and health care.

After operating in the background for much of its brief history, the council went public about its effort to help the Clark County School District's search for a new superintendent. The group has been interviewing potential candidates, researching policies and forwarding its findings on to the district's search committee.

The group's members say they have no interest in selecting a candidate, only in ensuring that the ultimate decision makers have as much information from as broad a scope as possible.

"We are not the decision makers," said Larry Ruvo, senior managing director of Southern Wine and Spirits of Nevada and one of the council's earliest members.

"We don't want to be the decision makers. We want to be known, and I believe I can speak on behalf of the council, as people that can provide assistance and help and open lines of communications."

Fellow council member Terry Lanni, chairman and chief executive of MGM Mirage, had a similar take on the group's role in affecting policy decisions.

"We're not trying to be king makers, we're just trying to broaden the choices beyond just the first-born son," he said.

Members, who pay annual dues of $5,000, also pledge additional resources as the group embarks on specific projects, such as its recent hiring of an education consultant. In addition to time and money, members also donate staff resources in the pursuit of researching and analyzing issues.

Nevada policymakers can expect to hear more from the council and its members in the coming months.

By early next year the council is expected to release its list of key issues and begin its efforts to generate attention and information surrounding those issues. Probable areas of focus, in addition to the council's already evident interest in education, include health care, roads and water.

The group's involvement could initially make some political operatives uncomfortable, given its high-powered membership that includes Sunbelt Communications owner and university system Chancellor Jim Rogers, Nevada State Bank President Bill Martin and Peter Thomas, managing partner of Thomas & Mack Co.

"Is there an intimidation factor? Certainly," said Maureen Peckman, council director. "This is a group of well-known people in the community, but I think once we talk and we offer up what we are hoping to do, decision makers will embrace it wholeheartedly."

Peckman and council members Ruvo, Lanni and Nevada Cancer Institute Chief Executive Heather Murren last week discussed the group's plans, priorities and origins with the Las Vegas Sun Editorial Board. Excerpts of the discussion follow.

Las Vegas Sun: Can you explain the purpose of this group?

Murren: The reason that I joined is because the group represents a very broad spectrum of talented business people in the community, leaders in the community, that have come together to see if we as a state and we as a group can brainstorm and help be a sounding board and perhaps help different pieces and segments of our community resolve some of the issues that we face as we grow. It's a pretty broad range, whether it be education, health care, infrastructure.

Sun: Are you going to concentrate on areas of public policy or will it be a broad spectrum of issues?

Murren: We actually just finished a strategic planning meeting, and the intent of that meeting was to try to identify things that we all agreed were important.

Part of trying to bring everybody together was to make a top five or 10 list of things that need to have some thought put around them. We really found that there are things that are important to the whole group regardless of background. Education would be one of them. Infrastructure would be another.

Ruvo: We have a group that I believe is dedicated to making Nevada a better place. What I feel one of our goals will be with the council will be opening up lines of communication.

There are people within the organization that have contacts, that have privilege to have contacts, and I know that when we were building our warehouse I didn't just have a contractor go in and build a conveyor system. We had a very exotic conveyor system that needed to be designed. We called in the experts.

The council, I believe, is being made up of people that are really committed, who have no personal agenda and who have enjoyed successes and want to give back to the community, and where possible try to open lines of communication that may not be available to other entities.

Sun: Who are you looking to reach out and talk to?

Ruvo: One example I can give you is the superintendent of schools. They are looking for a superintendent. Through Maureen (Peckman) we made some phone calls to people who we knew outside the system. Others are water, which we know is a significant issue for our state, or teacher housing, possibly the academic medical center and health care.

Murren: I think it's to facilitate progress, to the extent that we are able to open doors for different decision makers in the community where we can offer at least our own collective thinking about different issues. It's a place where people can sit down and put to work some of the experiences that some of our members have had professionally and personally to really help people think things through.

Sun: What kind of constituents are you trying to reach?

Murren: If people were to raise the issue of, and lets focus on education for a minute, how do we resolve and think about what we can do to attract and retain wonderful teachers in the community.

In that situation you would want to open the lines of communication not just with the administrators but also with the teachers themselves and understand what they would like to see and then find ways within the community to help them be successful.

Peckman: Often times in our state we tend to be very reactive in nature within our political system. Not because of the people we have in office but because of the system we have in place.

We have a citizen legislature that meets once every two years. We have part-time elected government officials, many of those officials don't have appropriate staff. A lot of decisions are made in their own small corners of their respective world. A lot of times they could be better decisions if they had the opportunity to have more information availed to them.

We're not telling anyone what to do. We're saying here's some innovative new ideas that are going on other places in the country that are facing the same challenges we are.

Sun: Have you prioritized the most pressing issues the council will address?

Peckman: We haven't yet. We just had our annual meeting, our first annual meeting. We'll be coming to agreement on two or three key issues that we think are the most pressing to the community in the next 12 or 24 months.

Sun: Do any of you have an idea individually of what you expect are the most pressing needs for the community?

Lanni: At this retreat we just had we spent about five hours together and went over a number of issues. I think we had 12 to 15 different issues that were covered, and we were asked to give priority ratings to those and we were asked to submit those back for future meetings.

We're not going to have unanimity in this particular bunch. I think that's one of the great things about this organization. It's a very eclectic group representing a number of different disciplines.

Sun: Nevada has faced a number of social issues for many years. What was the spark to get this group together at this level now?

Lanni: It probably should have been sooner. There's no doubt about that.

Peckman: I think after the 2003 legislative session, and this is my understanding, there was such a discussion, if you will, on taxes and tax policy. What was most responsible for the state. What was most fair for those who paid it.

That caused great discussion about what those taxes were essentially used for. I think it really brought to the surface the enormous impact of growth on the state and who's being left behind, who's not being left behind. I think it really brought to the forefront there are many issues that, for better or worse, are basically going to decide what our state is going to look like in 25 years.

Sun: Have we reached a point where we need a little more robust government?

Lanni: It's my personal opinion, not the opinion of the CBN, that this state probably is at a point that probably needs to have a full-time legislature meeting on a regular basis.

Sun: Why are you doing this personally?

Ruvo: This state has been incredible for my family and myself. It's not only being able to give back, but any resources that I have that they can help the state, that can help people, that's my involvement.

It's not that this is going to be better for me or I am going to sell more liquor or this guy is going to sell more cars, it was nothing about that. It was about a future, and it was probably about a residual that many of us are ever going to see. It's about our grandkids and our children.

Lanni: In the year and three-quarters that I've been involved ... I don't recall anyone ever pushing a personal agenda. It's always what do we think might be best for Nevada, Southern Nevada or Northern Nevada. We all have, I'm sure, personal agendas, but I think people have left those at the door.

Murren: There's also a remarkable willingness of every participant to deploy their personal resources. ... I think each of us, because we are pretty diverse group, brings our own set of understandings. For example, we do an awful lot of research and analysis in the field of health care, in particular in the nonprofit sector. To the extent that those questions arise, we can draw on that and bring it to the group and then share it, of course, with the broader community. Everyone has stepped up to the plate and participated in that manner.

Sun: It was mentioned that part of the genesis for the group came from the split in the business community and in the state that took place over the tax debate in 2003. What tax position has the council taken?

Peckman: What I can tell you is that in the makeup of the membership, we have members from the banking industry, members from the oil industry and members that are also on the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce that had a specific view of the tax changes that took place.

By virtue of our membership representation, I think you'd see every position on tax policy, but it's never been brought forth. It speaks again to the intent of our group. That has not been a barrier in talk about affordable housing, water, power alternative energy.

Lanni: I don't recall ever having a discussion about the tax issue.

Ruvo: We've had a presentation on the academic medical center from the university staff. Heather and I have had some conversations with the council on medicine. We had one of our members talk the other day about the fuel we have coming in here. We're going to need another pipeline. The way this town is growing, that's a potential issue.

Teacher housing, I believe, and teacher pay is number one.

There are a couple of legislators that have already asked us to come speak to us about a couple of issues, one of those is TABOR (Taxpayer Bill of Rights). We had a presentation about TABOR and it's a wakeup call. If we were in Maine, maybe TABOR would work. But in the growing demographics in this city and this state, it's something that I think personally would be a problem.

Murren: I think the group has all been very respectful of the fact that we may all have different opinions on different issues. But the idea is that we want to create some sense of unity on particular things that are important and see if we can make some progress.

Sun: Will you be taking public positions on issues?

Lanni: I think we may well.

Ruvo: I would hope so.

Sun: Do you have a timeline for taking a position on some or one of the most pressing issues the council has identified?

Peckman: I would say that in the early part of next year we'll have a public stance on a few issues. We have already engaged on the issue of education with specific attention to the Clark County School District as well as the superintendent search.

While this is an enormous issue to tackle, we're the sixth largest school district in the country. We think that we are not L.A. Unified where they can't turn it around there. It's too big, too broken and having to build a charter school system around that.

We can turn it around here in Southern Nevada in the next three to five years if we get a strong superintendent in place who is tested and proven in another large urban district where they are imparting innovative reform ideas and finding success with children that most other communities would write off because of ethnic, socioeconomic background.

We don't want to do that. We think all of our children can succeed in Southern Nevada and all of Nevada. We want to be able to provide the resources to do that. We're not asking to select the next superintendent. We're asking for the opportunity to assist them, to provide ideas, to bring candidates to the table.

Sun: What are some of the reforms that your group thinks should be considered for the school district?

Peckman: These are ideas that have been brought to us, and we feel that should be considered only because they have shown success in other large urban districts, such as Boston, Houston, Chicago, New York, Seattle, St. Paul.

These are principles that revolve around the idea of decentralization, not deconsolidation. We're not talking about breaking up the school district. That is not an issue we have interest in, nor is it something we think has a positive impact on the students at the end of the day.

Decentralization is a way of taking a large urban district like ours and taking the figurative central office, if you would, that controls most of the spending and giving the principal, giving them, greater control over their local budget. They are able to have greater control over spending.

Rather than spending this money on maps and microscopes, allowing them to say, maybe I don't need microscopes. Maybe I need chalk or maybe I need more teachers aids. Maybe I need more maps. They can make that decision locally. We believe that empowering them better serves the students.

Sun: Are these constituencies listening to you?

Peckman: Different components are. What happens is you get caught in a particular way of doing things for many years. You get frustrated by your ability to impact change. I think for a lot of our teachers they just try to survive in the current system.

Sun: Have the various interest groups embraced your work or have you detected any skepticism at all because it strikes me that you're stepping into the breech could be interpreted that the existing system just isn't getting the job done?

Ruvo: We have never attempted, nor would we ever attempt to say, someone is not doing a good job. We're saying here's how we could give you a resource to do a better job or be more informed. It all comes down to one thing, communication.

Kevin Rademacher can be reached at 259-4069 or at kevinr@lasvegassun.com.

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