Chancellor gears up for fight against Beers’ tax initiative

Thursday, Nov. 24, 2005 | 8:01 a.m.

Hoping to protect Nevada from what he regards as "shortsighted," potentially catastrophic budget cuts, university Chancellor Jim Rogers plans to use his political action committee to attempt to block gubernatorial candidate Bob Beers' tax cut measure.

In his state-of-the-system speech last week, Rogers criticized Beers' Tax and Spending Control for Nevada initiative, telling listeners: "We must also be wary of those from other states who would try to foist their shortsighted, fund-cutting concepts on us."

Behind the scenes, Rogers and his personal attorney, Francisco Aguilar, already are gearing up for a fight.

As chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education, Rogers is "educating" state lawmakers, regents and community members about the evils of Colorado's TABOR, the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

In that effort, he has been using a DVD produced by the nonprofit Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington, D.C.-based research group that examines policies affecting low-income families.

As a private businessman and the multimillionaire owner of Sunbelt Communications, Rogers also is considering forming a coalition of people to defeat Beers' proposed initiative and said he will use his Nevadans Committed to Education PAC toward that goal.

"We are watching it very carefully because it scares the hell out of us, and it's something not reversible very easily," Rogers said of Beers' initiative.

The DVD, shown recently at a diversity luncheon hosted by Rogers for community leaders to discuss minority access to higher education, purports to tell the "real story behind TABOR."

TABOR, which aims to restrict government spending to the previous year's level plus inflation, is portrayed as having destroyed the economy and the quality of life in Colorado with severe cuts to both K-12 and higher education, health care, and transportation needs such as road repair.

The DVD also stresses that any savings taxpayers received from refunds were lost in higher fees they now pay for basic services or for education and health care costs previously covered by the state.

Rogers bought 150 copies of the DVD and sent one to all 63 state lawmakers and the 13-member Board of Regents, said Aguilar, who handles community and political relations issues for both the university system and Rogers' television stations.

TABOR capitalizes on the public's dislike of taxes and government in general, Aguilar said.

"Some people think government is too big, but TABOR is not the solution to wasteful spending," Aguilar said. "Taxpayers need to hold their legislators accountable."

Beers, a Republican senator from Las Vegas, who has not yet released the language of his proposed constitutional amendment, contends the video "encapsulates the heart of the argument against TABOR, which is that the government can never be big enough until it is everything."

Nevada's government is growing at a rate of 2.5 times the economy, Beers said. That expansion, he argues, must be restricted to reduce the tax burden on individuals.

Carole Vilardo, president of the Nevada Taxpayers Association, said that while there are problems with how TABOR was established in Colorado, she questions whether the video tells the "real story" or the benefits of TABOR.

"I do believe it is very slanted, in my opinion," Vilardo said. The association is waiting to see Beers' language before voting on whether to support the initiative.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., another leading gubernatorial candidate, is similarly waiting to comment on Beers' initiative until he sees its language. But in a private meeting in October with Rogers, he promised to "be mindful" of the chancellor's concerns over how a TABOR-like measure in Nevada could affect both K-12 and higher education, said Gibbons spokesman Robert Uithoven.

Christina Littlefield can be reached at 259-8813 or at clittle@ lasvegassun.com.