Monday, Oct. 16, 2006 | 7:25 a.m.
When the nation's second President John Adams was America's first vice president, he said of his role as second fiddle to George Washington: "I am nothing, but I may be everything."
Although Adams was speaking of the possibility of having to step into the presidency in the event Washington died in office, his comment also speaks to the yearning of politicians filling relatively inconsequential No. 2 jobs in statehouses, city halls and other government chambers everywhere to somehow, some way make the leap to No. 1.
That philosophy applies as well to the 31 men and women who since 1864 have served as Nevada's lieutenant governor, a quarter of whom later became governor. Another eight tried for the state's top elected job but failed at the polls. (One man, Republican Morley Griswold, shows up on both lists, having become acting governor in 1934 when Gov. Fred Balzar died, only to lose the job in that year's election.)
The lieutenant governor's post, which includes serving as the nonvoting president of the Nevada Senate, traditionally has attracted the politically ambitious. No one, after all, goes into politics hoping to peak at lieutenant governor.
But because it's considered bad political form to treat one job as a steppingstone - voters get a little feisty over the notion of paying someone to basically bide his time - the candidates for lieutenant governor cannot publicly acknowledge that they already are thinking four or eight years ahead.
Both major party candidates on the Nov. 7 ballot have the script down.
"I want to be a great lieutenant governor," said outgoing Nevada Treasurer Brian Krolicki, the Republican candidate. "I have the institutional memory for the job, and this transition I have earned."
"What the atmosphere will be like in four to eight years will be another issue that I'll discuss with my family. Right now, I just want this opportunity."
Henderson developer Bob Unger, the Democratic nominee, stresses that he is not a politician - both to draw a contrast to Krolicki, who has been in public office the past 16 years, and to deflect questions about future political aspirations.
His focus, Unger says, is solely on the lieutenant governor's $50,000-a-year part-time job, which deals primarily with economic development and tourism.
"That (a potential run for governor) certainly was not my motivation for running for lieutenant governor," Unger said. "My motivation was to change the frustration of so little getting done in politics. As a businessman, I'm trained to get things done."
But, like Krolicki, Unger does not dismiss the possibility of an eventual run for the top post.
"If I get into office and enjoy it, and the people want to give me another chance, I would not rule it out," he said. (And more to the point, if Unger is taken at his word about why he is running this year, the lieutenant governor's office is not where one "gets things done" in Nevada - or any state, for that matter.)
Both Krolicki and Unger expect to spend $1 million to $1.5 million on their bid to win the four-year term. Also on the lieutenant governor ballot is Independent American Party of Nevada candidate Thomas F. Jefferson, a retired auto parts salesman from Elko whose platform includes the development of a reprocessing plant for nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.
History shows, political observers say, that the lieutenant governor's race deserves more than voters' yawns. Four Nevada governors have died in office.
"Basically, the main reason (for having a lieutenant governor) is to keep an eye on the governor's health," said Nevada historian Michael Green, a professor at the Community College of Southern Nevada.
"The office is a potential steppingstone to the governor's office or to Congress. But our history has shown that this route has tended to work out mostly when the governor has had bad luck."
Only two Nevada lieutenant governors - Jewett Adams and Paul Laxalt - won gubernatorial elections on their own, while six others got the top job after the governor died or resigned, Green said. Three of the six later were retained by the voters in the next election.
Eight former lieutenant governors, including outgoing two-termer Lorraine Hunt, have lost gubernatorial elections. One of them was acting governor Griswold and another was former cowboy movie star Rex Bell, who died while campaigning for governor in Las Vegas in 1962. Bell is one of just two Nevada lieutenant governors to die while in office.
Krolicki, who lives in Stateline, is running a campaign focusing on his accomplishments in - and future goals to improve - education.
Krolicki, who has served eight years as treasurer and, before that, was chief deputy treasurer for eight years, has overseen Gov. Kenny Guinn's Millennium Scholarship program, which has provided 58,000 Nevada high school students with money from tobacco company settlement funds and has run the college savings plan and prepaid tuition program.
Krolicki also is pushing for the formation of the Nevada Research Alliance, funded with $100 million from the state's unclaimed property, to try to lure high technology businesses to Nevada.
Unger, who served four years on Henderson's planning commission, wants to bring greater economic diversity to the state, including businesses that develop security products such as improved surveillance equipment and early warning systems.
Unger said as president of the Senate, he would seek to reduce partisan politics. He also favors changes in campaign financing to limit special interest groups' influence on officeholders.
Both candidates say they would work to develop renewable energy resources.
The race has taken an acrimonious turn in recent weeks, with the Democratic Party saying Krolicki's war chest is filled with donations from sources that do business with the state and Krolicki's camp hinting that Unger has gotten wealthy at the taxpayers' expense.
Krolicki denies that he has given favors to special interests, including GIF Services, which has obtained contracts to manage $621 million in state investments, mostly under Krolicki's watch. GIF Services, which has ties to former Nevada Treasurer Bob Seale, and its affiliates have contributed $50,000 to Krolicki's campaigns, finance reports show.
Krolicki's camp counters that Unger, the owner and developer of the Showcase mall on the Strip, got a windfall in March 2002 when the Henderson Redevelopment Agency's Advisory Commission voted to give Unger's company $40 million in taxpayer funds for the redevelopment of Tuscany Hills residential community.
Unger, who served on that board for two years and left six months before the vote was taken, says the money is a return on his company's original investment in a project that will earn the city and taxpayers about $700 million in tax increment financing revenue.
"Had the project failed, we would have seen nothing in return," Unger said of the risk taken to redevelop an abandoned gravel pit into a golf course community.
Despite the issues and the rhetoric, in the end the winner will occupy an office that primarily offers figurehead status - and dreams of climbing that last rung on the political ladder.
One reason that the lieutenant governor's office has limited political clout, historian Green said, is that it is not contested as part of a ticket with the governor's race. That has resulted, Green said, in a number of conflicts between the state's two top officeholders, especially when the governor and lieutenant governor are from different parties.
"Former Republican Lt. Gov. Lonnie Hammargren was a considerable annoyance to Democratic Gov. Bob Miller and Democratic Lt. Gov. Myron Leavitt was all over Republican Gov. Bob List," Green said. "Of course, Democratic Gov. Grant Sawyer and Republican Lt. Gov. Paul Laxalt was the classic bad relationship.
"If the governor and lieutenant governor ran as a ticket, then the governor might entrust more work to the lieutenant governor and that would mean potentially more power for that office."
That possible change, however, certainly will not occur in time to affect either Krolicki's or Unger's tenure. So for the time being, the winner will have to reconcile himself to being the Avis of Carson City - No. 2 and proud of it.
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