CAMPAIGN AD REALITY CHECK

Thursday, Sept. 7, 2006 | 7:13 a.m.

Governor's race

What the ad says

Announcer: "Just what does Dina Titus vote to tax?"

The ad then shows a series of pictures of wheelchairs, a For Sale sign, a bride and groom, a hunter, a farmer, an airplane and children swimming. Accompanying text cites legislation raising taxes or fees:

Medical devices purchased by Medicare and Medicaid, SB528, 2001; property and sales taxes, AB668, 2001, SB468, 2001; marriage licenses, SB419, 1989; hunting and fishing licenses, SB122, 1993; motor vehicle fees, SB542, 1989; farm equipment, AB243, 2001; jet fuel, SB470, 2003; using the county swimming pool, AB208, 2003.

The ad goes on to say that those bills make Titus "one of the largest taxers in Nevada history.

"Dina Titus or Dina Taxes. Either way... she'll raise our taxes."

What the ad is trying to do

Republican Rep. Jim Gibbons has 10 times as much money to spend on his campaign as his Democratic opponent. He's using it to try to define her early in the election as a taxer and spender.

What's accurate

The thrust of the ad is true. Titus has been in the Legislature since 1989 and has voted for a lot of tax increases.

Is Titus one of the biggest taxers in Nevada history? Yes, because of her long tenure and her votes for two of the largest tax increases, in 1991 and 2003.

What's wrong or misleading

The choices to make the case about Dina Taxes are strange. They seem to have been chosen for maximum rhetorical effect, but the text does not always match the story.

For example, that tax on medical devices? It was a clarification bill that passed unanimously in the Assembly and won 15 of 21 votes in the Senate. A big deal it wasn't.

Other bills were more contentious, including the 2001 property tax legislation. It would have limited property tax increases. The Assembly gave unanimous approval, but the bill failed in the Senate when Democrats, including Titus, killed it.

One interesting note: That bill was opposed by one Republican in the Senate, Jon Porter, who is now Gibbons' colleague in the U.S. House. The bill would have passed if Porter switched his vote.

Also, while Gibbons served in the Nevada Assembly before being elected to the U.S. House, he voted to approve some of the bills he cites in the ad, including those to raise marriage license fees, driver's license fees and hunting and fishing fees. All of those passed unanimously.

The ad is a classic case of overreaching to make a point. Gibbons voted for many minor tax and fee bills during his state legislative tenure. He also will have to answer for his congressional votes for budgets that eliminated the surplus President Bush inherited and led to record deficits.