CAMPAIGN AD REALITY CHECK

Thursday, Sept. 21, 2006 | 7:27 a.m.

governor's race

What the ad says

Announcer: When home values skyrocketed, Sen. Dina Titus wrote a bill to freeze your property taxes.

Dina Titus: As your governor, I'll veto any bill that lifts a property tax cap.

Announcer: Dina is on our side. Titus, governor. It's time.

What the ad's trying to do

This ad is trying to defuse the claim that Titus is a tax-and-spend liberal - or, as her Republican opponent Jim Gibbons calls her, Dina Taxes.

What's accurate

The state senator's proposal was for a one-year freeze. It came during 2005's legislative debate over how to deal with soaring rates brought on by the booming real estate market last year.

What's wrong or misleading

Even Titus acknowledged that her plan was a stopgap solution. Her idea was for a one-year freeze and she allowed local governments to thaw it if they needed money. The concept also was widely seen as part of her budding gubernatorial campaign. And the minority leader could not even hold together her own caucus to get it passed. Titus was patronized by her colleagues, including Republican Sen. Randolph Townsend. He credited her with framing the tax debate. She is using that quote a lot in this campaign.

Her promise to veto any bill that lifts the tax cap is empty. The chance of anyone proposing such a bill is about the same as a lawmaker suggesting lifting Nevada's constitutional ban on income taxes.