Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Jon Ralston on why only a select few have enough pull with our imperial governor to persuade him to bring Nevada in out of the rain

You would have to be blind - or, apparently, governor - not to realize it's raining. And because of Jim Gibbons' no-new-taxes umbrella, he may stay dry but this downpour could develop into a perfectly disastrous storm for everyone else.

The insensate governor, about to make budget cuts that will cause the state to fall off the back end of a fiscal treadmill that has gotten us nowhere, will keep singing his no-tax tune in the rain because he believes he has no political choice. It's all he has left to hold onto his conservative core, so "No new taxes," a slogan, not a philosophy, protects him from getting soaked while allowing the state to be drenched in the aftermath of his nonpolicies.

Après Gibbons, le deluge?

Even Louis XV, whose apathy in the face of financially ruinous policies is the stuff of legend, could not match the sublime serenity of Nevada's governor as he contemplates gutting human services and higher education, among other things. And we know what the French monarch's disastrous rule eventually led to, after Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette had their say.

Yet the reaction has not been a revolution led by Democrats crying Liberté , Egalité , Fraternité. They won't even call for a special session to try to get the governor to tap the $300 million (!) rainy-day fund. C'est la vie.

Gibbons wants to cut about the amount in the rainy day fund from the state budget. What does that tell you? I'd say it's raining. Is he blind?

Sayeth Gibbons: No new taxes, his answer for almost any financial issue. The governor appears to care only about the likelihood that if he backs off that pledge even a scintilla, his meager popularity will evaporate. So far, the rain makes him feel good.

This isn't simply about raising taxes, although it could be if Gibbons would stop (blindly again) protecting his business benefactors who have showered him with contributions and support. This is about a fortuitous opportunity for the governor, as I suggested two weeks ago, to lead a constructive dialogue about how the state spends money, how the state raises money and what his vision for the next decade or longer might be.

"No new taxes" is not a vision. It's a myopic shibboleth that gains Gibbons entry to Ely, Elko and the executive washroom at the Venetian.

The solution here won't and can't come from the Democrats. Their nonbattle cry seems to be, "Keep our legislative seats safe." Vive la Revolution!

No, the answer to avoiding the ruinous path Gibbons is guiding the state toward must come from his friends, not his enemies. MGM Mirage chief Terry Lanni, an early and persistent Gibbons supporter, probably didn't persuade the governor with his recent polemic against gaming tax increases and for a broad-based business tax. No, the governor is more comfortable with his Venetian patrons and must have been heartened by Gondolier Numero Uno Sheldon Adelson's lieutenant, Bill Weidner, writing for the Nevada Policy Research Institute and criticizing Lanni's proposal while praising Gibbons for "holding the line on tax increases."

Gibbons probably will buy into the Adelson-Weidner plan to use room taxes to help pay for state services - he will not pay attention to any ulterior motives by folks on a decades-long crusade and who own something called the Sands Expo and Convention Center.

Room taxes, as I have argued for years, should be part of the solution. The gamers are overly sensitive about that pot of money, as they are overly sensitive about all their pots of money.

But that is the same brand of narrow thinking that brought us Mr. No New Taxes. Every tax study that has been conducted in the past quarter-century has pointed to a third way, a broader tax on businesses that don't pay anything into the state treasury.

The answer here has to come from Gibbons' wealthy business pals. Until some Gibbonsites who actually can see the torrent coming down tell the governor to come in out of the rain, stasis will, ahem, reign.

But Jim The First seems relatively content to let everyone - the media, which he holds at arm's length, and the public, from whom he withholds documents pertaining to the cuts - eat cake. And thanks to his no-tax umbrella, not a drop has fallen on him. In fact, his poll numbers have taken a slight uptick - and isn't that what really matters?

It rained heavily in Las Vegas on Friday. It was unpleasant, frustrating and potentially dangerous. Just like Jim Gibbons.

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