Letter: Cutting pork would make budget work

Friday, June 8, 2007 | 7:17 a.m.

The following is in response to your June 3 editorial, "The governor as roadblock," and the "Where I Stand" column the same day by Brian Greenspun that struck a similar theme.

The problems of Nevada are many - roads, education, other infrastructure, hospitals, the uninsured, just to name a few. The solution per Brian Greenspun and the Sun's editorial staff is to support "broad-based tax and fee increases."

Your approach, and the effort required to promote it, is just too easy. The more difficult solution would be to engage in a new form of investigative reporting.

Let's start with a different premise - there is enough money generated by state, local and federal taxes, and fees (personal and business), to meet all our major needs.

Each budget - city, state and federal - should be put under a microscope (perhaps by your reporters). The waste will be easier to find.

More of a challenge is to identify discretionary spending tied to "pork" programs or to endeavors that can be categorized as "nice to have." Until the major items are funded we need set all pork and nice-to-have items aside.

I recommend a change in your editorial perspective - stop advocating new funding and begin to seriously challenge those who control the purse strings.

Ken Kuhner, Henderson