Friday, May 11, 2007 | 7:27 a.m.
A prostrate governor, felled by self-inflicted wounds and a media froth, climbed to his feet Thursday by pounding on the ever-reviled gaming industry to pay for road improvements by using room taxes destined for the convention authority.
The casinos are fairly united in opposition to the governor's plan, except for one gaming executive they love to hate (Gondolier Numero Uno Sheldon Adelson) , who has the governor's ear (and perhaps other parts of his anatomy, too).
The Republicans, most of whom were by the governor's side Thursday, look as if they are for the little guy and against Big Gaming while the Democrats (obliquely portrayed as the enemy by Gibbons) seem to be casino pawns and taxaholics.
The integration of the gaming lobby and convention authority - lobbyists for one hold a lucrative ad contract for the other - is matched only by the seamlessness of the Venetian and the state GOP, which holds many of its functions at Adelson's hotel and whose chairwoman (Sue Lowden) is lobbying for the room tax deal. (And I didn't even mention that Sig Rogich, Gibbons' campaign chairman, once had that ad contract and is now working for Adelson, who also has the governor's campaign manager, Robert Uithoven, on his payroll.)
In 20 years, I have seen the players, the issues and the incest change very little, but the game is never quite the same. And this one has all the makings of a watershed political moment for Gibbons, the gaming industry and the state - one that will reverberate well beyond the day lawmakers decide whether to approve, reject or modify the governor's plan.
Much of what is happening here, in the macro, is all too familiar. Putative leaders of our state wait until there is less than a month left in a session to propose a significant change in tax policy and hope for it to be vetted before adjournment. They do everything they can to place the burden on those who cannot vote against them - as Gibbons put it, "People who live here should not have to shoulder the financial burden for those who are visiting our state." That is, make the tourists pay and everyone will be happy.
The twist here is that Gibbons, who was mostly anointed by the gaming industry, has now turned on his benefactors (except Adelson), which must infuriate them but surely pleases the public.
Past governors have been accused of doing the industry's bidding on tax policy - Bob Miller proposed a business tax and Kenny Guinn offered the gross receipts tax. Gibbons is pursuing an agenda that Adelson has long obsessed over - the hundreds of millions in tax revenue the convention authority receives while it competes with his convention center.
Some will see this tax policy, as with Miller's business tax and Guinn's gross receipts, as gestating on the Strip and then being born in the Governor's Mansion. The difference here is that we are talking about one gamer.
It does not help opponents that most cannot easily see the efficacy of spending millions on marketing Las Vegas, but many will see evidence of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority being flush in a near $1 billion upgrade announced this week. Ah, if only this, the politics and policy, were that simple.
For the gamers, minus Adelson, the danger of overplaying their hand is manifest. They could probably kill the room tax diversion in the Assembly , but at what long-term cost? I have often thought the industry and the convention authority folks were overprotective of that room tax money. And how much worse would it be if someone went after the gross gaming tax, which would be a lot more expensive?
The real travesty here is that this is happening this close to the end. Why didn't Gibbons, who maundered for weeks with inane proposals, such as drilling for water under roads and selling the rights, propose something much earlier? And why isn't there any consideration of a megapackage to really solve the problem that brings in every business interest in the state and maybe the people who use the roads, too?
Which raises a related point on the session's other major issue: Now that you've fixed the roads problem, governor, how do we get the tourists and gamers to pay for education improvements? I am sure, to paraphrase you, they can shoulder the financial burden because no one who lives here should have to pay anything.
I await that plan. And don't rush - there's plenty of time.
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