Editorial:

Pure arrogance

Governor wants to cut the prison budget without consulting the state prison board

Thursday, Jan. 10, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Gov. Jim Gibbons was slowed in his budget-slashing crusade Tuesday by Secretary of State Ross Miller, who has raised important questions about the process.

At a meeting of the state prison board, Miller said he was “deeply troubled” by the “veil of secrecy” surrounding the governor’s planned budget cuts. Gibbons had planned to make $24 million in budget cuts without the authorization of the prison board. Gibbons says he has that authority, but Miller, who sits on the board with Gibbons and Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, disagrees.

Over Gibbons’ objection, the board agreed to meet again soon to clarify its authority. Gibbons’ staff told the Associated Press the cuts would “probably” be delayed, but only if the board could reconvene promptly.

That type of haughty attitude has become the unfortunate norm for the Gibbons administration.

Ignoring calls for more transparency, Gibbons has left elected leaders, state officials and the public out of the decision-making process because, he figures, he is like President Bush “the decider.”

That is more than arrogant; it is dangerous.

This is not the time for secrecy. The state is facing serious liability issues, and potential lawsuits, because of inadequate staffing and treatment of prisoners.

The public and certainly members of the prison board should know what the planned cuts are. The board should play a role in this decision, and it should act in public. But the Nevada Appeal reported that Miller said he was given a list of the cuts Monday and told he could not discuss them at the public meeting the next day because they were “confidential.”

How, then, is the public to know whether the proposed budget cuts won’t jeopardize security at the prisons, which could endanger guards and the prisons’ surrounding communities?

The public should know the plan before any decisions are made. Gibbons may get to be the decider, but the public faces the unknown consequences of his actions.

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