Dems to present an alternative budget

By Jon Ralston

Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009 | 2:01 a.m.

When Gov. Jim Gibbons enters the Assembly chamber Thursday night and delivers his State of the State address, let’s hope someone has shown him the speech.

By all accounts, Gibbons has been disengaged from the process of the most severe budget cuts in state annals — more than $2 billion below what it would take to keep services at the last budgeted levels. The debate over which projects to spare, how many layoffs need to be made, which agencies can be melded has taken part largely without the governor’s participation.

Gibbons’ cluelessness was perfectly captured by the Reno Gazette-Journal’s Anjeanette Damon, who posted two exchanges on her blog from a brief appearance Tuesday by the governor. The first came when he was asked about whether the room tax increase, approved in advisory questions North and South, was in his budget. His response: “You know, I will have to defer that to somebody who has it. But I do believe there are parts of that that have been considered.”

Then, when Gibbons was asked about the 6 percent salary cut for state employees and whether that will avert layoffs, Damon wrote, “Gibbons started to say yes when (budget boss Andrew) Clinger stepped in to correct him.”

“I think we will have avoided layoffs,” Gibbons reportedly said.

“Not completely,” Clinger answered.

“How many?” Gibbons said.

“We are calculating that number right now,” Clinger responded.

No satirist, from Swift to Carroll, from Stewart to Colbert, could find the proper way to ridicule a governor’s lack of knowledge about his own budget proposal 48 hours or so before he is scheduled to present it. The Governor Who Wasn’t There.

Many, perhaps, will cheer such news because with Gibbons, less is more. But that is the fundamental infirmity of this entire budget process since the economy started to tank last year. Gibbons has treated the recession as a math problem — calculate the shortfall and then cut, usually across the board, with no policy underpinnings.

Democrats have been reluctant rubber stamps — but rubber stamps they have been. And now, as Gibbons prepares to unveil his package of $2 billion-plus in cuts, the legislative leadership needs to present an alternative. And quickly.

It is not enough to criticize what Gibbons has done — that’s too easy. Speaker Barbara Buckley, who will provide a rebuttal after Gibbons’ budget-gutting speech, and Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford must tiptoe through what is equivalent to a tax minefield surrounded by political quicksand. But they must address the right’s reform agenda — public employee benefits and salaries — without necessarily capitulating to the SAGE Commission recommendations, while also preserving what we must presume are their core principles — better education, infrastructure and health care funding.

We know the contours of the speech, so there should be few surprises Thursday. We will hear about those 6 percent salary cuts and how the governor wants to reinstate the pay if the economy turns around. We will hear his plan to divert tens of millions of dollars from local governments (but not much about how he will be creating an unfunded mandate for the cities and counties). We will hear about how he is counting on federal stimulus money to help balance the budget. We will hear about how he is holding harmless key parts of the human services budget — Nevada Check-Up, early childhood development, at-risk schools — so no one can say he is completely heartless (but they will say so anyhow).

And that will be it. No original thoughts. No big surprises. Gibbonsworld is not Vision Central.

But let’s be fair: Is it surprising to people that Gibbons would parrot the positions of the Chamber of Commerce (mostly) and the SAGE Commission (mostly)? Who did people think was elected governor in 2006?

But this speech will go beyond ideology — if “no new taxes” is an ideology — and present the Legislature with a clear choice. Democrats who lead both houses can simply go along — again — or they can present an alternative.

Yes, myriad political roadblocks will be erected on the path to June and the beginning of the first special session. The governor’s fevered dreams of resurrection. Buckley’s incipient gubernatorial campaign. Horsford’s first at-bats in a World Series atmosphere.

But the question for the Democratic leadership is not how they will fight the governor’s plan but whether they have a vision of their own, one that encompasses some reform/accountability measures with some way to prevent a $2 billion cut.

They better have one. They better have a way to sell it. And they better be able to find some Republicans to support it.

Otherwise, The Governor Who Wasn’t There will be the only one who matters.