Assembly speaker’s ‘thank-you’ party a study in currying favor

By Delen Goldberg

Sunday, Dec. 5, 2010 | 2 a.m.

It was billed as a “thank-you” party. Incoming Assembly Speaker John Oceguera wined and dined about 80 lobbyists and businesspeople Thursday night on a private balcony of Boa Steakhouse overlooking the Strip.

Guests sipped pinot noir and downed Kobe beef skewers. They smiled for pictures with the leader-elect and traded stories about their families and recent trips abroad.

Oceguera said he put on the event to thank “all the people who supported me.”

But in politics, nothing is as straightforward as it seems, and the party was as much a study in currying favor as it was a late Thanksgiving meal. The Boa deck offered a petri-dish view of the unspoken give and take that drives politics.

The give was campaign contributions. The take is political capital.

Lobbyists want Oceguera to champion their causes. Despite his lame-duck status (he is destined to be a one-term leader because term limits will oust him from the Legislature in 2012), Oceguera as speaker has the power to decide important committee assignments and control the flow of bills.

This was an example of the types of parties that take place all the time in Washington and Nevada, during elections and in advance of legislative sessions — particularly dicey ones like next year’s is expected to be.

And that’s where the influence comes in. Interest groups know legislators will be chopping budgets to close Nevada’s multibillion-dollar deficit. Access can help soften that blow. Having the ear of a lawmaker can influence policy, as lobbyists in many cases provide the expert opinions legislators need when drafting or deciding on bills.

In return for access, Oceguera gets the chance to pad his campaign coffers. The Democrat is widely expected to run for higher office, possibly Nevada’s expected new House seat.

The Professional Firefighters of Nevada union paid for the party’s food, drink and location. Oceguera is assistant chief of the North Las Vegas Fire Department.

“It’s the part of politics that people hate,” UNLV political scientist Dave Damore said. “In this time of economic decline, the political class doesn’t suffer.”

The majority of guests were financial contributors during Oceguera’s re-election campaign this year. Invitations to the thank-you fete came with a request for more donations.

“Obviously, there’s a fundraising component,” Oceguera said.

Democrats need money to pay legal fees that will likely be associated with next year’s redistricting battle. Contributions also pay for former campaign staffers to work in Carson City because the state, especially as it struggles with a deficit, doesn’t provide legislators with enough staff, Oceguera said.

Legislators can’t accept donations immediately before, after or during a legislative session. And a special session is expected next year in addition to the regular session, so many lawmakers are using this postelection window to beef up their bank accounts.

“It’s all about relationships,” Oceguera told a reporter at the party.

The lobbyists — for hotels, hospitals, municipalities, insurance companies and even pawn shops — never blatantly asked Oceguera: Will you support this or that? But wrapped up in the cooing over his baby son and the banal small talk is the understanding that each side needs each other.

That’s what keeps the parties going.

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, who attended Oceguera’s party, has a fundraiser scheduled for this month, and many of the same players are expected to attend. Democratic Assemblymen William Horne and Kelvin Atkinson have a $1,000-a-head event planned Dec. 13.