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February 12, 2012

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jon ralston:

The repercussions for the Gang of 63’s budget choices

By Jon Ralston (contact)

Wednesday, March 10, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.

Whether you are a child filching a few bucks from Mom’s purse or a gang of legislators pilfering tens of millions from locals, sooner or later, you will get caught.

I have told you the Gang of 63, in its current and past iterations and aided and abetted by various gubernatorial co-conspirators, is essentially a group of bank robbers — http://tinyurl.com/yfc2fe8

They like to portray themselves as legislative Robin Hoods, benevolent thieves taking from only those who can afford it (those locals sitting on pots of gold). But these robbers with the putative hearts of gold neglect to mention that they only take from vulnerable locals at their mercy when they find budget holes, as those with the real gold continue to stockpile their bullion at Town Square (HQ of the Chamber of Commerce). And they do it for one reason: Because they can.

The locals are the creatures of the state Legislature and are treated like abused animals whose food is ordered up whenever the Gang of 63 can’t find courage on the menu. Instead of making more cuts — or, horror of horrors, actually raising taxes to pay for needed services — lawmakers reach into the pockets of some local entity to balance their books.

Usually, simply threatening the local elected officials — “If you don’t roll over for us, we will kick you even harder” — is enough to get the thievery done with nary a mere whimper of protest. But now, as a gaming company and others prepare to rip a $62 million hole into the budget the gang just patched, lawmakers are left playing the guilt card — “If you do this, education will be cut and kids will suffer.” Only consolation: At least we don’t have to hear about adult diapers again.

The threat by the M Resort — and being chattered about by others ­— to sue the state to recover fees from the Clean Water Coalition is real. The coalition board meets Thursday to discuss possible action, and M Resort attorneys are waiting for the green light after Gov. Jim Gibbons signs the bill Friday, thus giving the resort and anyone else standing to sue.

This is not just about the M, though. We are talking about tens of thousands of payments, with a high of $1.8 million for the Fontainebleau to $12 for a single home. I have posted the county’s nearly 13,000 contributors to the fund the state appropriated:

http://tinyurl.com/yzavj7d

The issue here is simple: These folks paid extra fees for a wastewater line to Lake Mead that has now been mothballed. Some of them — shockingly — think the money should be refunded and not used to fill a hole in the state budget.

Lawmakers have reacted practicably, working the phones to try to squelch a lawsuit, using the aforementioned guilt trip approach. Gibbons, through a spokesman, has defended his incipient signing of the bill by saying the gamers should be happy because he didn’t raise their taxes — or any others (don’t get me started about fees ...).

But this is not just about the gaming industry, which contributed only about a fifth of the $62 million.

The Clark County Detention Center paid $328,000. Fairfield Mountain Condos gave $315,000. The Duck Creek apartments ponied up $230,000.

It’s legal, lawmakers cry, insisting their counsel gave them a green light, although no written opinion yet exists. But even if it is legal — I’m no lawyer but it seems questionable — how can anyone argue this is the way to run a state?

These same folks, these robbers with the hearts of gold who (rightly) condemn “no new taxes” as a faux policy would like us to believe that “take someone else’s money” puts them on a higher moral plane. And they have done it session after session for as long as they have been able because ... they can.

I am not blind to the political realities. I understand that to actually do what they believed would put them in political jeopardy, so it’s better to mask that, patch the budget by sweeping and stealing, and live to dither another day.

But when do the excuses end? We can’t do it now because we don’t have the time. We can’t do it now because we need to maintain our majorities for redistricting and reapportionment. We can’t do it now because we love being re-elected.

So this will all conclude in 2011, we are to presume? Or when a ballot question is concocted?

I would feel sympathy for these folks now faced with a Hobson’s choice. But after pointing guns at everyone else for years, it’s only fitting they are now looking into the barrels themselves.

Jon Ralston’s column appears Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Ralston can be reached at 870-7997 or at ralston@vegas.com.

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