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StumbleScott Dickensheets: Can we hire Andre Agassi to do a benefit for Nevada?
Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010 | 2 a.m.
Sun archives
Two weeks ago, Nevadans voted Brian Sandoval into the Governor’s Mansion, deeply impressed by his non-Reidness and let’s-work-out-the-details-later approach to our budget crisis. Finally! A politician who tells it like it is.
And it seems Sandoval was equally impressed with our intelligence in electing him. If we’re smart enough to do that, what could we do to, oh, a potential $3 billion budget shortfall? High unemployment? Record foreclosures? A struggling education system?
Last week, Sandoval — or one of his transition-team pixies — sent out this Twitter post: “Send us your suggestions for how to improve state government and get Nevada working again,” followed by a link to his website, sandovaltransition.com/ideas.
Genius. Tapping the wisdom of the crowd! Or, if you want to be all cool and Internetish about it, “crowd-sourcing” the state’s problems. Never mind the unlikelihood of getting much useful input through that channel. By doing this, Sandoval has invited all Nevadans to join his transition team, and, later, if the state goes to hell, he’s got a couple million fellow scapegoats. You don’t like my plan? What brilliant idea did YOU submit?
As of Tuesday morning, a Sandoval rep said 138 ideas had come in via the website. This being Nevada, I assume most of them are variations of “Don’t tax me, bro!” There are probably some thoughtful, badly spelled suggestions about the need to cut the salaries, bennies and jobs of state workers. I guarantee someone has blamed illegal immigrants for everything.
A few lefties and environmentalists no doubt called for shaking down the mining industry.
Still, somewhere in there are probably a couple of good ideas, like shaking down the mining industry, even if Las Vegas is the dumbest city in America. (Reno, we’re counting on you!) ButGov.-elect Sandoval can always use more, and until you folks jam his website with your brilliance, here are my thoughts.
Make Nevada a nonprofit entity. A few 501(c)3 filings and suddenly Nevada is tax-deductible. Along with the possibility of foundation grants and individual donations, nonprofit status would allow us to harness the power of our state’s epic nonprofit fundraisers: Jerry Lewis and Andre Agassi. How better to fill state coffers and draw tourists than a telethon for per-pupil funding, perhaps, and a concert — Grand Slam for Highway Widening Near Elko?
Send a bunch of state workers to “Wealth Without Risk” seminars. No, really — I saw a fascinating infomercial about it this morning. Did you know that, using “tax lien certificates,” whatever those are, you can snap up houses for a few bucks and sell them for hundreds of thousands of dollars? Think of the budgetary implications if hundreds of state employees flip a house a week and bank the profit in the general fund.
Sell Nevada’s old stuff. We’ve got state museums, historical archives, special collections and government closets full of material no one’s using. Even though a story in the Las Vegas Weekly a few years ago concluded that the state didn’t have enough valuable junk to eliminate the debt, with a PayPal account and some shipping containers, we could certainly draw it down considerably, and let the house-flipping take it from there.
You might be tempted to take these suggestions as light fantasy. Mild satire. Mere silliness. But keep this in mind: More than 95 percent of you voted for one candidate or another who promised the budget quagmire could be alleviated with neither new tax nor the end of civilization as we know it. So there’s ridiculous and there’s ridiculous.
Discussion: 3 comments so far…
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Not so fast there, Scott.
You may have just done more for your city, state and country than the rest of the journalists combined.
Only time will tell: time that is not our friend.
Check your email.
Oh...an afterthought that I would like to share with my fellow "Titanic passengers."
Where will the best solution(s) likely originate?
From a terrified elite (watching their fiat monetary system collapse)?
From politicians, who have to nod their head, "Yes" every time a corporate sponsor says, "Vote like THIS or eat beans, next election." ?
From intellectuals (trapped in a corporate-sponsored think tanks)?
From CEOs and their "yes men" advisers, huddling in fear, as their bottom-line profits travel west on the number line?
...or from the bottom of the heap, where reality assaults the air, water, food and home support, incessantly and without mercy?
Think about that...or not. LOL
call Willie lets get Vegas-Aid going. A massive concert to save Vegas . i think that many musicians that have made tons of cash performing here would help .
this time I am happy to say I'm in the other 5%...
Welcome to my tree, Thomas Hewitt Edward Cat.
No elephants or donkeys up HERE, I can tell you!
Take a branch...any branch.
Oh... and the view...wowie zowie!
There will be a great view of the Wedo & Willie concert!
I must take exception to Mr. Dickensheets veiled suggestion that the vast majority of Nevadan's can be of little assistance by emailing budget saving suggestions to Sandoval. He has under estimated the positive psychological impact created when anyone asks for help. I was one of the 138 who responded with seven multi-paragraph suggestions. I have no idea of their impact but I can assure you that all were positive and did not suggest any new taxes or ban the immigrants legal or otherwise. Many did focus upon the long term in an attempt to get those who chart our course to think in terms of decades not just tomorrow. There are no bad ideas if they make people think, just some are much better than others.
Richard Rychtarik
Las Vegas
Richard - post what you sent here. I'd enjoying reading what you sent to Sandoval.
I, too, believe that asking for the thoughts of others to produce change is a worthy concept. The practice has proven itself to be successful in the corporate world with the people in the trenches seeing things that leaders do not. The ideas submitted by regular employees have produced incredible results.
It's a bit of a reach, but a great example of this in action is found in how Google lets its employees spend 20% of their time working on independent projects. That time spent has resulted in many of Google's most innovative products and services.
If you let people think and listen to their thoughts, great results occur. This should be something that's encouraged, at the very least to get voters more engaged in the political process.
Hopefully this isn't just another political finger-pointing stall tactic. If Sandoval really does give serious consideration to the best budget-cutting and fund raising ideas from the citizens of Nevada, maybe other ELECTED officials will finally start REPRESENTING their constituents rather than their political party.
If the grassroots citizenry really had representation in government, like they do in the best corporate workplace environments, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in.
Richard, like Rob I too urge you to post your ideas here.
My first suggestion is to curtail all the boondoggle highway construction projects.
Paradise Road and the airport access was perfectly fine before it got torn up for the THIRD TIME IN FIVE YEARS!
The 215W was perfect when it opened in 2006 and hasn't needed EITHER of the two orange cone fiasco's since.
The 15N/15S is our life blood! STOP MESSING IT UP WITH UNNECESSARY HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION EVERY TWO YEARS!
My second suggestion is to FINISH connecting the monorail to the airport. In the short term it creates jobs. In the long term it pays for itself because it would finally be connected to a CUSTOMER BASE!