Governor’s staff doesn’t have much to cut

By David McGrath Schwartz (contact)

Sunday, Sept. 5, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.

Rory Reid

Robin Reedy

Enter Nevada’s Capitol, walk past the police desk and turn toward the governor’s office — and it wouldn’t be unprecedented to see the chief of staff at the front desk answering phones.

Not to ruin the image Nevadans might have of life at the top in the Silver State, but the governor’s office is no “West Wing”-West. No teams of staffers spend their days analyzing policy or conducting research into the numerous problems confronting the state.

The governor’s office has one policy research analyst.

Let that sink in.

This reality has nothing to do with who is in charge or whom Gov. Jim Gibbons has hired to run his office. It is the result of the funding allotted to the governor’s office and tradition.

So it was with a certain level of chagrin that current and former Gibbons staffers read Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rory Reid’s budget plan. In it, Reid calls for a 50 percent cut in many of the constitutional officers’ staffs, including the governor’s.

The governor’s office has 20 staff members, including senior staff comprising a chief of staff, two deputy chiefs of staff, a communications director and general counsel. The budget for the office, including the federal stimulus coordinator and his assistant, is $2.3 million this year.

By comparison, the governor’s office is roughly the same size — in staffing and spending — as the Washoe County manager’s office.

The Clark County manager’s staff, not including its legal team, is 31. After a recent 10 percent cut, it has a $4.5 million budget this year.

Simply put, the governor’s office is a bare-bones operation as government goes. The chief of staff buys, out of her pocket, the bottled water and sodas that are offered to visiting ambassadors and CEOs.

Studies have consistently found Nevada’s government to be among the leanest in the nation, reflecting the state’s libertarian, anti-government roots.

So what does this mean for the state?

The governor’s current chief of staff, Robin Reedy, was asked if it’s difficult to be proactive on policy.

“It’s pretty hard,” she acknowledged.

Most of the staff’s time is spent managing state agencies, keeping the governor apprised of developments and dealing with potential disasters.

“It certainly does make it challenging with the lack of staff,” said Josh Hicks, who preceded Reedy as chief of staff before leaving last year. “You’re dealing with big issues on short notice and trying to make the best decisions you can with limited information.”

Reedy notes the number of attorneys at the Legislature to point out that, comparatively, lawmakers are still fat. With a 50 percent cut, as Reid has proposed, the executive branch would, in effect, cede any power it now has to the legislative branch, she argues.

A 50 percent cut would also mean less public access to the office and less transparency, argued Dan Burns, Gibbons’ spokesman. There simply wouldn’t be the bodies to accomplish those goals.

Even now, as Nevada faces highest-in-the-nation foreclosures, bankruptcy and unemployment, the crew at the top is skeletal. It is reacting to problems, with little time left to develop policy for the future.