Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Kihuen’s political star rising despite few lawmaking successes

Day 3 - 2011 Legislative Session

Sam Morris / Las Vegas Sun

Sen. Ruben Kihuen speaks during a meeting of the Senate Select Committee on Economic Growth and Employment on the third day of the 2011 legislative session Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011, in Carson City.

Click to enlarge photo

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid walks out of a luncheon for Nevada lawmakers visiting Washington, D.C., at the Library of Congress with his arm around State Sen. Ruben Kihuen on Saturday, July 23, 2011.

Thirty-one-year-old state Sen. Ruben Kihuen, a Las Vegas Democrat and possible candidate for Congress, is getting the star treatment. He has held whispered conversations on Capitol Hill with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, met with Rep. Shelley Berkley and won glowing reviews from power brokers in D.C. as he ponders a run for national office.

Although his profile is politically attractive — young, charismatic and Hispanic — his legislative accomplishments in Carson City, at least measured by his bills that passed, are far from robust.

He did not introduce a single bill in this year’s Legislature. Only one other lawmaker, out of the 63, did not introduce a bill.

Kihuen, who served two terms in the Assembly before being elected to the Senate in 2010, offers an explanation: It was more important for him to focus on leading the Select Committee on Economic Growth and Employment, which was created this session. He also didn’t want the bills he requested, but never got drafted, to overlap with other lawmakers’ legislation.

“I was focused 100 percent on creating jobs and diversifying the economy,” he said. “There’s nothing more important than that.” The committee worked on economic development legislation and heard from industries such as renewable energy and medical tourism. He acknowledged, though, that “you can’t diversify the economy in 120 days.”

Kihuen’s committee met 31 times, the second fewest among the 11 Senate committees. Only the Senate Natural Resources Committee held fewer meetings last session, according to a Sun review.

In 2009, Kihuen’s most prominent bill would have outlawed taking too many copies of free publications. That bill passed the Assembly and Senate, only to be vetoed by Gov. Jim Gibbons. The effort to override that veto failed.

In 2007, Kihuen had his biggest legislative accomplishment, pushing a bill that sent a portion of unused gift cards to the state for education, instead of returning it to the business. (Kihuen is the chief diversity officer at the College of Southern Nevada, where he encourages minority students to pursue higher education.)

Kihuen said there are more ways to measure legislative effectiveness than counting the number of sponsored bills. On a bill that would have set collection agency caps on delinquent homeowner association fees, Kihuen broke with his caucus and was the key vote to block it from getting out of committee.

He said he provided ideas on economic development during a one-on-one meeting with Gov. Brian Sandoval, but would not elaborate on what they were. “It was an hour-long discussion, we exchanged a lot of different ideas,” he said.

Nevada has a long reputation of sending lawmakers with thin policy bona fides up the political ladder. Gibbons, Berkley and Sandoval lacked reputations as lawmaking juggernauts during their stints in Carson City, without ill effects on their political careers.

On the flip side, weak legislative track records or avoiding political frays mean politicians don’t have to defend controversial bills or leadership fights.

The other Democrats who have announced their candidacies for Congress are former Rep. Dina Titus, Speaker John Oceguera and Sen. John Lee. Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford is expected to announce his candidacy soon. All were active in driving policy and laws.

Andres Ramirez, a political consultant encouraging Kihuen to run, said, “It’s certainly fair game to look at anyone’s legislative history.”

This past session, he said, “was just mired in partisan acrimony. Very little was accomplished overall.”

Steve Redlinger, who is working on Oceguera’s congressional race, said the speaker is “very proud of his legislative achievements ... Different legislators have different ways of representing their constituents. He is not going to weigh in on different legislative styles.”

Horsford would not comment on Kihuen’s lack of bills. But Horsford called him “a strong freshman in the Senate,” with his chairmanship and membership on Education and Judiciary committees.

“Whether he had a number of his own personal bills, he was definitely a member of the overall agenda we were trying to advance this session,” Horsford said.

CORRECTION: Kihuen's age and occupation have been added to this story. | (August 6, 2011)

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