Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Raggio void dramatically alters Senate landscape

His departure will deprive Democrats of a mediator, which may embolden GOP

Special Session - Day 3

Sam Morris

Former state Sen. Bill Raggio, shown here during the 2010 special legislative session, died Thursday at age 85 after falling ill while on a trip in Australia with his wife, Dale.

Raggio's Resignation

State Senator Bill Raggio, recently ousted from the Senate leadership, joins Jon in an exclusive interview to discuss his retirement from public office.

More on Raggio's Resignation

More KSNV coverage of State Senator Bill Raggio's resignation, including a chat with Las Vegas Sun political reporter Anjeanette Damon.

In his 38-year career, Sen. Bill Raggio’s influence was nearly always felt during final negotiations of a state budget.

His absence from the 2011 Legislature’s looming budget battle will also be felt, depriving moderate Republicans and centrist Democrats of a leader.

The likely effect: strengthening the position of conservatives, including Gov. Brian Sandoval, who will seek to balance the budget — billions of dollars short of funding to maintain current services — without raising taxes.

Raggio considered himself a “traditional Republican,” believing in small government, business-friendly regulation and low taxes. But he was the de facto leader of the moderates, which meant fighting to preserve government services that are “lean, not mean,” he would say.

He was open to compromise on tax increases, a stance that often put him at odds with fellow Republicans. Even after he was overthrown as the GOP’s leader in the state Senate last year, he continued to argue against Sandoval’s no-new-taxes approach to the budget.

With Raggio’s retirement, announced Wednesday, that voice is lost along with his vote.

“It becomes significantly more difficult to count to two-thirds in the Senate,” said Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, R-Reno, referring to the supermajority needed to raise taxes and override a governor’s veto. “That difficulty gives more influence to a strong and effective governor, which we have.”

Democratic leaders, who have said they think the state needs to raise taxes to avoid the worst cuts, will need Republican support — three Republicans in the Senate and two in the Assembly.

Raggio’s retirement “changes the way the Democrats negotiate with Republicans,” said Paul Enos, a lobbyist and CEO of the Nevada Motor Transport Association. Democrats “truly thought they could negotiate just with Bill Raggio. Now, they’ll have to negotiate with more people with different points of view.”

Raggio was the most prominent voice in the GOP’s loyal opposition, which includes gaming, mining and some business leaders who say higher taxes are needed to protect education from cuts. He maintained that state leaders need to consider, at a minimum, extending taxes set to expire in 2011. At times, he came tantalizingly close to criticizing Sandoval for his inflexibility on taxes.

After announcing his retirement, Raggio was asked about Sandoval.

“I’m optimistic he can be a great governor if he will work with others and be flexible,” Raggio said. “If he will not work with others, and be rigid, we’ll have impasses that won’t solve problems.”

Nevada’s Republican Party has been divided on taxes, between hard-right, anti-tax conservatives and moderates, since the 2003 Legislature. The moderates were led by Raggio and former Gov. Kenny Guinn, who died last year.

Even after Raggio was ousted from leadership after November’s election because he supported Democratic U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, many observers still thought he would be a key player in the budget process — a potential swing vote on taxes, an encyclopedic reference on the budget and finances, and a check on Southern Nevada’s rising power in the redistricting battle.

“Everyone said he’d be the man behind the curtain. But the ‘Wizard of Oz’ has left the building,” historian Guy Rocha said. “The question is what happens to the Emerald City? What happens to Nevada? Who’s going to drive the agenda?”

Sandoval and other conservatives who have preached the necessity to rely only on cuts to balance the state’s budget have gained, he said. “For those who are ‘no new taxes’ ... Bill Raggio leaving can only strengthen their hand.”

Billy Vassiliadis, a Democratic lobbyist, said new Senate Minority Leader Mike McGinness of Fallon, who led the charge to oust Raggio as head of the Senate caucus, could be a compromiser.

“I’ve never known Mike McGinness as an extremist,” Vassiliadis said. “I think the minority leader is troubled and burdened by what could potentially be service cuts.”

The other Republican leader in the Legislature, Assembly Minority Leader Pete Goicoechea of Eureka, has also leaned toward compromise.

But that was under different governors — the moderate Guinn and the embattled Jim Gibbons — who never provided a solid Republican rallying point. In Sandoval, the GOP has a unifying figure.

Sandoval has embraced fiscal conservatism, riding it to an overwhelming victory in the governor’s race. Even after defeating Gibbons in June’s primary, he refused to bend on taxes.

The establishment had good reason to doubt Sandoval could pull it off when Raggio, considered the foremost authority on the state budget, said it couldn’t be balanced with cuts alone.

With Raggio’s voice fading, Sandoval’s just became louder.

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