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Monday, Jan. 24, 2011 | 6:58 p.m.
John Oceguera
Grade Sandoval's State of the State address
- What grade would you assign to Gov. Brian Sandoval's State of the State address?
- F — 37.2%
- D — 20.2%
- A — 16.6%
- C — 15.5%
- B — 10.5%
- What is your ZIP code?
- What is your political party affiliation?
- Democrat — 45.4%
- Independent — 24.3%
- Republican — 22.4%
- Other — 3.6%
- Libertarian — 2.4%
- Green — 1.1%
- Tea Party of Nevada — 0.7%
- Independent American Party — 0.1%
This poll is closed, see Full Results »
Note: This is not a scientific poll. The results reflect only the opinions of those who chose to participate.
Sun Coverage
CARSON CITY – Democratic leaders in the Legislature are suggesting Gov. Brian Sandoval is on the wrong path by cutting education, countering that higher taxes may be in store for businesses to avoid such cuts.
Assemblyman John Oceguera, the speaker-elect, said Democrats don’t like the governor's proposed shift of responsibility for some state programs to local governments without the money to pay for providing it.
In his State of the State, the governor proposed no tax increases in his $5.8 billion, two-year general fund budget. There would be a 5 percent reduction in state money to public schools and a 17 percent loss of funds from state and federal sources to the university system.
Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, said Democrats agree with many of the proposals Sandoval outlined in his speech, but it has “a few, but critical, differences we have with the governor’s view.”
"We know it’s never a good time to raise taxes," Oceguera said. He added, "there is never a good time to fire employees."
The Democratic leader said “this is the right time to shoulder our responsibility and do the right thing for our state.”
“Business leaders, labor leaders, small business owners, employees and advocates for causes must be present during our deliberations and tell us what share of the sacrifice they will shoulder and what they need, not just to survive now, but to thrive in the future,” Oceguera said in his prepared remarks.
In referring to Sandoval’s call for changes in the public school system, Oceguera said most teachers and administrators are hard-working professionals and “we cannot make them the whipping boys of school reform.”
Sandoval has called for an end of teacher tenure, evaluating teachers and principals on the accomplishments of their students; requiring students to be able to read by the end of the third grade and setting aside $20 million to reward effective teachers.
Oceguera took issue with the 17.6 percent proposed reduction to higher education. “We must have a strong higher education system, and we can’t price the cost of a college education out of the reach of Nevada students and Nevada families.”
The governor has proposed giving the university Board of Regents more autonomy in raising tuition, which Sandoval says is among the lowest in the West. Sandoval said 15 percent of any increase must be set aside for needy students.
Oceguera said Nevada can’t stay at the bottom of funding and still “get to the top of education.”
Oceguera said, "We will keep business regulation reasonable, taxes affordable and change the culture of government service to actively help business, not impede it."
Taxes should be considered. Like taxing the foreign owned mining corporations pillaging our land with no return to Nevadans.
There is no need to implement anything like an income tax in Nevada. Other options exist that would require profitable corporations to contribute a fair share to the state in which they operate.
Sandoval's budget proposal protects the people who paid to put him into office. That much is obvious. Nevadans, every day, little guy Nevadans will be hurt if this budget is implemented. The rich go untouched while the people who make the state run - teachers, state workers, and middle class taxpayers - will be forced to absorb cuts to services, and layoffs to satisfy Brian's "no tax" agenda.
Follish, and piss poor leadership. I am disappointed in this. Although I do have to give Ralston a pat on the back for calling Sandoval out on his b.s. in the post speech press conference. Brian and his talking head chief of staff had a deer in the headlights look when she called out "last question" to shut up the press. Keep it up John, don't let Sandoval hide behind his curtain of bullsiht.
Chunky says:
Sandoval is in office because We The People want a balanced budget based on what we can afford, not what feels good or sounds good.
Suck it up, toughen up and get real with the new economy!
That's what Chunky thinks!
keystone,
Sandoval is already showing himself to be a responsible governor.
something you libs will never understand.
if you want an example of foolish piss poor leadership look no further than state assembly majority leader Steven Horsford, pushing through a 70 million dollar waste of taxpayers money for the D Street underpass so that "his people" wouldn't be "cut off from the city" (or have to drive an extra 4 blocks, as it were)
yep, dynamic democrat leadership in action.
tax, spend. tax some more, reward political favors (unions). tax some more.
A pretty face and no substance is all we have for the next four years. The Governor was elected because his name wasn't Reid, not because he made sense or offered solutions that would better this State. This is NOT the wild west and the days of sitting in one's gutted trailer talking about not paying any taxes while waiting for that Welfare check are over. The legislators will balance the budget and it won't be at the cost of Nevada's future.
I second what chunky thinks
Democraps are sore losers. Just like Nobama said once......"I won, deal with it"........so does Sandoval............Enjoy a long 4 years of whining you liberal idiots..........
No, Chunky.
Sandovol is in office because he has a square jaw and the more quallified candidate's last name was Reid.
Suck it up and realize that B.S. is taking all of this bad economy out on the working class and letting big businesses like banking and mining, which have had record profits in the last few years, skate by, making money off our backs and paying nothing for the priviledge.
@Just an average joe - You don't HONESTLY believe that only Liberal Democrats have ( in your words ) "Political Favors" to reward now do you? This entire Country - be it Democrat or Republican - be it Local or Federal Government - is in the hands OF the RICH, BY the RICH and FOR the RICH.... Neither Party has clean hands anymore and I don't really see that changing - at least not in MY lifetime :(
Taxes are NOT NEEDED. Deport the illegal invaders and save hundreds of millions in K-12 and higher ed. Investigate, ARREST AND DEPORT ILLEGAL ADULTS STEALING EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES, TANF, FOOD STAMPS, MEDICAID--often via identity theft.
I'm with Chunky on this one. Liberals have the foolish notion that human nature can change. Left unchecked people, including politicians, will generally act in their own self-interest. And it is only that fear of the loss of their job and prestige in the next election that makes them actually represent their electorate. This isn't always true, but more often than not that's the case.
The price of everything goes up - milk, gas, tickets to a Rebels game, homes, and road maintenance are but a few examples. We've got a growing population (U.S.), older buildings are falling apart, people are aging, and technology is ever expanding. Why is it so ridiculous to think that our taxes shouldn't increase to keep up with it all?
So to the Nevada TeaHead republicans, this "shared sacrifice" does not apply to the mining industry and other business firms who pay little here in tax anyway, they just wanna cut cut cut.
Wow.....
"Shared sacrifice" will become the new "mission accomplished" to the Nevada GOP, Tee hee hee.
Can't we meet somewhere in the middle? Why does everything have to be one or the other? Why can't we move forward with cutting what we need to cut but meet somewhere in the middle with some increased taxes as well? Shouldn't we look at all avenues and compromise? Continue the current cuts to state employees (and this is coming from a state employee,) but include county employees and other municipalities. Cut spending on education and other areas as needed. Implement some modest and gradual tax increases. Look at consolidating and trimming waste. Dont just hammer the least popular items like education, mental health and other government services. We didn't get you in this mess and only taking away from us won't get you out. Put everything under a microscope and yes that includes your fat cat buddies in the mining and gaming industries. But again, you don't have to slam them and only them and risk driving them away. We are compromising, so should they.
If you favor just raising taxes more and more, you'd love California. We don't need to turn Nevada into another communist republic like our neighbors to the west. If you don't like CA, try Michigan.
In Nevada the next tax will be the first one! You do need to spend the first penny before you get to the second and third and then to a big enough pile to make things work - you know pay bills and have teachers who can teach and people who aren't starving. Sandoval got elected because he is sexy and doesn't exhibit much intelligence but lots of charm. He also does not have a raspy voice like his opponent who had a real plan. Good luck to the people!