Students hector governor, but target wrong audience

By Jon Ralston

Wednesday, March 23, 2011 | 2:01 a.m.

Kyle George, the irrepressible student leader from UNLV, had a question for the governor Monday as he sat a few feet away from Brian Sandoval in his capital office.

“Where’s the middle ground?” George said with urgency in his voice. “No one is speaking compromise.”

Sandoval, as if by rote, smiled earnestly (the only way he smiles), recited the list of poor economic indicators and then added his new argument, “The business community already owes $1 billion in new taxes,” a reference to the federal unemployment insurance loan.

The impenetrable governor spent some quality time with the young idealists on a day when hundreds of them, many more aware than the 63 folks who make decisions up here, made their way here.

Sandoval would later insist on “Face to Face” that he listened to what they had to say — tax mining, save education, get off the no-tax pledge. But he listened the way a parent who has made up his mind to punish his child listens as the kid goes through a list of excuses — that is, not with an open mind.

So be it: If we didn’t know it before — and we probably did — Sandoval is even more resolute than Jim Gibbons was on new revenue (Gibbons put in room taxes as part of his budget) and even trickier than his predecessor in keeping his pledge ($1 billion in new spending through gimmickry chutzpah).

If inflexibility and sincerity could be combined into some new kind of art form, Sandoval would be the master. Sandoval has this idée fixe — that any new taxes would make the economy worse — and no facts, figures, passion, counterarguments, anything can sway him. He is Gov. Sunny and Gov. Resolute, and as that band named after a gym teacher once might have wailed, Lord knows he can’t change. And he won’t, so don’t expect him to free himself of his tax pledge.

Middle ground, young Mr. George? For the governor, there is only Sandoval ground, even if it becomes an island.

Sandoval’s exchange with George and a handful of other impressively aware students came after Democratic lawmakers addressed a throng in the courtyard and through a mixture of revivalism and rallying cries exhorted them to stay engaged and involved. And once again, Democrats reinforced the leitmotif of this session, one Sandoval captured when he commended the students for having a plan — don’t let those taxes sunset — while Democrats do not.

This session is about a man with a plan and he’s sticking to it, and an opposition that has no plan and they are sticking to not having one. Guess who wins most of those?

We are more than one-third of the way through the 76th session and I still have no idea what Democrats are doing. But, hey, state Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford has a new website — stevenhorsford.com — and it’s really neat!

Sandoval can’t find the middle ground young Mr. George was asking about because he does not want to. But Democrats cannot find it because they have built no bridges to get there.

Ultimately, passing a tax increase or not allowing those business/sales taxes to sunset is a simple math problem that all of those students Monday could understand: 28-14-1-28-14. It takes two-thirds in each house to pass it, Gov. Resolute to veto it and then the same numbers to override.

But here is what every student knows that the Democrats apparently do not: When it comes time for the final exam — the one for the Gang of 63 comes June 6 — you have to be prepared. And there is no evidence of reaching out in either house by Democrats to possible GOP pro-tax votes.

Is there a war room I don’t know of where Horsford and Assembly Speaker John Oceguera have a matrix of possible Republican votes, what those legislators might want out of this session and phone trees/email lists to generate protests inside their districts?

I talked with one GOP legislator Tuesday, one who just might vote for taxes, and he told me Democratic leaders have not talked to him all session. “It’s LBJ 101,” he told me.

Indeed, although the governor’s approach might be transparent and infuriating, Democrats’ strategy is opaque and insane. The legislative majority has allowed time to pass, the governor to solidify the GOP caucuses and the chances of finding any middle ground highly unlikely.

I have some advice for young Mr. George and his student horde: Schedule another trip to Carson City, and soon. But this time, forget the governor.

You had the wrong audience. Tell the Democrats to come up with a plan before it’s too late — if it’s not already.