One foot out door, Brower scarce around state Senate

By Anjeanette Damon

Published Thursday, May 12, 2011 | 2:05 a.m.

Updated Thursday, May 12, 2011 | 2:55 p.m.

It might be understandable if Greg Brower is suffering from short-timer’s syndrome. He’s running to represent Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District and the Reno Republican’s state Senate seat will likely move to Clark County after redistricting.

Still, Brower’s symptoms have become so pronounced that his party’s legislative leaders recently sat him down for a talking-to about his notable absences from committee hearings and floor debates.

Brower has been present at roll call for nearly every floor session and committee meeting. He’s missed no floor votes. However, he’s developed a routine of taking extended breaks after being marked present or leaving early while his colleagues on the Education or Health and Human Services committees work late into the evening.

The practice has irritated some of his colleagues, Republican and Democrats.

Assistant Minority Leader Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas, who sits on one of Brower’s three afternoon committees, recently reached her limit and called him in for a meeting with Minority Leader Mike McGinness, R-Fallon.

She deflected a question about whether Brower’s absences were problematic: “I don’t think it’s something I need to talk to you about,” she said.

“We are all our own bosses,” Cegavske said afterward. “We come and go as we manage work and private lives.”

Brower likely doesn’t have much of a future in the Nevada Legislature.

He was appointed just two weeks before the session began to fill the seat of retiring state Sen. Bill Raggio. Midway through the session, he announced his bid for Congress, a campaign that became more complicated last month when Rep. Dean Heller was appointed to the U.S. Senate, forcing a Sept. 13 special election.

Yet even if Brower hadn’t decided to run for Congress, it’s unlikely he would have a state Senate seat to return to. Initial redistricting maps from Republicans and Democrats eliminate his seat, moving it to population-rich Clark County.

Brower denied he is absent from committee any more than other legislators.

“We all have competing obligations,” he said. “It’s not uncommon for any of us not to be able to sit through an entire committee. I am here every day. I am on floor every day. I am in committee every day. I work as hard as a I can.

“I am flattered that I’m missed when I’m not on floor,” he added. “But I’m not sure why this is something to write about.”

Although Brower refused to comment on whether he had ever left committee to attend to campaign business, he missed about two hours of an education hearing Wednesday night to speak at a Republican women’s club event in Sparks. Brower said he also had two other meetings that evening, but wouldn’t specify what they were.

Brower’s absence Wednesday evening came just hours after a reporter questioned him about his sporadic attendance.

To be sure, lawmakers routinely come and go from committees, most often to testify on their own bills before another committee or take a brief restroom break.

Brower, however, is the primary sponsor on only two bills that are still alive and both have had only morning hearings. Brower wasn’t assigned to any morning committees.

Although Brower may take liberties with his attendance, his colleagues describe him as a reliable conservative vote who is well-informed about legislation and eloquent during floor debates.

Brower has often engaged Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-North Las Vegas, in debate on the floor and picked up on technical errors in bills before they are passed.

He has taken an active role in promoting legislation to ban candidates for state office from accepting campaign contributions from foreign sources and helped spearhead Republicans’ short-lived fight against collective bargaining.

Brower’s extended breaks became most apparent during two lengthy meetings of the entire Senate to hear the public schools and higher education budgets.

Republicans as a group voiced resentment about the hearings, describing them as a political ploy rather than a sincere policy debate.

But Brower missed large sections of the public schools hearing on April 20. Two days later, when he was absent from the higher education hearing before the Senate, Horsford, sent the sergeant-at-arms to fetch Brower from his office.

Four days later, Brower officially announced his congressional campaign.

When asked whether he has left committee or floor meetings to attend to campaign business, Brower dodged the question..

“My focus is on the session and representing my constituents,” he said. “That’s what I am here for.”

CORRECTION: This story was changed to reflect that Assistant Minority Leader Barbara Cegavske sits on one of Sen. Greg Brower’s three afternoon committees, rather than two. | (May 12, 2011)