“I think I’ve just seen a one-termer so keep your powder dry” — Paul Laxalt
Thus advised the former Nevada governor and then-U.S. Senator to Ronald Reagan after President Jimmy Carter’s first state of the union address in 1977.
Monday night’s state of the state speech by newbie Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo showed signs of instant replay. The precedent lies much closer to home.
Lopmbardo’s maiden voyage reminded me of Gov. Jim “The Dim” Gibbons (2007-2011) who governed with his penis rather than his head. I need not remind Nevadans of the nightmare of Dimbulb’s peckerdilloes but Lombardo does indeed resemble Gibbons in one important respect: He serves up cold Reaganomics leftovers.
He started his speech by advocating personal responsibility, Reagan code for “if you need help, you’re on your own.”
Lombardo inherits a fat treasury from his Democratic predecessor Steve Sisolak.
First crack out of the box upon swearing came Lombardo’s demand for all Nevada agencies to give him their top 10 regulations to cut. He would do well to take the advice of author Jeff Greenfield. In analyzing Carter’s worst mistakes, time-wasting government reorganization topped the list.
Like Gibbons, Lombardo offers warmed-over, recycled and discredited Reaganomics. You know the drill: tax cuts stimulate the economy.
He said he’s suspending the state’s gasoline tax when he most probably has no power to do so. The gas tax is onerous and regressive and it hasn’t been raised in many years. Without massive federal deficit funding, Nevada’s roads would be in worse shape than they are.
But it sounded good on TV.
Perhaps most egregious were Giuseppe’s sins of omission. Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizaro, D-Gomorrah South, rightly noted that he did not call for teacher raises. He did advocate state employee hikes of eight and four percent over the next two years, respectively. That’s below inflation and does not come close to fixing the penurious levels state workers have suffered for decades.
This has resulted in one in four state jobs going unfilled. That may sound fiscally great but not if you need the highway patrol or you work in a Nevada prison.
Like all former cops, Giuseppe pandered to tough-on-crime kneejerkers, calling for increased penalties for various stuff but not for guns. That will further pack Nevada prisons in a state with an incarceration rate always worthy of the Confederate south.
We can’t get enough prison guards because of state pay levels. Dozens of Ely prisoners went on a hunger strike last month.
Lumbago said his proposed raises will mitigate state government being a training ground for local governments which pay much better. Good luck with that.
Lombardo even damned Harry Reid with faint praise, mentioning the former US Senate majority leader at the end of a list of recently deceased former state lawmakers. Yes, guv, Harry served only one term in the Assembly. But Joe ignored his four years presiding over the State Senate as lieutenant governor. Amazing.
Lombardo’s only elective office has been two terms as Gomorrah South sheriff where he cut officers. Sheriffs are often CEO’s who have a “my way or the highway” mindset. That doesn’t work herding government cats.
Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn (1999-2007) came to elected office with a similar blustery mindset. Dudley Do-Right quickly learned that no matter how angry you get with subordinates, your fellow elected officials don’t have to do what you say.
Lombardo said that for the first time, he will be an advocate for school choice in state government. If Kenny Guinn were alive, he’d be turning over in his grave. And is longtime former Assemblymember Pat Hickey, R-Reno, chopped liver? He sponsored Nevada’s first charter school bill years ago.
Lombardo and staff have memory problems. Witness his praise of “the inaugural Las Vegas GrandPrix” Formula One race later this year. Guv, you were a cop in Vegas during many F-1 races a quarter century ago. Caesar’s Palace built a course on its parking lot.
Lombardo’s worst sin of omission lay in the source of much of the money he wants to spread around: that nasty deficit-spending federal government.
He bragged about Nevada having the second smallest per-capita number of state employees. (We’ve been number one for decades and I can’t find anything to the contrary but who am I to contradict the guv?)
After he said “we won’t rely on federal bailouts,” he called for eliminating public option health insurance passed by previous Democratic legislatures. Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval (2011-2019) bucked Republican spite by expanding Nevada Medicaid with federal money.
And Giuseppe wants to finish removing COVID-19 safety measures. He’s already wiped out all of Sisolak’s executive orders and wants to repeal the law mandating safeguards in hotels and casinos.
“It already has a built-in sunset when COVID rates go down,” stated Culinary Union 226 spokesperson Bethany Kahn. The union spearheaded the 2020 law.
The guv said “the pandemic is behind us.” Bull. Look how many are infected and dying not only here but worldwide. But hey, facts are bad for tourism and twisting them never hurt Donald Trump.
Lombardo and staff have tiptoed around repealing Sisolak’s order not to assist states like Texas in prosecuting Nevada abortion facilitators or patients. Women nationwide have been fleeing the Confederacy to seek health care in less Neanderthal states. Governor, abortion tourism is a growing market for your biggest supporters on the Strip.
I was a bit embarrassed for the man when he had to beg for applause a few times. Perhaps he needed to have a TV studio-style audience applause sign installed which would cue attendees when to clap. To his credit, he did show a sense of humor, rare in governors, when he made a mistake.
Like when he advocated for “partisanship” instead of “partnership” on critical water supplies.
He admitted that “Nevada government has more money than we can responsibly spend.” He didn’t say we should send the surplus back from whence it came, that despicable federal government. Which happens to be Nevada’s second-largest employer after the gambling industry.
Send money back? Surely you jest. Why not devote a huge chunk to corporate welfare as usual? If he can get sprung from testifying in a California court, the guv announced that Musk will venture here to accept huge new subsidies for an expansion of his Nevada holdings to support electric semi truck manufacturing.
Lombardo did offer vague recognition that local governments should get a chunk of the benefits of corporate welfare subsidies but made no mention of how that can be done. Tax breaks drain humongous sums of money from schools, parks, roads and first responders.
Stay safe, get vaxxed and pray for Ukraine and 53 other currently war-torn lands.
Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno.
Andrew Quarantino Barbano is a 54-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com/ Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Tribune since 1988. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us
