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Guinn threatens reprisals against
petition supporters
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I CAN'T GET NO SATISFACTION
Gov. Dudley Do-Right rides in two directions
at once. On March 4, the Las
Vegas Review-Journal reported that Gov. Kenny Guinn has admitted
that state government does not receive enough additional tax
revenue to keep up with population growth. Political commentator
Jon Ralston earlier related that Guinn made a detailed presentation
to a small group of gambling industry heavyweights at the MGM
Grand in Las Vegas on Feb. 10, 2000.
"(Guinn) said we are in dire straits,"
Ralston reported.
Given recent reports, anybody who can explain
Guinn's guest editorial in The March 8, 2000, Reno Gazette-Journal
talking about surpluses and tax cuts, please do so.
"After my announcement of the fundamental
review (of state government) and several times since, I've seen
comments in the news media about a 'tax study' or a 'tax and
spend plan' or an effort to convince Nevada residents that a
tax increase was inevitable. Such remarks would be funny if the
topic wasn't (sic) so serious," the guv wrote in the Reno
paper.
Dudley should have talked to former Chief
of Staff Snidely Whiplash. In practically his last official act
before leaving to join the John Ensign senate campaign (Snidely
was always smarter than Dudley when it came to blowing the scene
of the crime), Peter Ernaut publicly warned of a state fiscal
crisis.
See "Guinn
aide predicts harsh demands on state coffers" in the
Dec. 9, 1999, Las Vegas Sun.
You'd never know it from Guinn's March
8, 2000, statement, which continues: "The fundamental review
and accompanying fiscal forum, when complete, will show us the
services that are needed vs. the resources at our disposal. We
could find we have a budget surplus, which would spark a discussion
of a tax cut or ways to spend the extra revenue. Or we might
have a budget shortfall which would necessitate a discussion
of cutbacks in services or additional taxes...
"During my campaign for governor,
I said I would only support an increase in taxes if there
was (sic) an extreme fiscal emergency. I remain committed to
that position. Whether or not we are currently facing or are
in danger of facing such an emergency is a vital question,"
the governor opined, grasping for coherent grammar. [No emphasis
added.]
Anybody got Snidely's phone number over
at the Ensign coronation office? If so, get it to the guv.
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Guinn reverses again
Admits state fiscal crunch,
announces May 4-5 LV summit
Selling tax plan to the people is where Guinn's
job really begins
Guinn paints bleak picture of state's tax revenues
- Property tax hike targeted?
How now, cash cows?
Major Players in big casino Y2K
Gamers & Governor may move toward
compromise on casino tax hike
State study confirms that gaming does not pay fair
share
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"I
don't think people should elect a governor on issues. They should
elect a governor on leadership." |
Guinn, in an inter- view with the
editorial board of the Las
Vegas Sun
a
reader responds
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"Don't do as I do, do as I say" Dept.
Nevada seems like a "live and let
live" state, with wide open gambling and legal brothels.
So it was no shock when elected officials united in 1994 to defeat
an anti-gay ballot measure.
Fast-forward to 2000: the governor and
lieutenant governor, whose predecessors led the fight in 1994,
aren't taking a stand on a new ballot proposal to bar same-sex
marriages...
Gov. Kenny Guinn's response so far has
been this: " I can't get involved in every issue that comes
up."
Guinn, a moderate Republican, opposes government
by petition. But he says that means proposals to alter Nevada's
tax or government structure. Guinn also said gay couples can
do what they want in private, but he believes in traditional
marriages.
AP Carson City Bureau
Chief
Brendan Riley
Reno Gazette-Journal,
2-18-2000
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Guinn and Gays -
Dudley Do-Right, the Redcoat Turncoat
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ALL IN THE FAMILY
Bill Hanlon is an educator and member of
the Nevada State Board of Education. He and Gov. Guinn are grandfathers-in-law.
The following appeared in Hanlon's statewide
column in the 3-8-Y2K Sparks Tribune and 3-9-Y2K Carson City
Nevada Appeal:
Who will represent common
people in tax battle?
Nevada's structural deficit has been known
for years. Legislators, our representatives, have chosen to ignore
it. It's now getting out of hand and something has to be done.
Anyone who continues to chant the "no new taxes" slogan
is a person having difficulty facing reality.
The state's inability to pay a competitive
salary package has left our schools with a shortage of math and
science teachers. That does not bother the wealthy or celebrity
elite because they send their kids to private schools. We have
also seen that in the health care industry, our local and state
leaders go out of state to address their medical problems.
Nevada's tax structure does not support
the needs of the people in the state. The business community
through their chambers of commerce are burying their heads in
the sand. I would suggest that if they don't like the proposals
on the table, they stop griping and come up with a proposal of
their own. Maybe that's being too constructive.
Read the entire story
Bill Hanlon
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Perhaps one day Nevada will elect
the whole horse for a change. Until then, remember the immortal words
of the lovely Nell Fenwicke: "Why does Dudley Do-Right always do
wrong?"
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COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATISM
Like his predecessor, Democrat Bob Miller,
Kenny Guinn faces a budget crisis. In 1991, Miller called in
this same Kenny Guinn to make recommendations about balancing
the budget during Pres. George Bush's Gulf War-caused recession.
Guinn recommended cutting programs helping
the weakest Nevadans, the physically and mentally disabled. In
so doing, he and Miller continued the dismantling of the two
lasting achievements of Democrat Mike O'Callaghan, governor from
1971 until 1979.
O'Callaghan pushed reforms to take care
of injured workers and the mentally ill and handicapped. On Guinn's
recommendation, Miller ended up closing what was perhaps O'Callaghan's
most cherished program, the rural mental health clinics. In a
typical Nevada case of mass malpractice, staffers were fired
and clients were dumped with little or no notice and nowhere
to go.
WELCOME TO DEJA VU ALL OVER
AGAIN
Changes in workers comp hurt disabled
In Nevada, if you fall on the job, you fall alone
Little guy losing state injury coverage
NONETHELESS, Gov. Guinn was happy to emcee
the Disabled Person of the Year Awards, according to the Sept.
5, 1999, Reno Gazette-Journal.
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Is Nevada's new health care
omblunderbussman an HMO shill?
Guinn names state's first
health care ombudsman
Gov. Guinn's first attack:
babies and sick kids
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GUINN AN EDUCATION HERO?
You've got to be kidding.
Ex-School Superintendent No School Superhero
We at CityLife always have to chuckle when
we receive an invitation to an event costing $500 per person.
Haven't they noticed this is a free paper?
But a perusal of the fancy invitation we
received last week to the Clark County Public Education Foundation's
"Education Hero Award Dinner" quickly quelled our good
humor when we noticed that the "Education Hero" in
question was none other than Gov. Kenny Guinn.
Isn't Guinn the guy who cut per-pupil funding
to Clark County schools this year? Isn't he the guy who didn't
provide funds for a cost-of-living pay raise to teachers for
two years, while giving big raises to his executive assistants?
Isn't he the guy who declined to fund a high school dropout prevention
program for Clark County, which has one of the nation's highest
dropout rates? He's your "Education Hero"? Surely there's
a more deserving candidate for such a prestigious honor.
Geoff Schumacher
Las Vegas City Life
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"I
can remember a first-grade teacher I had when I was a kid. She
could give me a hug. She could give me a swat on the behind when
I deserved it, or a tug on my ear. Or she could just hold my
hand when she thought I needed some reassurance. Today, all she
could legally give me is a condom." |
Guinn, to
Nevada Appeal Editor-
Publisher Jeff Ackerman at the annual GOP Lincoln Day dinner.
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"Guinn: Planning for Tommorrow" |
actual cover
story headline on the Dec. 1999 cover of Senior Spectrum Magazine
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Issues
& Opinions Archive |
Sen.
Neal, conservatives and Gov. Dudley Do-Right agree
Nevada
la vida loca: Tailhookers and Dudley Do-Right
Gov.
Barbano Vetoes Gov. Guinn's Tax Watchdog Award
Life
is beautiful despite Darth Vader and Snidely Whiplash
Gov.
Guinn: Dudley Do-Right defrocked as Nowhere Man
Nevada
Banana Republic Makes the Poor Pay
Are
we all really as dumb as they think we are?
Guinn and the
Unionbusters
A Candidate With
Executive Hair
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"If
this doesn't signify grass roots, I don't know what does." |
Guinn, referring
to his campaign financial disclosure which revealed that casino
operators gave Guinn at least $1.02 million of the candidate's
$2.4 million campaign war chest.
Las
Vegas Review Journal
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KENNY G'S HYPOCRISY
Speaking of jerks, the staff of Gov. Kenny
Guinn recently came out against raising taxes by initiative,
saying it's a piecemeal approach for special interests. Much
better to wait and see what Guinn's number-crunchers turn up
in their top-to-bottom review of state government.
Guinn's chief of staff, Pete Ernaut, came
out against two initiatives, one advanced by the state teachers
union that would impose a corporate income tax on everyone but
gaming and mining, and state Sen. Joe Neal's proposal to increase
the gross gaming tax.
The trouble with Ernaut's wait-and-see
approach is we've heard it all before. The reason the groups
are resorting to initiative is that people like Ernaut (a former
state assemblyman) have themselves been in the pocket of monied
special interests for so long that the people have no other choice.
"The governor takes a dim view of
taxes by initiative," says state Sen. Ann O'Connell, one
of several lawmakers who took a pass while Neal tried to advance
a modest increase in the gaming tax during the 1999 Legislature.
Read that remark, the governor takes a dim view of democracy.
Could it be that the powers-that-be are afraid of what the people,
left to their own devices, may come up with? If that's true,
then what piecemeal special interest are Guinn and Ernaut representing?
Guinn's stance also is hypocritical in
light of his past support for tax-related measures that required
a vote of the people. Before he became governor, Guinn played
a major role in the campaigns for bond issues to increase Metro
Police staffing and to build a regional justice center.
At that time, Guinn was a big fan of the
public getting a chance to decide its own future. Today, however,
he wants his office to control the entire process.
What's ironic about Guinn's attitude on
the initiatives is that he apparently would rather be the one
to impose a tax hike -- because, count on it, there's going to
be one in the next legislative session. In a way, that's a bold
move for such a wishy-washy kind of guy. But it's still wrong,
largely because Guinn is likely to propose raising the most regressive
and most politically palatable taxes, rather than doing the right
thing and raising the gaming tax.
Initiative petitions aren't the best way
to conduct the people's business. But they are the only recourse
in a democracy that isn't functioning properly. That's the case
in Nevada right now.
Geoff Schumacher,
Las Vegas City Life
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Snidely Whiplashes Citizen Petitions
Guinn opposes initiatives to raise taxes
Sen
Joe Neal Fires Back
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Fox Paw Dept.
Dudley Do-Right Does Democrats
Guinn invites Mike O'Callaghan to join Republican Governors Association
"At least the letter I received from
Gov. Kenny Guinn gave me a few laughs," O'Callaghan wrote
in the Las Vegas Sun.
"The letter from Guinn began: 'I am
pleased to inform you that, in recognition of your dedication
to the Republican Party, I have nominated you to serve as one
of Nevada's representatives for the Republican Governors Association
in this election year...I hope that you will take this opportunity
to accept your nomination to the Republican Governors Association
and join the 30 Republican Governors in Washington, D.C., on
Feb. 28 at the annual 'America's Majority Dinner -- The Road
to the White House.'
"Sorry Kenny, as a two-term governor
with a D after my name, I will probably miss that big dinner
in Washington," O'Callaghan chuckled.
Read the whole story
From fox paw to fox in the chicken coop:
Guinn tough on the sick...
New
state health advocate: I'm not an industry pawn
Guinn appoints as ombudsman a woman who lobbied against creation
of her job
...Tougher on prisoners
Guinn's
new drug program for prisoners caught in 'Catch-22'
"The problem is the way the new law is worded. Until the
prison shows there are savings, these inmates can't be released.
But there can't be any savings shown while the convicts are still
in prison."
...and hell on wheelchairs
Compassionate
conservative breaks promise to severely disabled
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Dudley mounts sales tax on service on your back
Las Vegas Business Press, September 13, 1999
Governor names two business regulators
Las Vegas Sun, August 10, 1999
Gov. Kinny Quinn?
Las Vegas Review Journal, August 9, 1999
Critics of Guinn scholarship proposal contend many
qualified kids would walk away from financial aid.
Las Vegas Review Journal, May 2, 1999
University press rejects Ralston's book proposal
on Guinn anointment
Las Vegas City Life, April 29, 1999
John L. Smith's Column: Budget cuts take an undesirable
bite out of seniors' services
Las Vegas Review Journal, February 11, 1999
Blue smoke and mirrors? Guinn can't pay for his
Millennium Scholarships says Las Vegas teacher
Las Vegas Review Journal, February 8, 1999
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