Lt. gov.: GOP’S failed recall effort won’t open ‘Pandora’s box’

Expense, difficulty will limit its use, Hutchison says

It’s easy to start a recall process to remove Nevada legislators from office — you don’t even need a good reason, said Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison, who argued in court for the recently failed Republican-led recall of two Democratic state senators.

However, it is hard for a recall to succeed, Hutchison added this week on Nevada Newsmakers.

“So it is not like a ballot initiative or ballot petition where you can just go out and collect signatures of registered voters,” Hutchison said. “You have to get voters in the district who vote in the election that the official was elected in. (It’s a) very, very difficult process.

“You have to collect 25 percent of signatures of voters who voted in the election of which the elected official was elected (and) who still live within the district where the official was elected,” Hutchison said.

Last week, a Las Vegas judged threw out petitions to recall state Sens. Nicole Cannizzaro, D-las Vegas, and Joyce Woodhouse, D-henderson, saying petitions against them were invalid because they lacked the necessary signatures. Republicans had worked on the recall for eight months.

Hutchison doubted the recall efforts against the Democratic senators would open “a Pandora’s box” of political operatives trying to recall members of the opposing party in the Legislature.

That analogy was feared by some, including GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval.

“It just kind of escalates the politics, mean-spiritedness politics,” Sandoval told the Nevada Independent. “I think both parties will now use it on a regular basis, and that’s not what Nevada politics has ever been and that’s not what it should be.”

Yet the failures drive home Hutchi-

At 12:30 p.m. today, a Nevada legislative interim committee will take public comment from state residents on whether they support the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

In conjunction, the Sun is offering readers a chance to make their voices heard on the issue in our print and online products.

Realizing that most people likely won’t be able to attend the committee meeting in Room 4412 of the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 E. Washington, the Sun invites anyone who can’t be on hand to send us their opinion about the project in care of Ric Anderson, editorial page editor, at ric.anderson@lasvegassun.com, or by mail to Greenspun Media Group, attn. Ric Anderson, 2275 Corporate Circle, Henderson, NV 89074.

We also invite readers who plan to present comments to the committee to send us a copy of their testimony.

The Sun will consider the comments for publication in an upcoming issue of our print publication and at lasvegassun.com.

For readers who would also like to share their comments with the committee members, contact information for those individuals can be found at leg.state.nv.us/app/interimcommittee/ Rel/interim2017/committee/1407 and clicking on the “Members” tab.

Development of the proposed dump site, about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, has been dormant in recent years due to lack of funding. However, the Trump administration made an attempt last year to resume funding, and congressional proponents of the project are pushing to revive it. That being the case, Yucca Mountain opponents fear there will be a push to persuade state lawmakers to embrace the project during the 2019 legislative session.